Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 13

Conpirto JsrhES-Kournal 4 1 INSIDE: Opinions 14A Letters 15A Obituaries 20A AST TEXAS 13A Sunday, May 7, 1995; ire 0 ew pilot on V-E Day anniversary rench village dedicates street to Longvi 0 crashed in an elderly farmer's grape vineyard. The farmpr nnd his npiphhor. Madame Aueustine Luce, saw I By Ingrld Stout Staff Writer JuZy 22, 1944: When Henry Siaud heard the crash, he jumped on his bicycle and rushed toward the sound. In the garden of a farmhouse near the plane hit the ground and watched as flames engulfed the vineyard. After the Underground recovered the bodies of Capt.

Swanzy and Montana, Luce washed them and wrapped them in her sheets. Neighbors came by and placed flowers on them. Then, following a Christian service led by the city's mayor, Capt. Swanzy and Montana were buried side-by-side in the local cemetery. Residents of La Tour D'Aigues never forgot that day nor the two airmen.

Fifty years later the two menare still considered American heroes for the sacrifices they made to help liberate France from Nazi Germany. "I can tell you that I can still have lumps in my throat i Capt. Robert Swanzy the plane wreckage, he tound a rur-coated airman's boot with "Robert Swanzy" written on its side. Siaud, 19, was a member of the Free French Underground in the village of La Tour D'Aigues, 35 miles northeast of Marseille. He and several others witnessed the crash of 8," a U.S.

B-24 bomber piloted by Capt. Robert Swanzy of Longview. On Monday, as the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the surrender of Nazi Germany in Europe, Siaud and his countrymen will remember Capt. Swanzy and a crew member by naming two streets in their honor. Capt.

Swanzy was flight commander of the 783rd Bomb Squadron, 465th when I remember the sight thinking that what had been, hardly one hour earlier, a handsome, full of life young man was now gone forev ft Monsieur Rieubon, left, the farmer who owned the vineyard where Capt. Swanzy's B-24 crashed, Bombardment Group, serving with a er, wrote Siaud in a letter to Lapt. Swanzy's wife, Wynona Swanzy Prince of Longview. "The name of Robert Swanzy, even though I never met him alive, is deeply printed in my memory and will remain there forever. During a V-E Day commemoration Monday, the La Tour D'Aigues mayor will name two new streets after Capt.

Swanzy and Montana. David Swanzy of New Orleans, the captain's broth-See Swanzy, 17A crew of 10. He and Sgt. Lupe Montana, talks with a former member of the the top turret gunner, were killed by French Underground in La Tour attacking German fighter planes dur- D'Aigues. ing a mission to bomb the railroad marshaling yards in Nimes, France.

The remaining crew members bailed out of the aircraft and "Section 8" Liz Claiborne's organizer Mother's Day in the bag! Great gifts. Great prices. For moms who like a place for everything and everything in its place. You'll find several styles featuring picture i.d. window, credit card slots, lots of inside compartments as well.

The collection, 38.00-42.00. Handbags. ij I BEA REMEMBER, MOTHER'S DAY IS SUNDAY, MAY 14.