An Excerpt From"My Father's War: Memories from Our Honored WWII Soldiers by Charley Valera
Today I met with Ferns son Alan,
he explained how a simple thing like waking his father from a nap would trigger
almost a panic from Fern, who would jump up ready for a fight. But not until
Fern was 80 years old did he start to open up about his war years. Fortunately,
Fern Frechette did live beyond eighty and his family and us as readers, know
the real difficulties and sacrifices made by veterans like Frechette.
Excerpt from "My Father's
War: Memories from Our Honored WWII Soldiers."
Feature Veteran story from Fernand
Frechette
Frechette, of course being the
only French speaking soldier, had been told a secret by the little girl. “The
barn behind them had German soldiers in it!” There were only the three of them
at this time together—the Captain, Sergeant and Corporal Frechette—and they
were pretty concerned about this situation unfolding. The Captain had a couple
grenades and a sidearm pistol, the First Sergeant had a carbine rifle and
Frechette had a sub machine gun.
The barn was located next to a hilly
bank and Frechette was ordered to climb it to overlook the doorway. The nervous
Captain threw one of his grenades at the barn, but it landed just short of the
door. The captain and sergeant went to the door and nervously watched as the
door swung open and a German soldier came out waving a white flag of surrender.
Behind him, there were a line of armed German soldiers walking out with their
hands up; there were over thirty soldiers in total in that barn, all marching
out to surrender. This was the first time they had seen the enemy face-to-face;
they were scared and quite outnumbered. “If I’d had to pull the trigger, I
don't think I would have been able to,” he recalled about his first encounter. “I
was shaking so hard…I've never been so afraid in my life. The first German
soldier I went up to, with my gun pointing at him…he had a machine gun too. I
grabbed his gun and he put his hands up. That’s when about 30 more Germans
followed him out. This was our first contact with German soldiers and I was
never so scared in my whole life.”
With shaking hands and more courage
than he ever thought he possessed, Frechette reached over and took the firearm
from the enemy. Seventy-years later, he still owns that exact weapon, given to
his son Gary many years after the event. The Nazi’s were tired of fighting. Who
knows how long they had been in that barn, what they might have had to eat,
drink and endure. The Captain had Frechette get in the jeep to go get some
troop support. Frechette smiled when talking how his “legs were shaking and he
could barely drive the jeep.”
About The Author:
Charley Valera has always
had a fascination with WWII and its effects on the soldiers and their families.
Charley knew his father was a WWII veteran and, like most of us, he never asked
what life was like during the war. Years after Valera's father passed away,
taking his stories with him, he was determined to document the lives of other
veterans. Within these pages are over two years of interviewing dozens of
veterans.
Charley writes articles
and blogs for various media on topics from real estate to aviation. A licensed
commercial pilot, Realtor, author, public speaker, father of two boys and
husband to Cheryl, Charley also owns and runs the FCA Flight Center, a flight
training school in central Massachusetts.
Social Media Links:
To purchase and have a book personalized please visit Charley's Website.
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