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Landing: Andrée Auvray, one of the French women who lent a helping hand to the Allies, remembers D-Day
A few days before the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Andrée Auvray, 98, shares her memories of D-Day, in which she participated in her own way by lending a hand to the Allies.
(France 2)
A few days before the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Andrée Auvray, 98, shares her memories of D-Day, in which she participated in her own way by lending a hand to the Allies.
Not always light, Andrée Auvray, 98 years old, returns with emotion to the house where she lived during the Demarcation. “It brings back so many memories, painful and happy. So much happened there”, she gets excited. On June 6, 1944, on the first floor of this house, the young woman, just an adult, was eight months pregnant. She is startled awake by the noise of the planes. “We went down, and that’s when we saw three soldiers arriving with their bayonets“, remembers the nonagenarian.
Thousands of allied soldiers then landed on the Normandy coast. The violent fighting caused many victims. In the field just behind her farm, Andrée Auvray sees a field hospital being set up. She remembers “tents everywhere” and “dead lined up wrapped in parachutes”. Already a volunteer with the Red Cross, she spontaneously offers her help. With many French people, she treated hundreds of victims, especially civilians.
