Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Another semi-sub

[Marc de Piolenc <piolenc@archivale.com>]

Alas, no.

We're all accustomed to listening to people whose lives apparently ended 
with the War - at least, you'd think so, considering the number of times 
they retell the same stories.

Papa was the opposite. The War was not Glory Days for him; it was a 
dangerous and inconvenient interruption of normal life, to be put aside 
and dismissed as soon as victory was achieved. He NEVER told war stories 
to my sister or me. The only ones that I know were garnered by my mother 
during rare visits from wartime comrades, when they would reminisce 
after the children were put to bed. Mother would then retell these tales 
to us as best she could.

I have my father's OSS/Army file file, and it contains just enough 
message traffic and other documentation to make it plain that he held 
responsible positions and discharged his duties conscientiously and 
well. He finished the War with two ulcers, from the worrying that he did 
while running agents into occupied France. Although born in Loire 
valley, he was more of an American patriot than many of his US-born 
colleagues, vigorously defending OSS against what he considered to be 
British attempts to co-opt it, at least in North Africa. And that, 
despite the fact that he was reared essentially by a British governess, 
"Mimiss," whom he revered until the end of her life. And despite the 
acerbic content of some of the messages I've read, he formed lifelong 
friendships with the British counterparts to whom they were often 
addressed. He was naturalized an American citizen in North Africa in 1943.

None of that is in the few stories that I know. Those are all comical 
episodes, and paint Papa as a bewildered amateur stumbling along as best 
he can. Anything that demonstrates skill, resourcefulness or intrepidity 
is by the way. And yet, he was sent into Crete in the dead of night by 
small boat. And before that he was prepared to make a night parachute 
jump into Crete with no prior training ("Are you barmy, man? That's nine 
more chances to break your neck!"), and would have done so if there 
hadn't been clouds over the drop zone for three consecutive night until 
they "lost their moon." I am grateful for that bad weather, because I'm 
pretty sure I would not have been born if he had made that jump.

He is mentioned by name in only one OSS memoir that I am sure of. That's 
Funk's book about OSS ops in southern France, called Hidden Ally. He may 
also be mentioned in No Bridges Blown, but I'm not sure. And the little 
that Funk says about him is mixed up, because he never bothered to 
contact the family. He mentions, for instance, that Papa's mother was 
Irish. That should have Grand'mère, a chauviniste who was horrified when 
Papa married an American, spinning in her grave! No doubt a colleague 
remembered "Gerry" de Piolenc talking about Mimiss, who may very well 
have been of Irish birth.

I only found out about his Olympics participation when my sister was 
sent a link to an Olympics-related Web site by a friend. I knew that 
Papa was an avid sailor before the War (more funny stories via Mother), 
but he never mentioned the Berlin Olympic games to us. Old business, you 
know...

Now that the OSS archives are declassified and accessible, I would be 
combing them for memoir material if I lived anywhere near DC, but it's a 
long commute from northern Mindanao. All I can do for now is monitor the 
OSS Society list and look for references to operations and units with 
which he was associated. It's pity, because there's still a lot of "good 
stuff" that was overlooked or still sealed during the early postwar 
flurry of war memoirs. The story of the OSS's Maritime Units, for 
instance, has not been told so far as I know.

Best,
Marc

Archivale catalog: http://www.archivale.com/catalog
Ducted fans: http://massflow.archivale.com/
Polymath weblog: http://www.archivale.com/weblog

On 2/23/2011 11:33 AM, JimToddPsub@aol.com wrote:
> Marc,
> Did your father write a memoir of his war years either published or
> unpublished?



************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.  Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive messages
from our organization.

If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
link below or send a blank email message to:
	removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org

Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
our server receiving your request.

PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 53
Weare, NH  03281
603-529-1100
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************