16 minute read
Eliane Dartois Zanardi Digregorio Sandra McKinney
Eliane Dartois Zanardi DiGregorio
WWII FRENCH WAR BRIDE
This article ran first in May 2016 issue. By Sandra McKinney
It was in the tiny country village of Bétheniville in the Region of ChampagneArdenne, France that construction of an air field began in 1935. After three inactive years, only disturbed by a few aircraft landing, the airfield suddenly came to full life in September 1939 when war was declared against Germany. It was a farming community where the French Army along with the Royal Air Force had utilized the farmer’s fields to construct the air field. It was here that 14-year old Eliane Dartois lived with her parents, four other sisters and tiny little brother.
We sat at Eliane’s kitchen table here in Gallup as she recalled details of the beginning of WWII. Her beautiful French accent is still very evident after these many years in the United States. Eliane quietly explained, “Bétheniville was very close to the boarder of Germany. The RAF fighter planes would take off from the air field heading out for attacks, and just a short time later, we would hear the BOOM, BOOM of the bombs being dropped on Germany. Most of the fighter planes would complete their mission, but it was a sad sight when a big flare would light up the sky to indicate that a plane had not made it back home.” “I was old enough to understand what was happening,” Eliane said, “but I was too young to recognize the extent of the danger and the full implications of the war.” But all that came to startling reality when they were told by the French Army that they must vacate their home because the Germans were coming. Eliane vividly recalled, “It was a Sunday and my family and I were eating chicken and drinking wine when there was a pounding on the door. We were told by our French soldiers to leave
Eliane as a school girl in Béthaneville with others before the war. She is the second from the right. NOW. We were able to pack only a small suitcase for each of us and to grab our coats and get loaded onto an old bus.” It was not too far along the road when that bus broke down and everyone climbed off and started walking down the road carrying their suitcase and coat, all the while German planes were flying low overhead. The group realized that they were not safe traveling during the day, so they would hide in ditches and under trees during daylight and continue walking through the night. “There was a time when we were hiding in a ditch close to a lake and German bombs were dropping all around us. We could hear the booms and feel the earth shake from the bombs, but we were thankfully never hit,” Elaine said with a shudder. “Finally we reached the train that would take us to South France and the ocean, and we traveled for several days. The thing I remember most intensely there at the ocean was all the mosquitos; they were feasting on all of us new to the area, and the people who lived there by the ocean could not understand why we were so tasty,” Eliane explained as she brushed imaginary mosquitos from her arms. “Thankfully, we did not have to stay too long; probably about 6 months. We picked peaches during our time there to earn money for boarding and food. Then we again traveled by train to return back to Bétheniville. But life became very different when the Dartois family returned back home. Eliane’s little
Eliane before she married Angelo.
brother was only six, and he had contracted meningitis and he died, bringing great grief to the family during this time of war all around them. The German’s had overtaken their little town and watched everyone constantly. Mr. Dartois liked to listen to the news from London on his radio, but that was not allowed by the Germans. So it was the duty of one of the five sisters to be the lookout at the window to watch for the German guards. When a guard would get close to their home, the girls would tell their father to turn off the radio; as soon as the guard was far enough away again, Mr. Dartois would immediately turn the radio back on.
Along with the farms of Bétheniville, there were two factories that made cloth fabric. One of the factories was owned by a Jewish man. “For quite some time the Germans must not have known he was Jewish, but one evening he went missing and his wife never saw him again, she only found his eye glasses crushed on the ground,” Eliane sadly explained and she shook her head. “It was a horrible thing to see the trains when they would stop at Bétheniville to get water for the steam engine; you could see that the many, many Jewish people were standing packed into the train freight cars, and you could often see blood dripping from the bottom of the cars. It was a ghastly time, and terrified us all,” she said with wide eyes. “Many of the German officers learned to speak French or English and they would dress in Allied Uniforms from dead soldiers and knock on doors, trying to pose as friends, but they were actually trying to catch us harboring a Jew or doing something else they thought to be wrong.” During the German occupation, the young children were brain-washed by the many German guards to report their parents if they did anything wrong.
Thankfully, when the United States also entered into the war, times changed. The Allied Forces were winning the war then after several years. The little village was now protected by the French Army, Royal Air Force and American troops. Many of the Germans who were walking back to Germany would steal bicycles, horses, or anything they could use for transportation. A prison camp was built there at Bétheniville which housed many German prisoners of war. With fighting, bombs and German occupation behind them, there was time again for some happiness. Often, the Americans would hold dances at the church hall and invite troops from all around to attend. The German prisoners would happily provide the music for the dances! Big Army trucks would bring soldiers from many small communities all around to come participate in the fun. Eliane had learned to be a beautician and would fix her hair and for many of the ladies so they could look pretty for the dances. One such dance brought U.S. Army Pvt. Angelo Zanardi to Bétheniville and he was very attracted to young Eliane Dartois. He would return many times for the dances and to just visit this beautiful young woman. Shortly before it was time for Zanardi to return to the United States, he asked for the hand of Eliane Dartois in marriage. Eliane laughs when she explains, “My older sister Sylviane went to see the French Catholic priest and had him contact Fr. Ardy at the Catholic Church in Gallup in the United States to learn about the Zanardi family. My parents did not disapprove; they liked Angelo, but they were sad that I would be moving so far away.” In France, a couple must be married first by the mayor of the community, and once that is done, then they have a marriage ceremony in the Church. After the wedding, Zanardi shipped back home and Eliane was left there in France for about five months to arrange her papers and all her travel itinerary to America. There were thousands of young war brides who were doing the same thing; they had each been swept off their feet by the American soldiers (and soldiers of others countries, as well). It was arranged to group the young women by where they would be traveling and they all boarded different ships to carry them to their destinations. Eliane traveled with another lady (Helen) who was from Belgium. When they got off the ship in New York they ended up having to stay there for a while as the train workers were on strike. Eliane and Helen were eventually able to travel by train to Gallup, New Mexico and arrived in 1946 to an entirely new life with their new husbands. Eliane and Helen would remain friends here in Gallup until the time of Helen’s passing.
Upon arriving here in the U.S., many people suddenly changed her French name of Eliane to that of Elaine. She will answer to both, but I personally think the French pronunciation is very beautiful. “I didn’t speak English when I got here”, Eliane said. “Angelo had learned to speak French during the war and that was the only way I could communicate. I would speak to him in French and his family would speak to him in English and Angelo would share all the words back and forth that we spoke. It was a confusing, but fun time to be learning so many new things about my new home and new in-laws. Communication became easier when I eventually
Eliane and Angelo before the wedding. Eliane and sister Sylvianiane in town.
Eliane and Angelo Zanardi with her sister Christiane on wedding day.
Eliane and Angelo Zanardi outside the church on their wedding day.
learned English.” Angelo went to work for the United States Postal Service for several years upon his return from the war. The young couple had two children, Antoinette “Toni” and Pete. Angelo’s sister Mary and brother-inlaw Charlie owned “Charlie’s Bar” in Lupton, Arizona. The young family moved to Lupton to take over Charlie’s Bar. The kids started grade school in Sanders, Arizona. Eliane was also attending school at this time to become a U.S. Citizen. She is very proud of her American citizenship, but she has also found the opportunity to travel back to France to see family, plus her sisters came to the United States to visit. (She still has one sister and nieces and a nephew in France.)
They soon realized the children needed schooling in Gallup, so they sold the bar in Lupton and moved back to Gallup and bought a nice home in the Mossman area. Eliane and Angelo then purchased two different bars in Gallup that they would operate together for several years until they sold the bars and purchased a laundromat which was again a team operation. Their life together was always one of teamwork. Whatever new enterprise Angelo started, Eliane was working with him side-by-side, plus raising the children. Eliane would get the kids up in the mornings, make breakfast and get them off to school, while Angelo went to work early and got the day’s business started. Later on in the day, he would pick up Eliane and take her to work for a second afternoon shift. Angelo would bring her home in time to be with the children and cook supper for the family. Her son Pete said his mom was always a hardworking partner to his dad, plus a loving and caring mother. “She never complained about the work, the time in the bars, or the heat of the laundromat. I really admire my mom for all that she did for the family,” Pete said with pride.
They worked hard and set aside savings; the children did well in school and life progressed. Pete joined the Air Force, Toni got married and moved to Albuquerque. Angelo and Eliane were blessed to be able to retire at an early age. Angelo was 50 and enjoying retirement when tragedy struck as Angelo was diagnosed with lung cancer. He fought valiantly against the dreaded disease, but succumbed to the lung cancer when he was only 53. The tears welled in Eliane’s eyes as she said, “Pete was stationed at the Alamogordo Air Base, and Angelo wanted to see Pete before he died. Pete drove from Alamogordo to Albuquerque and arrived just two hours before Angelo passed.” Eliane, Toni and Pete were all there with him when Angelo died. Eliane had not learned to drive a car in all the years before, but during Angelo’s illness, Toni had insisted that she learn to drive. This was now a time of loneliness, but also of independence as she learned new skills to care for herself without her husband.
After several years as a widow, Eliane met a retired Gallup fireman, Freddie DiGregorio. They were married in a nice ceremony at Gallup Fire Station #1 with Toni and Pete as attendants, and also with friends and many firemen approving the union. This was a time when Eliane found a new social life as she and Freddie attended dances and went out to dinner with friends. They shared several good years together, but tragically, Freddie also succumbed to lung cancer, leaving Eliane a second-time widow. That evil cancer was to play part in another tragic loss when her daughter Toni also lost her battle to lung cancer eleven years ago at the age of 58. “Losing my daughter was the most difficult time of my life,” Eliane stated with tears in her eyes.
There have been many heartbreaking times for this lovely woman from Bétheniville, France, but her positive and giving attitude keeps her going. She still lives on her own, still drives her little car here locally to the grocery store or to visit a couple of friends at Little Sisters of the Poor. There are nuns at Little Sisters who speak French, and she enjoys speaking her beautiful native language with them. She has not been back to France in quite a while, as her last trip was with her daughter Toni. But she speaks in French often by telephone with her surviving sister, nephew and nieces who still live in France. Her best friends now are her son, Pete, who lives here in Gallup, and her grand-daughter Patricia and great-grandson Bruce, who live in Albuquerque. Eliane has always worked hard and has been willing to help and give to all those around her. She survived a war and tragic times in her home country, lost her little brother at a very young age, lost her parents and three sisters, all of her in-laws, out-lived two husbands and her own beloved daughter, plus so very many of her friends.
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