Two communities re-connect to remember WWII recovery

Morganville Mayor Brent Rundell and Gloria Freeland visited with Simone (Watiez) Joly, right, in Feves, France in September 2016.

By Gloria Freeland Oct 18, 2018

Seventy years ago this month, a 430-pound box shipped from Morganville, Kansas was on its way to its adopted village of F�ves, France to aid in its recovery from World War II. A coat once worn by Clay Center�s Lois Pierson Eggerman, who was a youngster then, was in that box.

Shipping delays meant those items did not arrive until the following spring. But Morganville�s Homer Christenson raised $15 from sales at his popcorn stand to buy chocolate candy. Today, that $15 is equivalent to $150. The candy arrived in the fall of 1948, and brought smiles to the faces of the French children and confidence to the adults that more was on the way.

When Lois� older sister Billie Utley and her husband Ed visited F�ves on a cool June day the following year, Billie saw a youngster wearing the coat. Lois� name tag was still stitched inside.

While many more shipments followed, it is natural to wonder so many years later if such generosity is remembered. A recently-discovered letter shows that it is.

An assignment in Kansas State University professor Gloria Freeland�s journalism class led to the two villages reconnecting in 2013. Current Morganville Mayor Brent Rundell and wife Charlotte visited their sister village in fall 2016. While there, Brent Rundell and Freeland posed for a picture with Simone (Watiez) Joly, who was a youngster when the aid began to arrive.

Freeland�s husband Art Vaughan was in possession of a letter Joly had written in 2014 when he and Freeland visited F�ves. Since it was written in French, he set it aside, but then forgot it until recently. In that letter, Joly wrote:

One good day, we heard from our Mayor ... that a village in the USA was adopting us. They did fund-raising and sent boxes full of clothes, shoes, canned food, candies, chewing-gum for the kids. In fact, all you needed to start living normally again. As we were going to school, before we started the class, we received biscuits high in vitamins ....

During recess, girls and boys were saying, "Have you seen the beautiful dress, coat, trousers the dear Americans have sent?" We were very proud.

Joly also described what it had been like in 1941 when the Germans arrived to expel those who would not join the German Army, and the 1944 liberation by American forces.

One day in April 1941, a bus was waiting for us ... We filled the bus. Our luggage couldn�t be more than 35kg. ... we had to leave again towards the south of France, precisely Lavaur. We would stay with the inhabitants. We started our new life with almost nothing, just the minimum.

End of 1944, the American soldiers came. What a relief! We already were thinking of our return to our native land, Lorraine.

A few months later, we came to our small village of F�ves. What desolation! Everything had been bombed. Our house had a big hole just over the door. Everybody could go in as they wished. Everything had been plundered: linen, clothes, tableware, furniture ... well, you can imagine.

About the recent re-connection of F�ves with its American benefactor, she wrote:

Having grown up, I married Charles Joly, and 10 children are born. Life went on, but we�ll never thank enough that little town in America that took care of us right after the war. Sometimes I still mention to my children that part of life where many American people devoted themselves to us, so that we could live decently.

Years passed until a nice morning in 2014 when our Mayor Mr. Ren� Girard sent to us an invitation: "Come join us since we are hosting a delegation from Morganville. These people or their representatives who did so many good things for us after the war."

Once again, a big thank you from the bottom of my heart. VIVE L�AMERIQUE.

From my little village of F�ves, I send you big, big kisses and hold you tenderly in my arms.

Freeland and Vaughan are planning a 10-day guided tour to the F�ves area next June, including Metz and Verdun, France and Trier, Germany. Visits to Bastogne, Belgium and Luxembourg will be added if there is sufficient interest. More details can be found at www.morganvillefeves.org.


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