War and Peace in N D de Cenilly
[Page last updated 1 Septembert 2015]
Armistice Day (11 November) is a national holiday. Each commune in the canton has its own war memorial and each takes its turn to host the ceremony. The format is a Mass in the commune church accompanied by music from the local band and laying of wreaths at the war memorial, followed by a parade and a glass of friendship.
D-Day (6 June 1944) is also remembered each year and the format is the same. On D-Day (6 June 1944) a Lancaster bomber of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was shot down and crashed in a field near Cerisy-la-Salle. All seven of the crew perished: the pilot was Australian, the other crew British. There is now a memorial in Cerisy-la-Salle at the foot of the hill on the road to Notre Dame de Cenilly, where ceremonies are held each year in memory of the crew. We have a family connection with D-day: our French grandchildren's great grand-father took part in the raid on the Merville battery (simultaneous with Pegasus Bridge).
Liberation (July 1944)
Notre Dame de Cenilly was liberated on 27 July 1944 by troops of the US 2nd Armored Division
Celebrations are held every year with re-enactment camps, rallies of WW2 vehicles and visits by (surviving) veterans and their families.
Souvenirs de Normandie is an account (in French) by Denise Wolnerman of her time as a young Jewish refugee in Normandy. Born in 1936, she started school in Paris 1942 and was already forced to wear a yellow star. Already aware of the danger represented to Jews by German soldiers, she.was sent to Normandy. This is her own story (with photographs) of her evacuation to Normandy and her time in N D de Cenilly from March 1943 to September 1944 (i.e. before and after the D-Day landings in June 1944).
Armistice Day (11 November) is a national holiday. Each commune in the canton has its own war memorial and each takes its turn to host the ceremony. The format is a Mass in the commune church accompanied by music from the local band and laying of wreaths at the war memorial, followed by a parade and a glass of friendship.
D-Day (6 June 1944) is also remembered each year and the format is the same. On D-Day (6 June 1944) a Lancaster bomber of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was shot down and crashed in a field near Cerisy-la-Salle. All seven of the crew perished: the pilot was Australian, the other crew British. There is now a memorial in Cerisy-la-Salle at the foot of the hill on the road to Notre Dame de Cenilly, where ceremonies are held each year in memory of the crew. We have a family connection with D-day: our French grandchildren's great grand-father took part in the raid on the Merville battery (simultaneous with Pegasus Bridge).
Liberation (July 1944)
Notre Dame de Cenilly was liberated on 27 July 1944 by troops of the US 2nd Armored Division
Celebrations are held every year with re-enactment camps, rallies of WW2 vehicles and visits by (surviving) veterans and their families.
Souvenirs de Normandie is an account (in French) by Denise Wolnerman of her time as a young Jewish refugee in Normandy. Born in 1936, she started school in Paris 1942 and was already forced to wear a yellow star. Already aware of the danger represented to Jews by German soldiers, she.was sent to Normandy. This is her own story (with photographs) of her evacuation to Normandy and her time in N D de Cenilly from March 1943 to September 1944 (i.e. before and after the D-Day landings in June 1944).