POSTED ON BEHALF OF STEVE LEE
Can any of your readers might be able to help me with their memories of life in the 1940's and in particular the Americans who lived amongst them in 1943 and 1944.
My name is Steve Lee; I left the UK with my wife Sarah 18 months ago to set up home here in Normandy, France. After much searching we settled on a house that needed restoring in the small village of La Madeleine, which is, situated only a few hundred yards behind the famous Utah Beach, one of the five D-day Landing Beaches. We decided to call our new home "Ivy House" after the US 4th Division, the patch they wore on the left arm of their Uniform was inherited from the original 4th Division of World War I, the insignia is composed of four green ivy leaves attached at the stems and opening at the four corners of a square on a brown background. The word "i-vy", as pronounced, suggests the characters used in the Roman Numeral "IV". The 4th Infantry then became known as the "Ivy Division" or the "Ivy League", their motto was "Steadfast and Loyal"
On the 6th June 1944, over 23,000 young soldiers of the US Army landed here at Utah Beach, many of them were entering combat for the first time with the US 4th Infantry Division, a Division which was to fight for Cherbourg, drive onto Paris and eventually end up on the banks of the Elbe River in Germany the following year. The 4th Division suffered appalling casualties during the three-month campaign in Normandy, many of the soldiers who entered Germany in 1945 had not landed on Utah Beach in June the year before, many of those that landed on D-Day had been killed, were listed as missing or had been sent back to England in Hospital Ships.
The US 4th Infantry Division played a major part in the Battle of Normandy and the liberation of Europe, living in a village so close to the beach where they landed has prompted me to research the Division in more detail and I have spent much time exploring the battle areas where they fought in the Summer of 1944. During my quest to find out more about this unit I was saddened to discover that very little has been written about them and their role in Europe in WWII.
On the 60 Anniversary of D-Day I was fortunate enough to meet a Veteran of the US 4th Division who landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, unfortunately there are only a handful like him now. As each year passes many of these Veterans of the Second World War are sadly leaving us, so I have decided to write a book about the Soldiers of the US 4th Division who left the United States after Christmas 1943 and arrived in England early in January 1944. When they arrived in England they were immediately sent by train to large camps or requisitioned housing in Southern England, many troops of the 4th were stationed in Devon and Dorset and just before D-Day they were massed around Plymouth, Exeter and Torquay. On June 5th 1944 they embarked upon ships, which would take them to the beaches of Normandy, a place from which many of them never returned.
In my search to find out more about these soldiers I would like to hear from anyone who may have had contact with soldiers from the 4th, perhaps there were troops stationed in your town, were there any Pubs in the area which were particularly popular with US troops, is there anyone out there that had a relationship with a US Soldier or even got married to one?
I would also very much like to hear any stories relating to life in general in Southern England in late 1944, and especially any stories relating to the Americans. Any information, photographs, newspaper cuttings. letters and related wartime memorabilia would be very helpful.
I can be contacted at the address below, or you can call me on 00 33 2 33 71 06 57
(dialled from the UK) and I'll call you back, evenings are the best time, alternatively, you can email me at info@ivyhousefrance.com.
Only myself as part of my research for my book will use any information given, I will be returning to England for a few days in March so if anyone wants to meet up, then would be a good time.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Lee
Ivy House, La Madeleine, 50480 Ste Marie Du Mont, France