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Alta Vista
Free Page and/or Text Translation, in several languages Internet Translator (tm) Free Translation, in many languages Dictionaries in 130 languages ... Français ... European Phrasebooks, recorded pronunciations |
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Note:
Many of the author's family members served in both World Wars, including two wounded and
one killed in action. In large part, they fought for a free France. But the value of that has not
always been obvious. In World War II, on Luzon, a friend Lieutenant Ralph Fralick successfully escaped from Bataan before its surrender, with forty of his men. After a desperate 1200-mile voyage in an open boat, they arrived at Hanoi, then French Indochina. Fralick formed up his starving, exhausted, but still-proud troops and marched them to report to the French authorities. Salutes were exchanged, and then the French turned the Americans over to their allies the Japanese. Fralick survived four horrible years of Japanese captivity. To the end of his life (1993) he hated all things French. The author of this page saw action in Korea, a United Nations effort reviled by many French, who also reviled those of their countrymen who fought with us for a free Korea. But one must remember that the France of 1942 had surrendered to Germany, and was controlled by collaborationists. And that France also suffered during collaboration, and suffered under our own fire while we fought to defeat her conquerors. One must also remember that the France of 1950 was largely controlled by Communists, who had no interest in a free world, only an ideological one. One must also remember that Free Frenchmen fought at our side as we defeated the Axis, and that other Frenchmen fought at our side when the UN drove back the Communists and kept Korea free. Although they should never be forgotten, WWII and the Korean War are long over. Personally, privileged to travel extensively through France, I found her beautiful, and deeply complex. I feel her heart should be forever young and full of life, and enchantment. Where I see it may not be, I prefer to look in other directions. Like most Americans, I am very fond of France, and don't wish to be otherwise. If you browse through these links, you may understand why. |
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