Minnesota woman tells chilling story of World War II in France
Associated Press
Nov 19, 2016
The scene took place almost 80 years ago, but Nelly Croes can still see it today with startling clarity.
May 15, 1940, was "a beautiful, sunny day in May," she wrote in an account entitled, "Nelly's Journey," housed in the Mower County Historical Society, the Austin Daily Herald reported:
" ... the sky is peppered with German planes bombing the military airfield on the edge of town," her account continues. "The mayor has just given the order for the residents to evacuate the town within one hour. My cousin Mimi and I climb in one of the wagons, not knowing if we will ever see our parents again. We take off under strafing of German planes."
Today, Croes, 90, is safe in Austin, a place she has called home for decades. She came here when she married her GI sweetheart, Victor Croes, a chef for the Jay C. and Germaine Hormel family.
But in 1940, she was just a 14-year-old French girl, often struggling with horrific scenes played out in her home country, occupied by a vicious enemy.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/11/17/minnesota-woman-tells-chilling-story-of-world-war-ii-in-france