Sunday, November 30, 2014

The passage to Perpignan and beyond

1. Postcard from Perpignan (showing Le Castillet)
2. Perpignan: 'Le Patio' in the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall)
3. Perpignan: the Place St Jean
4. 1945 newspaper cutting of Lt.-Cmndr. 'Pat O'Leary' 
(Speaking in front of the Porte de Paris, Lille, France)

[Perpignan was a key town for his WW2 escape line]
During the Second World War, for many escapees and evaders a passage to Perpignan was the last stepping stone to escape to freedom where they could join or rejoin the struggle against the Nazi Occupiers of N.W. Europe. It was not by any means an easy matter getting to Perpignan and beyond and most of the escapees and evaders needed the assistance of the Resistance networks to do so. Nor was it always a clear run for home if they were guided over the Pyrenees into Spain, where the Spanish authorities would often arrest them. 

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Sunday, November 23, 2014

"Where have all the flowers gone?"

Floral tributes at the grave of L.A.C.W. Elizabeth Cowan
[Whitehaven Cemetery, Cumbria (November 2014)]
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A service of re-dedication and remembrance

1. The re-dedicated Normandy Veterans seat
St Nicholas' Church Gardens, Whitehaven, Cumbria

[Armistice Day anniversary, Tuesday 11 November 2014
2. "In memory of all who died in the Battle of Normandy 1944"
[The dedication of the N.V.A. West Cumbria Branch (No. 51)]
3. The N.V.A. plaque and tributes of remembrance
[Armistice Day anniversary, Tuesday 11 November 2014]
4. Poppy crosses placed in remembrance of loved ones
[The box contains sand from one of the Normandy beaches]
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