Contents
| CHAPTER | ||
| I | Dangerous Business | [ 3] |
| II | House-to-House Search | [ 15] |
| III | Father Duprey’s Plan | [ 26] |
| IV | Midnight Landing | [ 34] |
| V | André’s Warning | [ 41] |
| VI | Victor’s Mission | [ 56] |
| VII | Tricolor over Ste. Mère | [ 66] |
| VIII | Prisoners | [ 73] |
| IX | Victor Disappears | [ 82] |
| X | “Here Come the Tanks!” | [ 86] |
| XI | André and the Nazi Pilot | [ 98] |
| XII | Slim and the Trumpet | [ 104] |
| XIII | The War from the Air | [ 110] |
| XIV | Father Duprey’s Story | [ 123] |
| XV | Battle for St. Sauveur | [ 129] |
| XVI | André into the Fighting | [ 139] |
| XVII | Patchou on the Battlefield | [ 146] |
| XVIII | The Secret Tunnel | [ 153] |
| XIX | The 82nd Finishes Its Fight | [ 160] |
| XX | Bastille Day—1944 | [ 169] |
Illustrations
| “The 82nd always wins its battles!” Slim said | [FRONTISPIECE] |
| At a signal from the driver he went to the pump | [ 5] |
| He opened the door to find a Nazi officer frowning at him | [ 32] |
| The squad gathered up grenades, bazookas, and other equipment | [ 70] |
| André had learned half of Slim’s pet song | [ 108] |
| “My dear boy!” Father Duprey held out his arms | [ 124] |
| Marie came up through the old tunnel | [ 156] |
WE WERE THERE
AT THE
NORMANDY INVASION
CHAPTER ONE
Dangerous Business
TOWARD sunset on the first day of June, a small black car rattled past a crossroads sign in a tiny village in northwestern France. The sign pointed to the near-by town of Sainte Mère Église, about two miles farther inland. The coast of the English Channel was nearly three miles back in the other direction.
Behind the wheel of the car sat a thin, anxious Frenchman. Hunched beside him was a young, blond Englishman. The younger man was shabbily dressed, and most of the lower part of his face was covered by a bandage.
The car pulled up and stopped in front of a house with a weather-beaten sign on it which read:
Pierre Gagnon Gas Tobacco Chocolate