Souvenirs de Sospel; La Seconde Guerre

When I applied to be a teacher’s assistant for English on the French Consulate’s website, I was given the option of choosing three locations for teaching. I was already headed abroad to spend 3 months in Paris, so I thought to apply for someplace else and see more of france. I knew I had some family acquaintances in Nice, France, so I wrote that as my first choice. After that, it was a toss-up; I chose Guadeloupe and La Reunion, because frankly, who would turn down an opportunity to live in paradise? I was assigned to my first choice, but with a twist. It turns out that Nice is the largest city in the region, and so that is the general title for placement. I was stationed in the VAR region (the other is the Alpes-Maritimes, where the Alps hit the Mediterranean) and I had no idea that this was just the beginning of a long string of discoveries in my favor.

I have long desired to travel through the small towns that my grandfather knew in his travels in the Second Great War. I say “travels” when really it was more like fighting and forging ahead. He was an officer in Headquarters 1st Division in the 517th Airborne. They were the elite of the elite in regards to paratroopers, causing endless headaches for the German troops, as well as for their own commanding officers. Courageous to the point of what some might call crazy, these men became the most decorated unit in the entire US Airborne in the Second World War, unfortunately losing so many of their forces that the unit was disbanded after the war. The memories of these heroic soldiers live on in the minds of those still with us today, with their families, and with those abroad whose gratitude for freedom is unwavering. The 517th Airborne jumped only once in the war once abroad, forging the rest of their path to close in on Hilter’s forces on foot in the Battle des Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge). The area of this one and only jump is located in southern France, in fact, in the VAR and Alpes-Maritimes regions.

As it turns out, my family’s acquaintances in the region house a museum solely dedicated to the 517th in Le Muy, France in the VAR region, and another in Sospel in the Alpes-Maritimes. Both parties informed me of my incredibly close proximity to all the towns through which my grandfather fought and helped to liberate from Nazi grasp. I am, in fact, in the heart of it all. I am able to spend a great deal of time while here in the presence of my grandfather, of whom I have an immeasurable amount of admiration and adoration. His final resting place is on the property of our good friends Patricia and Roland, whose land overlooks Sospel and the surrounding Alpes. He has a spectacular view, one might say. Patricia and Roland own their own collection (museum in progress) of World War II memorabilia, especially of the 517th and are active players in the fight to keep the memory of the war alive in the hearts and minds of this generation. They recently hosted the festivities held in Sospel for a group of 517th veterans traveling from town to town for the 65th anniversary of their jump, and who have helped me immensely to establish myself here in France.

The following are images of the monument situated on their property dedicated to the 517th and all those who helped to liberate the Alps-Maritimes region in 1945. It is composed of WWII arifacts unearthed by Roland in the surrounding mountains. It seems the forests have not so soon forgotten the soldiers who fell amidst their trees.












The last image is of the memorial plaque in Sospel proper on the Pont de la Liberation dedicated to Company F of the 517th for their courageous efforts in the town.