10 November 26, 2014 2014 HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
Orly became “the hub” of flight and
communications operations.
“I was in the Army Airways
Communications System. All messages
in the European Theater of Operation –
commonly referred to as the ETO – came
in and out, and were disseminated through
Orly.”
It was a busy place.
The war was officially over in August 1945,
yet much work remained.
As the Christmas of 1945 approached, the
young soldier had adapted to military style
holidays as “not that special.” “Everyone
was aware that it was a holiday, and
thought of it, and there might be might be
better food in the mess hall that day, but,
you got up and went to work like any other
day,” he recalls.
‘The Final Act of the Paris Conference on
Reparation,’ an agreement on the equitable
distribution of assets and gold to the
Allied countries from Germans began on
November 9 and concluded on December
21, 1945.
This Christmas would be different.
At Orly, there were several French civilians
attached to the base “that helped in one way
or another.” There were two girls that were
sisters. They were very nice ladies and we
got to know each other well, the soldier
remembers. The sisters invited the soldier
and two others in the Air Corps to join
them for Christmas Eve.
Coming from strong Episcopalian roots,
the Lincoln soldier suggested they attend
midnight Christmas mass together. So it
was, this Christmas three young American
soldiers and three French women began
their Christmas Eve 1945 in Paris at
Cathedral on Avenue George Sanc.
Church of the Holy Trinity is not far from
the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris and
near the Seine River. The famous and
beautiful cathedral had also been occupied
by Germans a year prior.
Following mass, the soldiers were
invited to join the girls and their families
for Christmas dinner in their parent’s
apartment.
The soldier, today a senior, recalls with a
twinkle and chuckle that they kept bringing
out dishes, and between each course there
were libations. The young men were not
accustomed to consuming quite so much
alcohol at one time.
To top it all, the girls surprised each soldier
with a gift. He was intrigued to receive a
pair of cuff links.
Recalling the experience of his Christmas
1945, walking the streets of Paris just
barely liberated from German occupation,
and now post-WWII, Midnight Mass in
a cathedral; a long, special dinner in the
kindnesses of a French family; today in
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