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by Jean-Paul Pitou (Author)
On July 4, 1944, Americans launched a bloody offensive in the bocage and marshes of Normandy, to break out of their narrow beachhead against entrenched Nazi forces. In their path was Sainteny, enduring its fourth year of brutal occupation; soon to be destroyed. On August 15, amidst ruins of this ancient village, their priest met his American counterpart while preparing to celebrate Mass, learning that 5,000 soldiers died in a great battle to liberate this tiny agricultural community of just eight hundred people.
In 1996 our author, Jean-Paul Pitou, attended a memorial service in Sainteny, forming a lasting friendship with mayor Michel Lepourry, who unexpectedly announced that monsieur Pitou would write a book about their story - he does.
People of Sainteny said, "We did not meet our liberators... we could not thank them." When surviving villagers returned from their exodus their liberators were gone; dead, wounded, missing, or fighting the next battle. Beginning in the 1970s, veterans and descendants of the American 83rd Infantry Division and others, began traveling to Normandy, looking for their battleground, meeting the remarkably resilient people of Sainteny, forming lasting friendships. This is a story every American should read.
