The parachute that saved Thomas La Grua’s life after his airplane was shot down throughout World War II was made right into a costume for the daughter of the household that hid him from the Nazis.
That was one of many bits of historical past that 75-year-old Frank La Grua of Delray Seashore found this summer time when he visited France to satisfy the household that stored his father protected in the course of the warfare. His father died just a few years again. However Frank was enthusiastically embraced by those that remembered Thomas, or “Tom” as his saviors known as him.
“All people over there was thrilled to see me,” La Grua mentioned. “It meant as a lot to the individuals I met because it did to me.”
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In 1944, Thomas La Grua was working as a gunner when his airplane was shot down throughout a bombing raid over France. The pilot was killed, the airplane was crashing, and La Grua’s solely choice was to parachute out.
He adopted his coaching: Bounce, depend to 10 and pull the wire. He landed on farmland in Nazi-occupied Cardonville, France, the place he was discovered and sheltered by a neighborhood household.
After the warfare, La Grua returned to the states to stay a quiet and reserved life, hardly ever talking of his service. However he shared tidbits.
Downed fighter hidden in plain website
“We grew up on the tales of my father,” Frank La Grua mentioned. “It was handed down via generations.”
After the airplane went down, a farmer identify Gilbert Marbaix, his spouse, Marie Terese, and their household hid La Grua in a rabbit hut at first. They ultimately took him inside and hid him within the attic.
Marbaix and his sons couldn’t take away La Grua’s aviator ring, so the household lined it with bandages and rooster blood so the Nazis wouldn’t spot it.
When Nazis arrived on the farm, La Grua cooked them breakfast, pretending to be deaf and mute.
Three months later, the French had been liberated. Gilbert Marbaix purchased La Grua a go well with, and city residents hoisted him on their shoulders to rejoice.
Monitoring father’s saviors with one decades-old letter
After La Grua returned to the U.S., he acquired one letter from the Marbaix household in 1947 and by no means heard from them once more.
Within the letter, written in English, the Marbaixes shared household information and informed him he was missed. The be aware was all that La Grua’s heirs needed to go by when looking for details about the veteran’s French protectors.
Darren Silverman, who’s married to La Grua’s granddaughter Allison, enlisted the assistance of his cousin Jeff Kagan, an beginner genealogist.
“I by no means discovered anybody in France earlier than,” Kagen informed Silverman, “however I’ve a French buddy you’ll be able to speak to.”
Silverman was launched to E. David Benaym, a French journalist and correspondent in Israel. Benaym acquired a duplicate of the 1947 letter and did some analysis. He tracked down somebody in Bagnone Metropolis Corridor who discovered one Marbaix descendant.
The issue was, she died final 12 months. He then ordered the dying certificates, which listed her father Gilbert Marbaix and famous a daughter named Agathe.
Silverman discovered the daughter on Fb and despatched a determined message: “Pardon my interruption however my household is looking for the descendants of Gilbert Marbaix. He would’ve been a farmer throughout WW2.”
A response got here a day later. “My Uncle Robert remembers Thomas properly, he remembers taking part in together with his ring and hiding it with a blindfold.”
By way of Agathe, Frank La Grua and Robert Dumesnil lastly acquired in contact.
Seems, the Marbaix household (there have been 10 kids altogether) had been operating a search of their very own. Looking for Thomas, they’d even written a letter to the U.S. Military in 1994 that was solely just lately found.
As soon as linked, Frank flew to Good, France, this summer time to satisfy Dumesnil and his household. They took a street journey to Ardennes to satisfy Gilbert’s household after which to Cardonville to see the farmhouse the place Thomas La Grua sheltered.
Recollections nonetheless crisp in France
Dumesnil, now 84, nonetheless recollects being a 6-year-old within the warfare and serving to disguise the American soldier for 3 months.
“Your individuals gave up your lives for us. You gave up your lives so we may have freedom,” Robert’s brother-in-law, Francois, mentioned to Frank La Grua.
As Frank traveled to go to the varied relations, he was handled as one among them. At one home, they’d home made pie and low. On the farmhouse, they loved a feast and toasted Tom with Champagne.
At one metropolis corridor, a girl gave Frank an envelope. Inside was an inventory of males on Tom’s flight mission and what occurred to them. Three evaded seize.
“Each time my father went on a airplane he needed to suppose it was a suicide mission,” La Grua mentioned. “I’m certain it took its toll on numerous these guys — not simply my father.”