Diary of David Taylor Galt - 461 Squadron - Part 2

20

were at the window by this
time. After about 10 minutes
of this and with him pointing 
along a track towards a
village. I realised I was
getting nowhere here so
wished him Bon nuit and
walked along the track. In
the village I tried two
more houses. No results at
all from one, and only vague
mutterings from the other
This village was 2
I walked along the road then
until I came to a main
road at right angles. I
turned right and shortly
came to the village of
3 I knocked on the 
door of the first house I
came to but although a
man came to the door he
was definitely unencouraging
21
Up till this time I had
picked out the poorer looking
houses, so it seemed time to
change my tactics. Near the
centre of the village was
a nice looking house with a
well kept front garden so
I walked in the gate and
knocked on the front door. It
was about 0400hrs by 
this time. A man came to
the door. I said. 'Je suis
in Anglais aviateur, aidez moi
After a little further short but
difficult conversation he said
entrez so I entered. His
wife and daughter gt up
then. His wife was a 
motherly old soul and his
daughter was very friendly.
They made me some coffee.
In France, today the coffee

22
is very much ersatz, but
with the addition of milk it
is not too bad. Unfortunately
milk is rather scarce also.
Another scarce commodity is
bottles boots and shoes. People
in the country villages wear
clogs and make their own
shoes of sheepskin. The daughter
of this family was making a
pair while I was there.
They dug out a very old 
English - French dictionary
that was published during the 
last century and I told
them where my plane had
crashed and that my crew
had all escaped injury but
had dispersed in different
directions. The old boy went
out shortly and came back
with his son. Not much
help because he knew no 
words of English but we
had some more coffee. Someone
had a brilliant idea then
because the old boy went out
again and came back with
another man. This man was
much better dressed and
carried with him a more
recent dictionary. He could
also speak a few words of
English. We got on quite well
after that. Shortly afterwards
I was sent to bed with a hot
water bottle. I had said when
asked that I was not hungry.
At about 7p.m. they brought
me in a meal and the
daughter took my jacket
to remove the wings and
shoulder straps etc and
the buttons from the bottoms

24
of my trousers. Shortly
afterwards a round and
jolly little man came in.
He had evidently decided
that my jacket was not
quite suitable for he brought
me a coat and also a
beret and it was decided
that next morning I would
go by the auto bus to
4

railway station
and from there to PARIS by
train. I had a shave then
and went back to bed and
to sleep. Next morning I 
was woken at 0630 and
after breakfast was given
a parcel of food, including two
slabs of chocolate which is
non existent in shops in
France today, and also an
overcoat. I went with this 
man, who is a carpenter
25
through the village to the 
house of the man who had
given me the coat the night
before. He was the baker. His
wife and mother-in law were
very kind to me, as was
every one who helped me
through the whole of the
adventure. His mother-in-law
took my flying boots and
blackened them. The baker
and I walked along to the
bus stop where we met
another man who was going
to buy my train ticket and
who was going part of the
way in the same train as
I was taking to PARIS
(This baker had also taken
my Belgian money and
changed it for French Francs)
There were several German
soldiers travelling in the bus

26
At  4.  Railway station
there was was also a German
sentry patrolling the platform
with a rifle slung over his 
shoulder. Every thing passed
off quite uneventfully and
I was feeling very confident.
Had also learned a few French
phrases. Arrived at PARIS at
the Gare du Nord. I walked
out with the crowd and
wondered how I would
get to the Gare d'Orleans as
it had been decided that the
best place for me to go was
to BORDEAUX. I walked
around for a few minutes
making up my mind. There
were a few horse drawn
carriages a few bicycle
taxis. I went up to one
of the bicycle owners and
said Gare d'Orleans. He
27
repeated it after me in an
incredulous voice and I
said "oui oui' and walked
over to the first one in the
row which was his. Thinking 
it was probably a long 
distance and the cause for
his surprise I said
"Combien je vous dois?'

Apparently this was the right 
thing to say , because when
I fished out 2 - 100 fr. notes
he took them and gave me
10fr, change. I had no
idea of the value of a Fr.
then but when I compare
what other people have done
for me for a fraction of that
amount, it was sheer out
and out robbery, to be
slugged 190 Fr for an
8 minute journey in a 
bicycle taxi. However I did

28
not mind much about the
money at the time. When
I arrived at the Gare d Orleans
I was the centre of a fair
amount of interest from the
passers by, as I got out of
the taxi. Apparently it
is most usual to walk in 
Paris these days. I went to
the booking window and said
"Alles Bordeaux" and the girl
said "Cing cent francs" so
I handed over 500 fr. I was
not sure which entrance
I had to go in so I held
the ticket so that the name
was plainly visible for the
ticket - checker, but as it happened
there was one general entrance
for all platforms. My next
problem was to find out
from which platform the
BORDEAUX train left and at
29
what time. This seemed to
be rather difficult as there
were many uniformed
Germans about and the signboards
were of no help.
The Germans had some sort
of reception office near the
main platform. Eventually,
during a quiet period I went
up to a porter and managed
to get the required information
from him. He did not seem
surprised that I could not
speak French and got another
porter to help explain to
me. It seemed that I
had 9¼ hours to wait for
the BAYONNE train. which
went through BORDEAUX. It
was due to leave at 21.30.
This was rather a blow, but
I could do nothing about it,
so I found a quiet spot in

30
the sun and ate some
lunch. Several German
officers and soldiers passed
me, but in spite of the fact
that I was still wearing
my flying boots, none gave
me a second look. The time
passed very slowly till
about ¼hour before the
train was due to leave
I walked up and down the
length of it to make up
my mind which would
be a suitable carriage.
I entered a compartment
in which were already 4
civilians in the 4 corners

Said 'Pardon" as I stepped
over the legs of one and
made myself comfortable.
I did not know how long
it would take to reach

BORDEAUX or how I could tell
31
when we reached there but
as I could do nothing further
about that I did not worry
about it. In spite of the
fact that I had been told
that identity papers were
very rarely inspected on
the trains, it was my chief
cause of worry that I did 
not have one. However as it
happened my fears were
unnecessary. A ticket checker
came along during the
journey to punch the tickets
but that was all. More
people came into the compartment
during the journey but no one
seemed particularly inclined
for conversation, the light 
was switched off and we
tried to sleep. At about
0615 we stopped at a 
large station. Two men in

32
the compartment got up and
put their coats on. One said
something about BORDEAUX,
so it seemed we had arrived.
I got up and followed them out 
of the station. Here were
two armed German soldiers
at the ticket barrier but I
passed through without mishap.
It was necessary now
that I fouⁱnd someone to help
me in the remaining 1 ½hrs
before daylight, and I would
have to be careful because
BORDEAUX was very much
occupied by German troops,
there being a submarine
refueling base there and a
large aerodrome. I had
already been shown much
kindness by French people and
helped such a lot at great
risk to themselves that I
33
determined it would be
extremely unfair to them
if I did not make the most
of my opportunities. So here
I decided that I would see
this adventure through to
a successful finish if it
were at all possible. I could
not avoid taking many
risks, but I determined that
I would do my utmost with
every opportunity.
It seemed to me at the time
that the best place to seek for
aid would be in a small shop.
So I walked about a 1½mile
from the station and then saw
a young woman dressed as a
R.C. sister so thought it would
be a good idea to see if she could
help me. The language problem
was again very difficult, but

i managed to make her

33
understand the position. She 
could not help me though, she
was only a probationer at
a nearby hospital. Next I
tried a small paper shop. They
would not believe me at first
but afterwards offered me food
which I did not need at the 
time, so I thanked them and
left. A little further along
there was a ^familiar sign outside another
small shop "BAR" and a man
was just taking down the
shutters. I said "Bon jour"
and walked inside. I was 
taking great risks here all the
time, because any of these
people may have been German
sympathisers but I had no
option. I got on quite well
with the man. He gave 
me some good coffee and
"cognac" and afterwards

33
gave me a note and a
woman took me part of the
way around to the house
of a friend of his. Here a
man came to the door and

I handed him the note.
After he read it, he beckoned
me inside. He explained 
afterwards that he thought
I was drunk because I handed 
him the note and did not 
speak. Inside, his wife
and daughter appeared. His 
daughter was very pretty
and could speak a little
English. After talking for
a while explaining things,
a little more intelligibly
this time. I had some
more coffee and milk and
went to bed. In the
afternoon I was awakened
and after taking a good meal

35
I was introduced to a
young Frenchman who
could also speak a little
English. I stayed with these
people for 8 days and it
would have been impossible
for them to treat me better.
I was just one of the family
and Marguerite was as a 
sister to me. She taught
me to speak quite a lot more
French. we wrestled on the 
floor, went for walks at
night around to our friend's
bar, and everyone did 
everything possible to make
my stay there enjoyable.
I was able to listen to
the BBC news every evening.
They were definite De Gaulish
although some of their
neighbors were aris
sympathisers. I was there
36
for such a long time because
they were trying to find a 
way of getting me to
Spain. I had thought that
was the best place to try.
The young Frenchman and
his cousin had tried to get
to England before, but
unsuccessfully and had
been imprisoned for 6 weeks
for their efforts. He asked
me if I would let he and
his cousin come with me,
and as I had much to
gain from that and little
to lose, I agreed. While
I was there over 7 dozen
people came to the house
while I was there. Possibly
out of curiosity, but they
were all very much for
the allies. They tried to
get me an identity card

37
but with out success. It
was impossible to get the
official rubber stamp on it.
I had my photograph
taken and put on an
identity card of last year
and I am rather good
with a drawing pen so I
did a little bit of forgery,

and I was rather proud of
the effort when I had
finished.
On the morning of 4 ^10^th Dec
before day light, after 
saying farewell to a very
happy incident in my
adventure. I set out for
the railway station. There
I met the two Frenchmen
and as I had already had
a ticket bought for me
we went onto the platform
and waited for the BAYONNE

38
train. At BAYONNE we
changed trains. This train

was a very slow train
and stunted trucks backwards
and forwards at nearly every
station but we did not
mind particularly as we
were not in a hurry. It
was while in this train,
very close to the border of
France and Spain that
two German officials came
into the compartment to 
check identity papers. They
scrutinised mine for about
two minutes while I was
trying to gaze unconcernedly
out of the window and
then handed it back without
comment. (I think I shall
try my hand at forging
cheques now). We arrived
at the village of    5