Well, this is not exactly related to the film. The VE thread by Emp_Palpatine gave me an idea to conmemorate
the second world war: Get a history of some survivor you knew or ever met and post it here. You know, the debt of the
world with the veterans and so
Here goes mine: I could once met a veteran from the Spanish Civil War. He fought on several fronts from Madrid to the Ebro river
(wich is a lot of war) and escaped to France after the war. Anyway, the republic was after him because of the death of a political
comissar.
Along with many other republican veterans he joined the french forces after
the invasion of France. While almost 40.000 veterans in the era mounted the paramilitary branch of the french resistance in the early
days of the occupation, he was deployed overseas with the 2nd Free French Armoured Division, in a spanish republican recon company
known as "the Ninth"
With this outfit he fought through Africa, and in Europe, they were the first troops from the 2nd Free French AD to enter Paris, their storu would betold
in "Is Paris Burning?". He was about to participate in the invasion of Spain, wich was eventually cancelled. They stood as the spearhead of Leclerc´s Division. Do you remember
the Easy Co. racing french troops to the Eagle nest? He was there.
After the war,the incident of the commie comissar helped him not to be considered communist, wich would have caused him trouble with
the new order. A Spanish captain on the other side (he fought in Leningrad along the Blue Division but that´s another story) gave his word
to the regime that he was relyable, so he could get back to his hometown (Cartagena, my home also) where he made his living on a
food shop. He married and had three children. I had the honor to meet him before his death in summer 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_9th_Ar..._(World_War_II)
PS: The first photo, reenactors in Normandy. The second, the "Ninth" entering Paris