Liberation Day

The parade (l) and Andrew and I beside an M8 (r)

Trets (week 6)

Often overlooked by Canadians (and others) is Operation Anvil/Dragoon, the invasion of southern France by the U.S. 7th Army and Free French units.  On this date in 1944 (August 18, D-Day+3), they liberated the village of Trets, which you may recall is 10 km south of us. To celebrate, they had a street festival.  The centrepiece was a parade of vintage cars and military vehicles (including an M8 Greyhound scout car, several Jeeps with different armaments, and an M3 halftrack), as well as people dressed in period military kit (with weapons).  The parade wound through town twice, then parked in the Place de la Gare, where a band played big-band music.  We didn't stay for the whole thing (it ran to midnight - the nighttime noise laws are more relaxed here), but we did hear several BHS Jazz-esque standards like Moonlight Serenade and Chattanooga Choo-Choo.