When my dad enlisted in the army he was 29 years of age- older than most of the boys who were signing up for service and barely out of their teens. My dad had been married for almost 6 years and there were no children. Perhaps he had some sense by that time that there were to be no children forthcoming from his union with my mother. Maybe he had wanted to adopt a child years before he adopted me. It made sense.
There were no names or locations written on the back of the three photographs that the boy was in. On one photograph, however, there was a notation. There was a picture of my father and the boy and written in my father’s hand on the back was “Me and that French kid and my gun on the Island before going duck hunting. The spot we are standing in is covered with water when tide is in”. With that piece of cryptic information I asked myself, where exactly should I start?
I am a curious person by nature and the opening of the world through the internet has made finding information more accessible to ordinary folks. This is where I decided to begin my search. First I had to get through the swamp of my American lack of geographical knowledge to ask myself what islands are off of the coast of France?
After looking at a map I realized that I already knew the answer, the islands of Guernsey and Jersey in the English Channel, of course. I looked up local newspapers and television stations on both islands and sent emails of inquiry, explaining my interest along with photos of the boy attached to the correspondence.
The text of the email to the Jersey Evening Post:
I write this to you from the United States. This past month, my aunt, aged 95, told me that my father, while in the army during World War II met a young boy that he thought he would like to adopt or bring back to America; her story somewhat tattered at the edges over the years. This was news to me; my father never shared any detailed information about the war and his time spent in the service. I know that he spent some time in Cherbourg running harbor craft. Both of my parents are gone now, but I remembered a packet of pictures that my dad had from the war. Looking through them I found, to my amazement, several photos of this boy, which I have attached. . Who is this boy that my father should save his picture for 60 years and have me find it after his death! My question to you is, could you direct me to any source, if there is such a source available, where I might match up the boy in the photograph with the man he grew up to be? I know that time is not my friend in trying to track down anyone who lived through the war. Nevertheless, I thought I should try and hopefully tell him this story. Thank you for any insight you may have.
The responses came quickly:
I’m not sure that we can shed much light on these photographs. Having asked a couple of colleagues we feel almost certain that the photos cannot have been taken in Jersey – and probably not in any of the other Channel Islands either. We were occupied by the Germans from July 1940 to May 1945 – the Normandy landings by-passed us leaving the islands completely cut off. The few American service personnel who did come to Jersey were generally washed up on our shores having been shot down or torpedoed in the Channel and were then imprisoned by the Germans. They wouldn’t have been allowed to walk around freely with guns and cameras were also banned.
There is a very slim chance that he could have come to Jersey after the war, but again this is unlikely as we were liberated by the British and only a handful of American servicemen were involved. Also many Channel Island beaches were heavily mined and wouldn’t have been safe for duck hunting.
It is more likely that the picture was taken in France, particularly as you say your father spent time in Cherbourg. Probably your best bet is to contact a newspaper in Normandy to see if they might run the photograph.
I had hit a dead end. I went back to the box of photographs, looking for something that might give me a clue to help me. I found it. There was one photograph of a destroyed plane on a beach of sorts, with homes in the background. The text on the back said: “part of an American airplane shot down on one of the Islands. Some fishermen’s homes. Some boats when the tide is down and part of a fish net. Where I am standing is underwater when the tide is in”.
I had found the connection. On the web there are so very many sites that digging through them is truly like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. After some searching, I found that there was a bomber named the Daisey Mae Scraggs that had been shot down two days after D-Day, over a small island governed by France, named Chausey, the only Channel Island governed by France and therefore almost never mentioned in the context of the other islands of that group. More research explained that the Iles de Chausey were a group of small islands- an archipelago- with the distinguishing feature of having the largest tides in Europe and of three hundred sixty five small islets, only one was inhabitable because when the tides were in the rest were covered by the sea. Bingo!
I compared my father’s photograph of the downed plane with one that I found on a website called Le Iles Chausey. They were almost identical.
Next week in Part 3 My search depens with a visit to Normandy
All previous articles can be found in the categories Daughters of D Day on the right.
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