A D-DAY FAMILY OF HEROES IN NORMANDY, FRANCE
Claude & Augustine Pessin

Hours before any of the Allied soldiers landed into Normandy from the sea, tens of thousands of American Paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne were dropped behind the assault beaches on June 6, 1944, 70 years ago today to guard the flanks against German counterattack.

Most of the transport pilots flying the Airborne troopers to their Drop Zones had never flown through anti-aircraft fire before and that, combined with fog and low cloud, caused wide dispersal of the aircraft, thus the divisions were badly scattered during their drop. After they landed few of the Para’s knew where they were and most found themselves lost and alone, some having come down in areas deliberatly flooded by the Germans with disastrous consequences.

We had the honor of meeting Raymond Pessin at a COMES A SOLDIER’S WHISPER book presentation at the Williamson Public Library in Williamson, New York. Raymond was eager to tell us that he was there when the airborne paratroopers dropped into Normandy on June 6, 1944. He said that he was born and raised there by his parents, Claude & Augustine and was only 10 years old when the event took place. Raymond was the youngest of his siblings, John, Claude, Jr., Roger, Eric and his sister, Janne. Shown is a family photo in front of the Pessin shop. His father, Claude Pessin was a WWI pilot and mechanic (pictured in front of his prop plane which held 4 machine guns) and continued the mechanic trade after the war.

Later, Claude became the head of the underground French resistance for his town in Ste Mere Eglise, a beautiful seaside resort where 101st Airborne Paratrooper John Steel would land and dangle from the church steeple. Although the most famous of the D-Day targets given to the American Airborne Forces in Normandy, it was only one of numerous villages to be capture and held. The village of Ste Mere Eglise sat astride the junction of the main North-South and East-West roads behind Utah Beach and was therefore of crucial importance to the Paras on D-Day. Unfortunately, the German garrison in the village on D-Day was on alert when the paras started their drops and with some 50 of the parachute troopers mis-dropped on the village itself they were badly shot up on landing.

Raymond remembers that day very well and became emotional as he recalled the Germans shooting the helpless paratrooper on the church steeple. He also remembered his father using 2 of his 3 large grease pits used for oil changes to hide pilots that he would scout, find, hide, nurse and transport back to England via the beach, a mile away from his home. His father, Claude owned and operated a bicycle shop. Many German soldiers had bicycles that needed repair. Although he refused to do the repairs himself, he offered for free the use of his shop and tools for the “appearance” of complicity with the German soldiers. This enabled his father to fly under their radar, so to speak and conduct his endeavors through the French underground resistance without detection. He had a radio and would transmit to England that he had pilots to be picked up and requested some form of boat to come ashore for picking up the pilots. Raymond remembered their harboring and hiding a pilot for as long as three months awaiting his recovery from a broken leg, clearance and transportation. On one occasion, 4 German officers were riding horses down along the beach and were dangerously close to discovering Claude and his underground group and scheduled pick up site. They were forced to kill the 4 German soldiers and their horses and buried them all to remove all traces and avoid exposure putting themselves and families at risk and danger.

The Germans eventually evacuated the town, never to return. They retreated mainly to the north in the direction of Cherbourg and although several armoured counter-attacks came down into Ste Mere Eglise from the direction they were beaten off by the badly out-numbered and out-gunned Paratroops. Once the town had been secured on D-Day apart from the counter-attacks from the north that were beaten off, the town was not really threatened again by the Germans, although it was shelled heavily until June 9th. When the American soldiers landed, Raymond’s family knew the war was finally over. The Americans upon taking over the German offices discovered papers ordering the arrest and pick up of Claude Pessin and his group just 4 days later…

As it was evident that the Americans were taking control, Raymond’s older sister, Janne and her boyfriend, also part of the Resistance melted down tar and painted swastikas on all of the known Nazi sympathizer’s front doors throughout the town. Raymond was collecting empty gas cans when General Dwight D. Eisenhower approached him and shook his hand. It was only the year before that Raymond recalled the German General Rommel driving through their town checking all fortification points and assessing how to strengthen for potential attacks. They miscalculated where the Americans were to land, as General Rommel felt comfortable enough to stay in Germany for his wife’s birthday celebration on June 6th!

Janne went on to marry one of the American soldiers as pictured here on her wedding day and moved to the United States after the war. Her wedding dress was made from the white silk of a parachute, as was often the case during that era. When Raymond arrived in the United States, he could speak only two English words, “yes and no” but soon learned the language by reading the comic strips every day.

Claude Pessin passed away at the age of 95 in 1983, May the memory of Claude, Augustine and the Pessin Family live on forever, for their strength, courage and acts of heroism. Many thanks to the Pessin family of heroes and for Raymond Pessin for sharing his story.

Remembering history and our allied heroes one day at a time…

Jenny Tharp La Sala
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