A jolly reunion of the "Bates Boys"...
After many hugs, "french" bisous and scientific luggage repositioning, we were off to Normandy!
After several hours of driving through many, many more fields of yellow...
Charlie had the brilliant idea of stopping for a glass of something cold to drink! The "Head of the Wolf" had just the right ring to it...
Back in the car, we had a few more hours to catch up while we drove to our destination of Bayeux, about 20 km west of Caen. We arrived at the lovely old Hotel d’Argouges*(in the background of the photo below) in time to check in and have a little cat nap before dinner.
The proprietor of the Hotel D'Argouges recommended a local restaurant called La Fringale which was an easy walk through the town from the hotel. The atmosphere and service was friendly, the food, traditional for the area, was tasty and we were having a great evening. During the meal, a group of about 8 men entered the restaurant and immediately Nick's whiskers stood on end as he realized some of the men, wearing flight jackets with eagles on them, could possibly have been in WWII!! He and Charlie excused themselves from the table to go on a reconnaissance mission to investigate the situation...indeed there was a very distinguished WWII soldier, Jake McNiece, who was thrilled to talk with Nick and Charlie about his experiences.
They returned to say we'd all been invited to join their table. With this exciting turn of events, we paid our dinner tab and moved to the back of the restaurant to join them. At this point, Nick will give his take on the evening....
" When we arrived in Bayeau on the afternoon of April 17th, we were absolutely unprepared for the extraordinary event which would occur-the Bates clan unknowingly were about to meet a living legend. Essentially six miles due south of Gold Beach, we went to dinner just a few hundred yards from our Hotel. Sitting at our table at the front of the restaurant, having just opened a bottle of wine, the door opens and in walk about 8-10 men, all in the mid to late sixties and older. The two lead men had to be in their 80's and both wore jackets with the very distinctive American eagle, signifying the 101st Airborne Division, on their left shoulders. The goose bumps shot all over my body and Charlie totally tuned in and was awe struck. We both looked at one another and thought, those guys are the real thing. The group of men were ushered to the rear of the restaurant and Charlie leaned forward and said we have to "go pay our respects!" I thought, "No, give them a chance to get settled and let my goose bumps go away." Charlie said "Come on, Nicholas, we have to go back and meet these guys" and so we did. We went to their table and Charlie said, "Gentlemen, gentlemen, my name is Charlie Bates, this is Nick Bates, we are both from San Francisco and we wanted to come back and say "thank you" as I see some of you are wearing the 101st Airborne Insignia on your shoulders!" With that one of the "young" sixty-five-year olds stood up and said, "Mr's. Bates, I'm not sure you know whose presence you are in, but let me introduce you, to Mr. John "Jake " McNiece of Ponca City, Oklahoma."
Here's what we learned: During the war, there were 50,000 men who were paratroopers of the 101st Airborne. Of the 50,000 paratroopers only two men in history jumped behind enemy lines 4 times and we were with one of them, Jake McNiece. Jake jumped on DDay night with 20 others and only 3 survived, his landing spot 500 meters to the south of St. Mere Eglise. If you have ever seen the brilliant 1960 film "The Longest Day", Jake's group of men were the unfortunate ones that landed in the town square and most were killed by the Nazis prior to even reaching the ground. He not only survived that day, but went on to jump during Market Garden in Belgium and then at the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne. He was dropped at night into the trees during the winter siege with the task of being a Pathfinder. I asked what that meant. Jake, a very spry 87 year old man, stated that he was dropped with 8 others and their mission was to get to the ground and switch on some elaborate radio equipment which would transmit a beacon signal. By doing so, the Air Force could zero in on where to drop supplies to the soldiers below, during one of the bloodiest battles in the dead of winter. Of the eight that dropped that night only three survived. By now, Susie, Di and Sarah were with us and after dinner drinks were being poured. I never found out where his last jump took place, as I was already a believer and another jump didn't make a difference.........Jake McNiece is an American hero and we were fortunate enough to be in his company. Well as you can see, we were in Seventh Heaven before our "official" tour of Normandy had even begun.
PS. Jake shared with me that his return from the War was very difficult but that he was a proud mail carrier in his hometown of Ponca City Oklahoma with the US Postal Service for 28 years, has a very successful second marriage and is a proud grandparent. He gave me his address in the States and I wrote to him recently telling him what an honor it had been to meet him that evening. He sent me a copy of his book "The Filthy Thirteen-From the Dustbowl to Hitler's Eagle's Nest: The 101st Airborne's Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers" also written with Richard Killblane. I'll probably be reading most of the rest of the day and night!"
Nick
*Hotel d’Argouges, 21 rue st. Patrice, 14400 Bayeux, France-02.31.92.88.86
*La Fringale, 43, Rue St Jean, 14400 Bayeux, France - 02 31 21 34 40
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