Category: Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte

Saint-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte, France

June 5, 2024

We had visited Saint-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte in the past with hopes of identifying the location of a picture of Dennis’ father, but we had been unsuccessful. This time, we hit the jackpot!

Picture of Ernest Blanchard in the liberation of Saint-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte
Picture of Ernest Blanchard in the liberation of Saint-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte

We first stopped at the medieval chateau to speak with the historian. The small museum had testimonials of people who lived in the city during the Liberation. It was moving to read the stories, but only a few were translated.

Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte1
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte1
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 2
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 2
Historians at the Chateau
Historians
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 3
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 3
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 4
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 4
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 5
Chateau St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte 5

The mayor, Eric Briens, identified the locations and took us to the old primary/elementary school where the photo was taken. The building is now the CCVO, a city hall. At last, Dennis had an answer!

Original Picture on city hall corner
Original Picture on city hall corner
The mayor pointing out where the school used to be
The mayor pointing out where the school used to be
Mayor describing the school
Mayor describing the school

When the mayor returned to the office, he emailed the original photo to Dennis and awarded Dennis’ father the city’s medallion—a most rewarding day.

June 7, 2014 Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte

20140606_130829 WWII photo 60020140606_130848-rotate WWII 600Searching for dad

We put-puttered north for about 6 miles (10 km) to Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte to see if we could determine the location of the above photos. Dennis’s dad is the upper right man in the top photo and the one standing third from the left and near the blur of the flash in the lower picture.

20140607_162124 Mde Paulette Marie 300After visiting the château (below) we went to the museum. It was a literary one, not one about the town, and was of no help. They did suggest we visit the florist who had interest in WWII and a display in her shop’s window. She suggested we talk with Mde. Paulette Marie (right), who was fifteen at the time of liberation and who might be able to pinpoint where the pictures were taken.

She most graciously accepted us in her home and talked with us for about an hour. She took out a collection of pre-WWII postcards of the town to see if we could identify the location from these. We could not. She suggested that the photos could have been taken in a courtyard.

After leaving her, we stopped at an old café. Though the owner was young, he recognized the upper photo from a promo leaflet; he did not know where it was taken. We left the town no wiser than before we arrived.

20140607_145835 chateau 600