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" De Gaulle ranks top in the admiration and loyalty of the Fighting French forces and of the civilian population of France and her colonies, according to Guy Descamps, 21, a young sailor in the Fighting French Navy. Guy, whose home is near Oran in North Africa, was one of a group of Fighting French airmen and sailors who were guests of Vancouver's French-Canadian Association at a dinner in Hotel Vancouver Saturday night. And Guy's sentiments were quickly echoed by the rest of the group. 'LEADER WE LOOKED FOE "We wouldn't be in the Fighting French forces," said Lucien Duchemann, "if in our opinion De Gaulle was not the best. - "He is the leader we have been looking for a long time. At last we have got him, a man we can trust, a man devoted to the concepts of democracy. We look to him to restore law and order out of this chaos," he concluded. Four of the airmen are from the same colony, Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Two of the boys, Victor and Francis Frarmier are brothers. Lucien Duchemann is the third, and the fourth is Andre Gerard. DRAFTED BY VICHY Here is Victor Frappier's story: "We wanted to join the French Aviation Corps in 1939," but the Armistice was signed before we could get to France. "As we were of call-up age, we were drafted into the Vichy forces which controlled the colony. We served in Madagascar for a year and a half, until we were enabled to join the Free French when the Allied forces took Madagascar." Corporal Armand Chaffenet had less pleasant experiences, however. He was 15 when the Armistice was signed, and. still at Jiis home in Flers de L'Orne, Normandy. He is now 19. INTERNED IN SPAIN "I got out via Spain, so naturally, . I was interned," he said. "Durjng our. time in Spanish prison camps we had some pretty bad times. "Once we were 15 days in a damp cellar, with very little food, and even that food was very bad. Another time I was packed with 45 prisoners into a wagon, locked in three days and nights without food or water, with our hands shackled. I'll never forget that. "The treatment Spain gave us was beyond description. There were British and Canadian boys in Spain with us, "I would like to be able to tell all the Canadian people here that the Canadian boys were treated no better than we were. FOOD IN MUD "It was a common practice," he stated, "for guards to kick our food Into the mud, to make us scramble for It, fish it out, and eat it dirty as It was. This was in the Miranda Del Ebro internment camp. "There was no water to wash it off. "Quite often," he said, "we didn't have enough water to drink. The general rule was that we didn't get any for washing," he concluded. Henry Vldal and Roland Burnet both hail from North Africa, and were able to join the Fighting French Navy when the Allies took over control."
Publication: The Vancouver Sun i
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Issue Date: Monday, June 26, 1944
Page: 13  Laurent Laloup le mardi 07 janvier 2020 Contribution au livre ouvert de Armand Henri Louis Chaffenet Montrée dans le livre ouvert de 2 Lucien Duchemann | 3 Victor François Edouard Joseph Frappier de Montbenoît | 4 Francis Jean Marie Remy Frappier de Montbenoît | |
