Would �Adopt� Ruined Towns

New Aid Europe Plan

Locust Valley, N. Y.- (AP) - A movement to have American towns, cities and villages adopt devastated communities in Europe has been started in this community in Oyster Bay township, one of the richest in the United States.

Sponsors of the movement have named it �Operation Democracy:� Locust Valley, with a population of 5,000, has chosen to adopt the village of Ste. Mere-Eglise in Normandy, the first spot liberated by Allied troops after the D day landings. Among special reasons for choosing Ste. Mere-Eglise are:

-Col. Augustin Hart, Jr., a Locust Valley man, landed Airborne troops there to begin the struggle for the Cherbourg peninsula.

-Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., is buried in the military cemetery there. Earth from his grave has been mingled with earth on his father's grave in Oyster Bay.

-The �Operation Democracy� committee already has been in touch with the mayor of the French town to ask what his people need most.

December 12, 1947
Milwaukee Journal