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Poniedzialek, 16.06.1997 ISSN 1067-4020 nr 153
________________________________________________________________________
W numerze:
Tadeusz K. Gierymski - Jak o nas pisza: JPII odwiedza Polske
Malgorzata Zajac,
Izabella Wroblewska - Z podrozy papieskiej
Tadeusz K. Gierymski - Jak o nas pisza: JPII o klerze i polityce
Tadeusz K. Gierymski - All American Screaming Eagles
________________________________________________________________________
Dwa wydarzenia pragniemy upamietnic w tym numerze: jedno z najblizszej
przeszlosci, czyli niedawno zakonczona pielgrzymke Jana Pawla II do
Polski, a drugie dawniejszej natury, czyli inwazje Normandii w czerwcu
1944. J.K_ek
________________________________________________________________________
Tadeusz K. Gierymski
Jak o nas pisza - Jan Pawel II odwiedza Polske.
POPE RETURNS TO HIS CHANGED POLISH HOME
=======================================
writes Ms. Jane Perlez in today's (5/31/1997) NYT.
This eleven days visit, because of his age and health, "may be his
valedictory pilgrimage," and
the political and religious stakes are higher than at
any time since his stirring visits in the late 1970s
and '80s gave strength to the Solidarity movement.
The 77-year-old pope will find a church where a
conservative faction appears to have the upper hand,
and a political scene excited by parliamentary
elections in September between the former communists
and a regrouped Solidarity, which is now in
opposition.
This visit is taken seriously by both Solidarity and the current power
structure: the former hope to us it promote their political aims, and
the latter "to minimize the political damage."
The visit comes as Poland, the biggest and
economically most powerful country in Central Europe,
reaches out to join Western institutions. The pope has
forcefully encouraged the process, although many of
his Polish bishops have been far less enthusiastic.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first prime minister after the fall of the
communists, said:
It is very important what the pope will say.
Reconciliation is absolutely needed here. It all
depends on whether he will talk about evaluating the
past with no hatred, and whether he will prepare Poles
to live with others as they aim to be part of a united
Europe."
Mazowiecki is concerned that the pope may
not be fully informed about the activities of
"fundamentalist centers" within the church.
He was
referring in part to Radio Maria, a church-financed
station that used unusually raw language to campaign
against the new Constitution ...
which, says Ms. Perlez,
prepares Poland for full integration in Europe but
does not touch on the subject of abortion, to the
annoyance of many Polish clerics and their supporters.
The new Constitution was approved in a referendum with a low voter
turnout last week.
It does incorporate a number of the church's demands,
including a ban on homosexual marriages and a
guarantee to the right to religious education in
public schools.
Although
the general secretary of the Polish episcopate, Bishop
Tadeusz Pieronek, a moderate, said this week that the
pope would not involve himself in politics during the
visit,
Ms. Perlez reminds the reader that
... the pope's strong stand against abortion, and the
decision by the Constitutional Tribunal on Wednesday
to overturn a liberalized abortion law that was pushed
through by the coalition of former communists, makes
it inevitable that the visit will have political
effects.
Parliamentary elections are near, and
public-opinion polls show the governing Democratic
Left Alliance, made up of former communists, neck and
neck with the resurgent Solidarity coalition, an
alliance of some 30 small right-wing parties.
The Solidarity group, which does not include the
former President Lech Walesa, who led Solidarity in
the 1980s, or many of his former colleagues, has made
a stricter abortion law a centerpiece of its campaign.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski's signing the liberalized abortion bill
last year angered the pope, and delayed by some months Mr. Kwasniewski's
audience with him.
During the papal visit, Kwasniewski will be working
hard to appear as a leader the pope likes to do
business with.
Kwasniewski is to meet privately with the pope on
Saturday and is to be present at other stops on the
tour. He hopes to minimize the gains that the
Solidarity leader, Marian Krzaklewski, will try to
reap from the visit. Solidarity has already printed
reams of pope posters embellished with the group's
logo.
Last week the diocese of Lodz heated up the controversy over abortion by
refusing
to allow a well-known medical professor, Dr. Waclav
Dec, funeral rites on the grounds that he had defended
the right of women to an abortion.
Mr. Mazowiecki threw up his hands when asked about the Dec controversy.
Don't ask me about it.
"It's horrible," he said, adding that the decision
was another sign of the strength of the "fundamentalist"
wing and the difficulty that the church is having in
adjusting to a democratic Poland.
John Paul II plans
to spend time in Zakopane, the heart of the Tatra
Mountain region in southern Poland, where he used to
hike, and in the intellectual center of Cracow, where
he lived during World War II and then became bishop
and cardinal.
Will it be his last grand trip to Poland? There are such concerns
although they have not been aired publicly.
Bishop Pieronek expressed the official emphasis of the church
authorities on the personal nature of this trip, when he said:
It is a return to the places most dear to him.
-------
WIATR GNIE SIEROCE SMREKI...
Wiatr gnie sieroce smreki,
W okna mi deszcz siecze;
Cicho sie/ moja dusza
Po mglawych drogach wlecze.
Ku turniom plynie krzesanym,
Ku sciezkom nad przepasciami,
Gdzie widmo bozych tajemnic
Zmaga sie/ w szumach z nami.
Ku wierchom da/zy strzelistym,
Spowitym w sloneczne zlota,
Gdzie o bezbrzeznych przestrzeniach,
Samotna sni te/sknota.
Wiatr gnie sieroce smreki,
Mglawica deszczem proszy...
Hej, gory! zakle/te gory!
Te/sknico mojej duszy!
Jan Kasprowicz
***
Pamietam dokladnie ten moment w 1978 r. gdy dowiedzialem sie, ze habemus
papam. W mieszance mych uczuc dominowalo wspolczucie, ze reszte zycia na
obczyznie spedzi, i tam nawet pogrzebany bedzie...
________________________________________________________________________
Malgorzata Zajac
NA POWITANIE POD TATRAMI - "ZBOJNICKI"
======================================
W srode tuz po godz. 21 przy zapadajacym juz zmierzchu nad Zakopanem
pokazala sie eskadra papieskiego orszaku. Ladowanie mialo miejsce na
stadionie lodowym COS (Centralnego Osrodka Sportowego), nieopodal
"Ksiezowki", ktora na 3 dni stala sie papieska rezydencja. Dostojnego
goscia wital kardynal Macharski w towarzystwie burmistrza Zakopanego
Bachledy-Curusia. Burmistrz wreczyl Ojcu Swietemu Piotrowe klucze do
miasta z uchwytami w ksztalcie spinek goralskich. Wszystko odbylo sie
kameralnie, nie bylo zadnych przemowien oficjalnych, ani mikrofonow.
Tylko goralska kapela zagrala papiezowi "zbojnickiego".
Jan Pawel II podszedl do muzykantow i powiedzial zartobliwie, nawiazujac
do popularnej spiewki "hej powiadali, powiadali, zescie Janosika
zarabali". Pozniej, odjezdzajac juz papamobile, wciaz wybijal rytm
granych przez goralska kapele skocznych melodii.
Powitanie w Zakopanem mialo skromny, prosty charakter - bez zadnej
pompy. Ale bylo niezwykle serdeczne. Jan Pawel II szerokim usmiechem
powital Podhale. Powiedzial tylko "na was zawsze mozna liczyc".
Wprost z ladowiska Ojciec Swiety pojechal aleja Przewodnikow
Tatrzanskich na miejsce odpoczynku - do "Ksiezowki", lezacej niedaleko
przy drodze do Kuznic. Oczywiscie wzdluz ulicy wiwatowaly tysiace
wiernych, w wiekszosci poprzebieranych w stroje regionalne. Na pobliskim
Rondzie zgromadzilo sie kilka tysiecy ludzi. Wiecej nie dalo sie
wcisnac. Na Antalowke i Koziniec wyleglo kilkanascie tysiecy osob,
witajac kawalkade papieska setkami palonych ognisk, ktore robily duze
wrazenie w zapadajacych ciemnosciach.
Na drugi dzien papiez wstal o 6,00 rano. O 7,30 odprawil msze. Od 9 do
10,30 przy pieknej pogodzie siedzial sobie na balkonie i czytal ksiazke.
Jaka - nie wiem. Potem pojechal papamobilem na ladowisko i odlecial
smiglowcem na zachod. Gorale sledzili lot i meldowali telefonicznie do
miejscowego radia. Stad wiem, ze papieski helikopter oblecial kilka razy
Babia Gore i polecial w strone Rokicin Podhalanskich (kolo Chabowki).
Tam mieszkancy byli przygotowani do wizyty z powietrza i ulozyli na
powitanie ogromny napis z kwiatow (trzeba wiedziec, ze Rokiciny - to
dawna parafia papieskiego osobistego sekretarza, ks. Stanislawa
Dziwisza)
Potem papiez przelecial nad Dunajcem w strone nowej zapory i Pienin.
Nastepnie smiglowiec zawrocil nad Tatry i znizyl sie nad Polane
Rusinowa. Na Polanie obserwowalo go okolo 200 osob. Do Ksiezowki
powrocil na obiad o 12,40. Po obiedzie wypoczywal do 18-tej. Po czym ...
odjechal, tym razem samochodem przez Poronin, Bukowine do Morskiego Oka.
Tam odwiedzil schronisko i zadumal sie na chwile nad jeziorem, a wieczor
byl wyjatkowo piekny.
Do Zakopanego powrocil przez Jaszczurowke, gdzie zatrzymal sie na chwile
w klasztorze siostr Urszulanek. Tam przeciez, jeszcze jako Karol Wojtyla
spedzal urlopy. Wczoraj wieczor przez kilka minut przebywal w "swoim"
starym pokoju. Okolo 21 powrocil swoim opancerzonym Mercedesem na noc do
Ksiezowki.
Dzis przed poludniem pod Krokwia przy wspanialej pogodzie papiez
odprawil msze sw. dla ponad 300 tys. osob. Okolo 30 tys. pielgrzymow
uczestniczylo w uroczystosci w pieknych strojach regionalnych.
W miescie panuje podniosla, swiateczna atmosfera. Najefektowniej
udekorowane jest sanktuarium na Krzeptowkach iluminowane tysiacem
kolorowych,migajacych swiatel. Zostanie ono jutro konsekrowane przez
papieza. Tam wlasnie w specjalnie przygotowanym apartamencie, jutro rano
Ojciec Swiety przyjmie exprezydenta Lecha Walese. Kosciol na
Krzeptowkach wybudowany zostal na pamiatke ocalenia papieza po zamachu w
maju 1981 r.
"TRWAJCIE JAK TEN KRZYZ NA GIEWONCIE"
=====================================
Jeszcze raz Zakopane.
Pierwsi uczestnicy wczorajszej mszy sw. pod Wielka Krokwia przybyli na
miejsce uroczystosci juz w przeddzien po poludniu. Wiele osob spedzilo
noc pod golym niebem, mimo ze przejmujacy wiatr od strony tatrzanskich
wierchow dawal sie mocno we znaki. Przed godz.23 biwakujacych
pielgrzymow pozdrowil metropolita krakowski kardynal Macharski, ktory
odbywal wieczorny spacer droga pod Reglami.
O polnocy pod Krokwia zjawili sie pirotechnicy z brygady
antyterrorystycznej z sympatycznym psem, ktory wabi sie Ambi.
Trzyipolroczny wilczur ma wech szczegolnie wyczulony na materialy
wybuchowe. Na szczescie pod zadnym ze sprawdzanych wlazow do studzienek
kanalizacyjnych nie zatrzymal sie dluzej.
W nocy na zakopianski dworzec przyjezdzaly pociagi specjalne z
pielgrzymami z calej Polski. Zakopianskie Krupowki ludzaco przypominaly
Marszalkowska w godzinach szczytu. Od czwartej rano pod Krokiew szly juz
wielkie tlumy. Rodowici Zakopianczycy mowili, ze tylu ludzi naraz w
Zakopanem jeszcze nie widzieli.
Tyle wiary tom ja w zyciu nie widziol. Ciagna calutka noc,
jakby nawalnica ludzka. Gdzie sie ten narod pomiesci ?
No i goralszczyzna sie nam nagle odrodzila. Ludzie - i to
mlodzi - jak nigdy, zamawiaja serdaki, portki z parzenicami,
kwieciste spodnice.
Wzajemna zyczliwosc byla widoczna na kazdym kroku. Mlodziez koczujaca
noca wokol Wielkiej Krokwi zachowywala sie godnie i z pogoda ducha.
Niektorzy starsi pielgrzymi byli jednak mniej zdyscyplinowani,
przeskakujac barierki i wdrapujac sie na wygodne do obserwacji punkty -
skaly i pagorki. Harcerze bialej sluzby mieli z nimi troche roboty.
Od rana swiecilo pieknie slonce, przyslaniane stopniowo gdzies od okolo
jedenastej slabymi chmurkami. Do sektorow naprzeciw oltarza naplywali
ubrani w regionalne stroje gorale. Oni wlasnie mieli cieszyc oko papieza
barwnymi serdakami, guniami, chustkami i eleganckimi kierpcami. Jedna z
tych goralek, ubrana w efektowny stroj z rozowymi koralami, zapytana
przez dziennikarzy , czego spodziewa sie po homilii Ojca Swietego,
odpowiedziala ze smiechem, ze "Ojciec Swiety zle nie powi, ino dobrze".
Podczas mszy wierni niezwykle zywo reagowali na slowa papieza.
Szczegolnie na te fragmenty homilii, ktore nawiazywaly w tresci do
Zakopanego i Podhala
Pozdrawiam was wszystkich, zwlaszcza mieszkancow Zakopanego,
gorali podhalanskich. Dziekuje za ten wymowny hold Podhala,
zawsze wiernego Kosciolowi i Ojczyznie. Na was zawsze mozna
liczyc.
Kiedy konczyl sie wiek XIX, a rozpoczynal nowy, ojcowie wasi
na szczycie Giewontu postawili krzyz. Ten krzyz tam stoi i trwa.
Jest niemym, ale wymownym swiadkiem naszych czasow. Rzec mozna,
ze ten jubileuszowy krzyz patrzy w kierunku Zakopanego i Krakowa,
i dalej, w kierunku Warszawy i Gdanska. Ogarnia cala nasza ziemie
od Tatr po Baltyk. Chcieli wasi ojcowie, aby Chrystusowy krzyz
krolowal w szczegolny sposob w tym pieknym zakatku Polski.
I tak tez sie stalo.
To wasze miasto rozlozylo sie, rzec mozna u stop krzyza, zyje
i rozwija sie w jego zasiegu. Mowia o tym przydrozne kapliczki
pieknie rzezbione i z troska pielegnowane. Chrystus towarzyszy
wam w codziennej pracy, jak i na szlakach gorskich wedrowek.
Mowia o tym koscioly tego miasta, te stare, zabytkowe, kryjace
w sobie cala tajemnice wiary i poboznosci, a takze te niedawno
powstale dzieki waszej ofiarnosci.
Umilowani bracia, nie wstydzcie sie tego krzyza. Starajcie sie
na codzien podejmowac krzyz i odpowiadac na milosc Chrystusa.
Broncie krzyza, nie pozwolcie, aby Imie Boze bylo obrazane
w waszych sercach, w zyciu rodzinnym, czy spolecznym.
Przed przyjazdem pod Wielka Krokiew papiez zatrzymal sie na krotko w
kosciele Sw. Krzyza. Witala go tam czterdziestoosobowa Polonijna
Orkiestra Deta "Trojcowo" z Chicago. Orkiestranci, ubrani w paradne
stroje podhalanczykow, odegrali papiezowi "sto lat", a gdy dostojny gosc
wchodzil po schodach do kosciola zagrali mu "Pierwsza Brygade". Jan
Pawel II byl tym bardzo wzruszony.
Z kosciola wychodzil natomiast juz przy wtorze melodii goralskich.
Zatrzymal sie przy schodach by pozdrowic wiernych i popatrzyc na
Giewont. Nie na darmo parafie ta nazwano "Tatrzanska". Przy tak
wspanialej pogodzie i przejrzystym powietrzu, widok na Giewont ze stopni
tego kosciola, wybudowanego w czasach, kiedy Jan Pawel II byl jeszcze
arcybiskupem krakowskim, jest urzekajacy.
Jeszcze dwa slowa o "Ksiezowce", ktora podczas pobytu papieza w
Zakopanem jest jego rezydencja. Wiedomo, ze wybudowal ja w 1875 roku
nadlesniczy Gustaw Finger. Na poczatku wieku dom nalezal do dr
Bronislawa Chwistka, ojca wybitnego matematyka, filozofa, teoretyka
sztuki i malarza - Leona Chwistka. Zwany byl "Adasiowka". Czesto bywali
w nim : Tytus Chalubinski, Witkacy, Adam Chmielowski i Ignacy
Paderewski. W 1909 roku zostal wykupiony przez ksiezy na dom
wypoczynkowy.
Ow Dom Zdrowia Ksiezy, zwany od tamtego momentu "Ksiezowka" byl przez
lata nie tylko miejscem odnowy duchowej i fizycznej, ale promieniujacym
na trzy zabory osrodkiem oswieconego patriotyzmu. Przyjezdzali tam
wybitni duchowni, miedzy innymi kardynalowie: Jan Puzyna, Aleksander
Kakowski, Edmund Dalbor, czy pozniej: Adam Sapieha, Stefan Wyszynski,
Karol Wojtyla.
Niedawno "Ksiezowka" zostala rozbudowana i sklada sie z trzech roznych
budynkow. Niestety nie przypomina starego drewnianego budynku. Obecnie
znajduje sie tam kaplica, dobrze wyposazona biblioteka, oraz sale
konferencyjne. Przed budynkiem mozna podziwiac zadbany ogrod. Od strony
zachodniej do "Ksiezowki" przylega gesty i pachnacy las
swierkowo-jodlowy.
Karol Wojtyla znal bardzo dobrze "Ksiezowke" w starym ksztalcie. Dzisiaj
zajmuje narozny apartament na I pietrze. Sklada sie on z sypialni,
salonu wyposazonego w piekne, stylowe meble, i przedpokoju. Bez
specjalnych sprzetow i wygod.
Malgorzata
* * *
Izabella Wrobelwska
GAUDE MATER POLONIA
===================
W chwili gdy to pisze dobiega konca wizyta Jana Pawla II w Krakowie.
Dzis rano papiez odprawil msze sw. w krypcie sw. Leonarda na Wawelu, w
tym samym miejscu, w ktorym rozpoczal swoja posluge kaplanska z gora 50
lat temu. Potem odwiedzil dom na Kanoniczej 19, w ktorym mieszkal siedem
lat od 1951 roku. Przy okazji pobytu na Kanoniczej odwiedzil Instytut
im. Jana Pawla II na Kanoniczej 18.
Pozniej udal sie do siedziby Fundacji sw. Wlodzimierza przy ul.
Kanoniczej 15, co nie bylo oficjalnie planowane. Powital go bardzo
serdecznie prezes tej fundacji - dr Wlodzimierz Mokry, znany dzialacz
Zwiazku Ukraincow w Polsce, nawiazujac w swoim powitalnym przemowieniu
do kijowskiego chrztu Rusi z 980 roku.
Potem Jan Pawel II odwiedzil grob swoich rodzicow na Cmentarzu
Rakowickim, oraz Szpital Specjalistyczny, ktorego jest patronem od 7
lat. Poswiecil tam nowy budynek Kliniki Kardiochirurgii prof. Antoniego
Dziatkowiaka i spotkal sie z przedstawicielami sluzby zdrowia. Przed
chwila odwiedzil tez wybudowany kilka lat temu kosciol sw. Jadwigi i
pojechal na obiad do kurii.
Wczoraj w obecnosci okolo 1 mln 600 tys. wiernych Jan Pawel II
kanonizowal na Krakowskich Bloniach Jadwige, krolowa Polski.
Blonia - jedna z krakowskich osobliwosci, laka nieomal w sercu miasta.
Tedy, od Lasku Wolskiego, od Sikornika, od Wzgorza sw.Bronislawy, lipowa
aleja 3 Maja, Parkiem Jordana zielen wlewa sie do srodmiescia. Ta wielka
laka rzucona pomiedzy Polwsie Zwierzynieckie w Czarna Wies, byla juz
kilka razy swiadkiem historii.
W 1809 roku, gdy Krakow wlaczono do Ksiestwa Warszawskiego, Blonia
rozkwitly mundurami ulanow ksiecia Jozefa. Potem w roku 1849, gdy
legenda napoleonska nalezala juz do historii, na zwierzynieckim wygonie
stanely w ordynku inne wojska, rosyjskie. Ich przegladow przed karna
ekspedycja na Wegry dokonywal oberzandarm Europy - car Mikolaj I.
Potem, po ulanach ksiecia Pepi, po soldatach Mikolaja, przyszla kolej na
barwnie umundurowanych Austriakow. Pamietam z opowiadan babci, ze
zachwyt budzili dragoni w zlocisto-czarnych helmach, huzarzy w burkach,
a nawet landwera w czarnych kapeluszach z kogucimi piorami.
Wojskowe tradycje krakowskich Blon kultywowano w Polsce niepodleglej. To
tam w 1933 roku swietowali krakowianie 250-ta rocznice wiktorii
wiedenskiej, gdy po raz ostatni zatetnily tam konskie kopyta i
rozpostarly sie proporczyki na ulanskich lancach, a defilade przyjmowal
sam marszalek Jozef Pilsudski.
W ostatnich latach 3 razy Blonia byly miejscem papieskich mszy swietych.
Wczorajsza uroczystosc byla czwarta z kolei. W Krakowie najlepiej
pamieta sie spotkanie z papiezem z 1979 roku, ktore odegralo istotna
role w historii. Wtedy po skonczonej mszy Alejami Trzech Wieszczow dlugo
plynela ludzka rzeka. Ludzie unosili w sercach ziarenka nadziei, ktore
zakielkowaly kilkanascie miesiecy pozniej wielka pokojowa rewolucja.
Wczoraj tlum byl jeszcze wiekszy, jego reakcje byly gorace, ale spokojne
i godne. W porownaniu z nieco luzniejszymi, okraszonymi goralska muzyka
i dowcipem, spotkaniami papieza w Zakopanem i Ludzmierzu - spotkanie na
Bloniach bylo od poczatku do konca powazne i wypelnione skupieniem.
Krakow podjal papieza z dostojenstwem. Na dlugofalowe efekty papieskiej
wizyty przyjdzie nam poczekac.
Papiez mowil o nowej swietej jako o wzorze dla wspolczesnych, o jej roli
we wspolpracy narodow, a takze o jej zaslugach dla edukacji Polakow.
Wiedziala, ze tak sila panstwa, jak i sila Kosciola,
maja zrodla w starannej edukacji narodu; ze droga do
dobrobytu panstwa, jego suwerennosci i uznania w swiecie
wiedzie przez prezne uniwersytety.
To wlasnie glebi jej umyslu i serca zawdzieczasz, krolewska
stolico, ze stalas sie znaczacym w Europie osrodkiem mysli,
kolebka kultury polskiej i pomostem miedzy chrzescijanskim
Zachodem i Wschodem.
W czasie swej homilii Jan Pawel II kilkakrotnie powtorzyl slowa znanego
hymnu "Gaude Mater Polonia". Najwiecej miejsca poswiecil w swojej
homilii milosci, tej ktorej Jadwiga uczyla sie na czarnym, wawelskim
krucyfiksie. Wyrazem tej milosci byl "duch sluzby", ktory byl miara jej
wielkosci. I moim zdaniem wladza pojmowana jako sluzba stanowi wazna
teze homilii wygloszonej na Bloniach. Jako niezwykle wazny element tej
sluzby papiez okreslil wlasnie edukacje i rozwoj kultury narodu.
Przypominajac o tym, ze Jadwiga dbala o polska racje stanu, papiez
apelowal o zastanowienie sie nad "polskim czynem" - czy podejmowany jest
roztropnie , czy jest systematyczny i wytrwaly, czy nie uderza
przypadkiem w kogos nienawiscia lub pogarda.
Papieska homilie wielokrotnie przerywaly oklaski ponad poltoramilio-
nowego tlumu wiernych. Goraca owacje wzbudzilo tez pozdrowienie
wystosowane przez papieza do obecnych na mszy wiernych z Litwy, Wegier,
Czech i Slowacji.
Wzruszenie wywolaly tez slowa papieza skierowane do mlodziezy podczas
przemowienia poprzedzajacego modlitwe "Aniol Panski". Ojciec Swiety
przypomnial, ze mlodziez nalezy nierozlacznie do obrazu naszego miasta.
Madrej decyzji krolowej Jadwigi Krakow zawdziecza to, ze pozostaje wciaz
miastem mlodosci. Przypominajac osobiste wspomnienia, Jan Pawel II
wspomnial, jak przed laty bronil ruchu oazowego przed zagrozeniami ze
strony komunistycznych sluzb bezpieczenstwa.
Po mszy Jan Pawel II poswiecil i ukoronowal plaskorzezbe przedstawiajaca
Matke Boska z Kozielska i przypomnial w kilku slowach o tragedii
katynskiej.
Wczoraj wieczorem w krakowskiej kolegiacie sw. Anny papiez spotkal sie z
przedstawicielami srodowisk polskich szkol wyzszych i swiata kultury. Po
przywitaniu sie, niekiedy bardzo prywatnym, z naukowcami i ludzmi
kultury papiez wysluchal krotkich przemowien rektorow Uniwersytetu
Jagiellonskiego i Papieskiej Akademii Teologicznej, ktorzy zwrocili
uwage na problemy, z jakimi boryka sie obecnie polska nauka. Potem
przemowil do zebranych.
Rocznicowe rozwazania o przeszlosci polskiej nauki staly sie dla Jana
Pawla II inspiracja dla glebszej refleksji na temat jej przyszlosci.
Uczelnia wychowuje, ksztalci i troszczy sie o swoich wychowankow. Ta
troska jest natury duchowej. Chodzi o takie ksztaltowanie umyslow i
serc, by wychowankowie sluzyli prawdzie, a takze by czerpali radosc z
tego, co papiez nazywa "posluga myslenia". Wolnosci badan naukowych nie
wolno oddzielac od etycznej odpowiedzialnosci uczonego, nie wystarczy
wiec troska o formalna poprawnosc myslenia.
Papiez mowil wiec o roli uniwersytetu, jako wspolnoty ludzi poszuku-
jacych prawdy. Mowil o zagrozniach, o tym ze coraz czesciej czlowiek z
podmiotu staje sie przedmiotem nauki, a nawet - jak w inzynierii
genetycznej - jej surowcem, co rodzi zdeformowana wizje czlowieka.
Uniwersytet powinien wiec nie tylko skupiac ludzi o wiedzy encyklo-
pedycznej, ale takze uczyc myslenia, ktorego celem powinno byc szukanie
prawdy w imie dobra czlowieka.
Wsrod zaproszonych gosci byli znani ludzie kultury z Czeslawem Miloszem,
Jackiem Wozniakowskim, Janem Jozefem Szczepanskim, Andrzejem Wajda,
Halina Kwiatkowska, Krystyna Zachwatowicz.
Za godzine Krakow pozegna papieza, przed jego odlotem do podkarpackiej
Dukli.
Izabella
PAPIESKA WYSTAWA W COLLEGIUM MAIUS
==================================
Jednym z punktow programu wizyty Jana Pawla II w Malopolsce jest
spotkanie z ludzmi nauki, ktorego gospodarzami beda wladze Uniwersytetu
Jagiellonskiego i Papieskiej Akademii Teologicznej. W zwiazku z tym w
dwoch nowych salach wystawowych uniwersyteckiego muzeum w Collegium
Maius otwarto wczoraj wystawe dokumentow zwiazanych z pobytem Karola
Wojtyly w murach UJ.
Jego zwiazki z Uniwersytetem Jagiellonskim datuja sie od roku 1938, gdy
rozpoczal studia na polonistyce, a pozniej rowniez teologii. W 1983 roku
podczas pobytu w Krakowie juz jako papiez, otrzymal honorowy doktorat
tej uczelni.
Mottem wystawy sa slowa papieza, jakie skierowal 11 maja 1981 r. w
Rzymie do delegatow UJ
Zawsze nazywam z glebokim wzruszeniem Uniwersytet
Jagiellonski, moja Alma Mater, z ktora jestem tak
gleboko zwiazany, ktorej tak wiele zawdzieczam
w moim zyciu.
Ekspozycja zostala przygotowana przez kustosza Muzeum Uniwersytetu
Jagiellonskiego - Lucyne Beltowska. Podzielono ja na dwie czesci; w
pierwszej zaprezentowano nie znane dotad dokumenty z wczesnych
krakowskich lat Karola Wojtyly, a w drugiej wystawiono eksponaty
pochodzace juz z czasow papieskich.
W Collegium Maius mozna zobaczyc m.in. ankiete personalna Karola
Wojtyly, wlasnorecznie przez niego wypelniona, swiadectwa,
uniwersyteckie, karty wpisowe, arkusze ocen z egzaminow, na ktorych
prawie wszystkie oceny sa celujace, kopie dyplomu doktorskiego, wpisy do
ksiegi gosci Muzeum UJ z lat 60-tych i 70-tych.
Te~ niewielka~, ale za to bezpretensjonalna~ kolekcje~ pamiatek
dopelniaja dary jakie Jan Pawel II przekazal uniwersytetowi. Sa wsrod
nich medale papieskie, oryginalny rozaniec i faksymile monumentalnego
dziela Klaudiusza Ptolemeusza p.t. "Kosmografia", ktorego oryginal
znajduje sie w Bibliotece Watykanskiej. Mozemy tez podziwiac przy okazji
prezent jaki za kilka dni otrzyma wielki krakowianin - zloty medal
wybity z okazji 600-lecia odnowienia krakowskiej uczelni.
Po raz pierwszy mozna tez ogladnac zdjecia Karola Wojtyly z czasow,
kiedy zwiazany byl z "Konfraternia Teatralna 39", w tym unikatowe
tableau tego Studia Dramatycznego. Udostepnil je nestor krakowskiej
fotografii Pawel Bielec, ktory osobiscie je tez w 1939 roku wykonal.
Tableau zostalo przyozdobione szkicami weglem wykonanymi przez Tadeusza
Barweckiego, obecnie profesora Krakowskiej ASP. Mozna tez zobaczyc
fotografie wszystkich czterech miejsc, w ktorych Karol Wojtyla mieszkal
w Krakowie: domu przy ul. Tynieckiej 10, seminarium duchownego, Palacu
Biskupow Krakowskich i Dziekanki.
Po raz pierwszy zgromadzono w jednym miejscu trzy portrety Jana Pawla II
namalowane w ciagu 15 lat przez jednego artyste - znanego malarza Leszka
Sobockiego. Jest wsrod nich zamyslony "Polak", znany z wystawy Marka
Rostworowskiego. Uzupelnia je umieszczone w centrum ekspozycji wielkie
symboliczne plotno Feliksa Topolskiego, namalowane w 1978 roku. Na co
dzien portrety te eksponowane sa w roznych miejscach, naleza do zbiorow
: Muzeum Narodowego, Muzeum Archidiecezjalnego i Muzeum UJ. Dodatkowo na
scianach wisza niekonwencjonalne fotografie z wizyt Jana Pawla II w
krakowskiej uczelni.
Wystawa jest bardzo kameralnie i cieplo przygotowana. Taki wlasnie
charakter nadaje jej komentarz do przedstawionych pamiatek, zlozony
m.inn. z fragmentow wypowiedzi Karola Wojtyly - ksiedza, biskupa,
kardynala i papieza, o jego trwajacych do dnia dzisiejszego scislych
zwiazkach z uniwersytetem. Sa one nie tylko suchym zapisem historii, czy
wspomnieniem, ale takze maja wymiar kolezenski i duchowy.
Izabella
________________________________________________________________________
Tadeusz K. Gierymski
Jak o nas pisza - Jan Pawel II o klerze i polityce.
In 6/9/97 NYT article "Sentimental Trip For A Polish Pope" Ms. Celestine
Bohlen quotes Arkadiusz Forgiel, "an engineer, who stood on the edge of
the vast crowd, where all he could see of the pope was a tiny figure
behind a distant altar":
He is still, for us, an unshakable authority.
There is no one else who can compare with him.
Mr. Forgiel was eight years old when John Paul II made his historic trip
to Krakow in 1978. Now he has a child of his own, and he
joined more than a million other Poles Sunday on a vast
green meadow for another papal Mass, a now-familiar
event that seemed almost like a miracle a generation ago.
As Pope John Paul, now a frail 77, has moved into the
last days of a marathon tour of his homeland -- his
seventh visit as leader of the Roman Catholic Church
-- he has continued to draw enormous crowds at every
stop. But, as always, the biggest was here in the
city where he was a student and became a priest and
which he left in 1978, as a young cardinal, to become
the first Slavic pope in history.
Crowds started streaming into the city Saturday night,
with some people camping on the grounds of Blonie
Meadows, where the Mass was held, and others joining
three- and four-hour lines at confessionals in local
churches so that they could be ready to take communion
Sunday.
By morning, the roads leading to the park were packed
with people and kiosks, selling souvenirs, special
stamps and pungent-smelling sausages.
Ms. Bohlen reports that
Pope John Paul's last visit to Krakow was in 1991 when
the country was still undergoing the transition from
communism. In hindsight, many people here regard that
trip as his least successful -- both because of the
lecturing tone he used to warn his countrymen about
the dangers of permissiveness and because so many
Poles were too busy then exploring their new freedoms
to listen.
Rev. Mieczyslaw Malinski, an old friend and a fellow seminarian, said
that:
In 1991, people weren't paying attention. We didn't
realize at the time to what extent we had become
'Homus Sovieticus.' [sic] We thought we knew better
than the pope.
Rev. Maciej Zieba, "director of the local Third Millennium Institute,
which is dedicated to the study of the writings of Pope John Paul II,"
reflected on "the divisions that surfaced in Polish society after the
collapse of communism," and which "came as a surprise to many in
Poland's powerful Catholic church.
After the euphoria of the first visit, we didn't
realize how many people there were who didn't
appreciate the pope. Before, under communism, their
numbers were submerged.
This time, continues Ms. Bohlen
... the pope has shifted his tone, using words that
are more conciliatory and less stern. His message,
too, has been more upbeat. He has urged Poles to take
advantage of their new opportunities to explore their
history, to mend relations with their neighbors, and
to move forward.
At the Mass on Sunday he used the canonization of
Poland's revered Queen Jadwiga, the 14th-century
founder of a royal dynasty, to call on Poles to
rejoice in their heritage.
The Pope appealed to the political leaders of Poland
...to heed her example. "Undertaking great works in
the national and international sphere, she desired
nothing for herself," he said citing the queen's life
as an example of how religious faith and culture can
strengthen each other.
Mr. Forgiel too reacted positively to the Pope's mellower words:
He has referred more personally to us, and I have
found them more moving.
To me [tkg] the most important event of the pope's visit in Poland is,
as reported in today's NYT article by Ms. Celestine Bohlen - "Pope's
tone pleases old friends" - that
In a letter addressed to Polish bishops, the pope
clearly urged them to leave politics, economics and
culture to the lay members of the church. The church
may offer its believers spiritual guidance, he said,
but should not take on their role.
If all Polish bishops heed this advice, which, after all, reflects the
Canon Law, obligatory on all the faithful, lay and clerical, Polish
political life will become healthier, and the Polish Catholicism more
fully Christian and in compliance with the universal doctrine of the
Church.
Ms. Bohlen reports:
Now, on the eve of his departure for Rome, many here
say that on this trip the pope avoided the
confrontational tone he used in the past. Except for a
strong attack on abortion, which he speaks about
everywhere, and an equally strong defense of the use
of Catholic symbols in public places, Pope John Paul
largely kept his spiritual message away from politics.
Jacek Wozniakowski, "who as editor of the journal Znak accepted articles
from the priest who is now the pope, said that at first Father Wojtyla
had been reluctant to take part in local affairs."
I remember we had to convince him he had to read the
press at a time when all he was reading was his
mystics and his romantic writers whom he knew very
well. He used to say that the press should be read by
people who are involved in politics, and that wasn't
him.
All along he has thought that if the church mixes in
politics, it should only be because there is no one
else to perform the task. Now he is very keen to see
the church going back to its proper work, which is to
be a spiritual guide.
He feels, of course, that politics should be imbued
with moral values, but he understands there are those
among the clergy who mix in politics much too much.
***
tkg
________________________________________________________________________
Tadeusz K. Gierymski
ALL AMERICAN SCREAMING EAGLES
=============================
It's the sixth of June, and this date must not pass unnoticed.
***
FLIGHT
But night comes late in an English June and the trucks taking the
men to the runways unloaded them besides their aircraft in
daylight. Eighteen to each stick (planeload), they were tipped out
with a mountain of packages which it seemed impossible to
distribute about the human body. With each other's help, and then
that of the aircrew, they began. Private Donald Burgett, of the
506th Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, contemplated
his load.
One suit of Olive Drab, worn under my jump suit -
this was an order for everyone - helmet, boots,
gloves, main parachute, reserve parachute, Mae West,
rifle, .45 automatic pistol, trench knife, jump knife,
hunting knife, machete, one cartridge belt, two
bandoliers, two cans of machine gun ammo totalling 676
rounds of .30 ammo, 66 rounds of .45 ammo, one Hawkins
mine capable of blowing off the track of a tank, four
blocks of TNT, one entrenching tool with two blasting
caps taped on the outside of the steel part, three
first-aid kits, two morphine needles, one gas mask, a
canteen of water, three days supplies of K rations,
six fragmentation grenades, one Gammon grenade, one
orange and one red smoke grenade, one orange panel,
one blanket, one raincoat, one change of socks and
underwear, two cartons of cigarettes.
Burgett's multiplicity of knives reflected not a particular
bloodthirstiness but an anxiety, shared by all American
parachutists, about ease of escape after landing from his
parachute harness, which unlike the British pattern, was secured
not only by a single quick release catch but by five buckles.
Although in theory easily opened, in practice they all too often
defeated thumbs and fingers, because the harness served not merely
to support the man in descent but also to secure the enormous
load of kit close to his body, was therefore strained iron-hard
about him, and had to be cut if he was not to be dragged when he
touched ground.
Burgett was so heavily loaded this evening that he actually could
not accoutre himself, even by the normal method of lying down and
sucking in his stomach to fasten the last catch.
When I tried to lie down, I found it impossible to
bend at the waist and had to fall into prone position,
breaking the fall with my hands. Two Air Corps men
came up and asked if I needed help, I told one of them
to stand on my back while the other fastened the
bellyband; after which I found it impossible even to
get to my knees. The two men lifted me bodily, and
with much boosting and grunting shoved me up into the
plane where I pulled myself along the floor and with
the aid of the crew chief got into a bucket seat.
Later he found that 'the best way to ride was to kneel on the
floor' (a journalist who flew with them was to write that they
knelt in prayer), 'and rest the weight of the gear and the chutes
on the seat itself'.
DESCENT
The static line of the American T-5 parachute, a broad webbing
strap hooked at one end to the anchor cable in the aircraft, tied
at the other to the top of the parachute canopy, was fifteen feet
long. As the parachutist emerged from the cabin of the DC-3,
throwing himself outward towards the port wing with a pull of his
hands on the edges of the doorway, he was flicked by the
slipstream - a combination of the propeller wash and the wind of
the planes own forward movement - to the static line's end.
The resulting tug ripped the cover off the pack tray, exposing the
canopy of the parachute which it began to pull free by a thinner
cord attached to the canopy's apex. At the same time the jumper's
body, acting under the force of gravity, began to leave the
slipstream and fall earthwards. In the opening sequence of the
British X parachute, under which the 6th Airborne Division just
landed at the other end of the bridgehead, this separation of
jumper and canopy occurred at relatively low velocity, since the
static line deployed the rigging lines, twenty-two feet long,
joining canopy and jumper's harness so that he was at
rest, relative to the canopy itself, when it began to deploy.
With the T-5, however, separation of canopy and jumper was
dynamic, the canopy itself pulling the rigging lines from his pack
tray, and the resulting moment of arrest, as deploying canopy and
the falling body worked against each other through the rigging
lines, could be extremely severe. Known as the 'opening shock',
and dreaded by all, it exerted a force up to five G on the human
body and threatened to injure it if it was not properly adjusted.
At its apogee, it broke the tie at the end of the static line and
released parachutist and canopy to fall to earth together.
The sequence took three seconds and the descent, from seven
hundred feet, about forty. Burgett, who landed just north of St
Martin-de-Varreville, gives a vivid account of his experience:
Doubled up and grasping my reserve chute, I could feel
the rush of air, hear the crackling of the canopy as
it unfurled, followed by the sizzling rigging lines,
then the connector links whistling past the back of my
helmet. Instinctively the muscles of my body tensed
for the opening shock, which nearly unjointed me when
the canopy blasted open. I pulled the risers apart to
check the canopy and saw tracer bullets passing
through it; at the same moment I hit the ground and
came in backwards so hard I was momentarily stunned ...
The sky was lit up like the Fourth of July. I lay
there for a moment and gazed at the spectacle. It was
awe-inspiring. But I could not help wondering at the
same time if I had got the opening shock first or hit
the ground first; they were mighty close together.
***
Keegan John, "Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of
Paris," The Viking Press, New York, 1982, pp. 77-78, and 86-88.
St. Martin-de-Varreville lies, roughly, some three miles west of Utah
Beach. All American was the 82nd, Screaming Eagles the 101st, parachute
division of the US Army.
Part II
LANDING
Medicine could do nothing for those injured in the way
parachutists feared most - by landing with a malfunctioning or
unfurled parachute. Malfunctions are always rare with a static-
line parachute and, because the Americans carried a reserve (which
the British then did not), even more rarely fatal. There are no
surviving reports of fatal malfunctions from the 82nd or 101st on
June 6 (though one gloriously unlucky private managed to open his
reserve in his DC-3 as it approached the dropping zone, filling
the cabin with billowing silk and driving his stick companions
to flights of blasphemy unequalled even by the drill sergeants at
Fort Benning).
But a considerable number reported being dropped so low that their
parachute scarcely had time to deploy or of seeing others whose
canopies had not deployed at all. Burgett at St Martin-de-
Varreville saw a DC-3, coming in low and diagonally across the
field where he was struggling to unbuckle his harness, disgorge a
stick of
vague, shadowy figures... Their chutes were pulling out
of the pack trays and just starting to unfurl when they
hit the ground. Seventeen men hit the ground before their
chutes had time to open. They made a sound like large
ripe pumpkins being thrown down to burst against the ground.
Some sticks fell to their deaths because their pilots gave them
the green light when they had already crossed the east coast of
the Cotentin, though at least one dropped close enough to the
beach for most men in it to struggle ashore and hit a track
through minefields and German strongpoints to dry ground - as hard
a way of invading Europe as anyone found that day.
Many who landed on the Cotentin drowned all the same, for the
floods of the Douve and the Merderet, undetected on the aerial
photographs and invisible from the flight path, stood two and
three feet deep among the reeds and ripe hay of the water
meadows. A man making the regulation sideways roll on the landing
finished beneath the surface and, if he could not free himself on
one lungful of air from his imprisoning harness, breathed water
and died.
Private James Blue, an All American, just escaped that fate. A
North Carolina farm-boy, he was strong as well as fit, had the
good luck to find hard ground under the flood and managed to
struggle to his feet.
Before he found his balance, his parachute dragged him
over backwards, and he went under again, weighed down
by his equipment, fumbling at the buckles of his
harness... he was half dead when he got clear, sick
from the water he had swallowed and trembling from
the shock.
All along the valleys of the two little rivers, other parachutists
were fighting their own little battles with the unexpected enemy.
Corporal Francis Chapman, of C battery, 377th Artillery,
landed in water about five feet deep. Managed to stand
up after a bit of swimming. Reached down, got my jump
knife from the boot-top and slashed my harness,
cutting right through my jump jacket in the process.
I managed to wade towards shallow water.
Father Francis Sampson, Catholic chaplain of the 506th Infantry,
landed in water over his head, cut free his equipment and was then
dragged by his parachute to a shallow patch. He took ten minutes
to free himself from his harness, crawled back exhausted to where
he had touched first and, after five or six dives, recovered his
Mass equipment. As he did so, he saw first one, and then two other
aircraft crash in flames near by, and offered prayers for the
repose of the souls of the men within.
Hugh Pritchard, a radio operator with a set in his leg bag, fell
into water with 140 pounds of equipment securely fastened to his
body and a back injured by 'opening shock', lost his knife as he
struggled to cut his way to the surface and was reprieved at his
last gasp when his parachute collapsed and ceased to drag him
along the bottom.
The terror of that first night - he recalled in 1967 -
remains so vivid even today that sometimes I wake up
in a cold sweat and nearly jump out of bed.
GATHERING
Other jumpers had fallen into trees, into hedges, on to the anti-
glider poles sown across the flatter fields and known to the
German defenders as 'Rommel's asparagus', one - later to be made
famous in a scene in the film "The Longest Day - onto the steeple
of the church at Ste Mere-Eglise. But whatever their landing place
those who have avoided the water had reason to be grateful even
though a great number were injured on impact.
In one party of a hundred men assembled by the S-3 staff officer
of the 501st, a quarter had sprains or breaks. Some were far too
seriously hurt to move. Private Robert Barger, ironically medical-
aid man in General Maxwell Taylor's party, unintentionally
collapsed his canopy while swinging to avoid tracer on the way
down and hit very hard; he sustained a broken pelvis, cracked hip,
cracked ribs, broken arms and dislocated shoulder.
Others unintentionally wounded themselves in their haste to free
themselves from their harness, cutting their fingers or slashing
through their clothes into flesh. Private Ernest Blanchard, at Ste
Mere-Eglise, realized only after he got free that he had sawn off
the top of his thumb in the process.
But the sensation that afflicted all, hurt or whole, senior
officer or junior private, was that of intense and unnerving
loneliness. Almost everyone could see and hear the sounds and
sights of battle, close at hand or far away. A few ... could tell
where they were. The majority were lost, lonely and afraid.
The cloud bank, which had broken the careful approach run of the
aircraft, scattered the serials all over the south of the
Cotentin, carried them far from the beacons which the pathfinders
had set up to mark the dropping zones, and encouraged so many
pilots to flash green lights at speeds faster than those normal
for jumpings, was the cause of a dispersal far wider than the
airborne planners had feared even in their 'worst case'
appreciations.
... one of the battalions was dropped well, but the other two were
scattered and had to spend hours or even days piecing themselves
together.
This piecing together, with which all parachute operations began,
was in theory simple. A drill, called 'rolling up the stick'
taught the soldiers who had jumped first to note the direction of
the 'aircraft stream' as soon as they landed and to follow it, the
soldiers dropped last to move against its direction and the
soldiers in the middle of the stick to stand firm until the two
ends met them.
But the dispersion of the aircraft serials on this night left no
'aircraft stream' for the jumpers to observe. Because many of the
pathfinders had been dropped in the wrong place or had been
attacked by the defending Germans, there were few homing beacons
for the main bodies to form on. And the battalions' own
marshalling parties found themselves often in the wrong place or
without the equipment they needed to call the sticks in: the
2nd/506the, which rallied on a green electric lantern and a large
bronze bell, lost both in the marshes.
Gathering, wrote Keegan, "depended on luck, leadership," willingness to
brave the darkness, courage of the isolated individuals; many could not
find the inner resources for it.
Sherwood Trotter, a machine gunner, ... landed alone, eventually
located a buddy with his cricket (the child's cracker toy all
Screaming Eagles had been given) and then picked up another nine
or ten men.
We were headed in the general direction of what
sounded like a real battle. About daylight we got into
a small skirmish with our first Krauts. They were
behind one hedgerow and we were across the fields
behind another. Within a short time, they broke off
the engagement and disappeared. We relaxed and the
next thing we knew there were two GIs standing on top
of the hedgerow looking down at us. Everyone of us had
fallen asleep and slept for the next two hours.
Even soldiers collected by a superior - and the need to collect
was the first thought which came to every officer after he had
freed himself from his harness ... betrayed this strange readiness
to sleep.
Ballard, the commanding officer of the 2nd/501st ... fairly
quickly collected about 250 men of his three companies, one of the
best assemblies of the day. He himself, through a combination of
responsibility and severe nettle stings, found no difficulty in
keeping awake. But he was acutely worried by
the dazed reaction of most of his men. Only the
soldiers who had landed in the marsh seemed relatively
alert; soaked and shivering, they had to keep moving
for warmth. It was different with the men who had
landed dry; some of them fell asleep standing, while
Ballard talked to them, then fell headlong. When the
formation pulled away from the assembly area, then
paused briefly, Ballard saw men fall in their tracks
and hit the ground with their eyes closed.
Keegan explains that nervous tension, loss of sleep and Drapomine, air
sickness pills with sedative side effects were causing the undesirable
phenomenon. The commanders had to organize striking parties and set for
their designated objectives before dawn broke.
By first light a dozen parties had been collected, but in nothing
like the strength prescribed and most often in the wrong spot. In
each division over 3,000 soldiers were either lost or - though
this was not yet realized - already dead. Only one battalion, the
2nd/505, had dropped both concentrated and in its planned zone.
Most of the radio sets were lost, few commanders could communicate up or
down the chain of command, many were hopelessly lost, writes Keegan.
An obvious thought was to seek directions from the inhabitants.
But few French people in that densely garrisoned country side were
willing to fall for what might have been a Gestapo ruse or to help
fly-by-night raiders with retribution hot on their heels.
Lieutenant Guillot, whose ancestry stretched back to the land he
was invading, had the door slammed in his face when he knocked at
a farmhouse near Picauville. An old French couple who did answer
near Ste Marie-du-Mont were sure that the Americans were going to
kill them, and a farmer whom Colonel Sink of the 506 extricated
from his cottage near St Come-du-Mont with the phrasebook
assurance, 'The invasion has begun', shook so hard with fright
that he could scarcely lay his finger on the right point on Sink's
map.
Later the sheer numbers of the invaders impressed the French, and they
... overcame their nervousness, began to volunteer intelligence of
the whereabouts of the Germans and of hidden crossing-places in
the inundations, pressed milk and cider on their liberators and
lent help to the medical men who brought wounded into their
dwellings. ...
But before the dawn most French people kept to their beds or
their cellars, leaving the Americans to blunder about looking for
each other and their assembly points. Fortunately, until light
broke, the Germans on the Cotentin showed no more willingness than
the civilian inhabitants to leave the security of their known
positions. And so, in the precious hiatus between landing and
daylight, half a dozen parties of Americans were given the time,
leadership and direction to gather themselves and their weapons
and to move out on what would prove the vital mission of the
operation.
***
(Keegan, John, op. cit., pp. 88-93.)
tkg
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