My wife and I spent a week in Normandy and we stayed in a charming Normandy style house in Belle Vie en Auge in Calvados.

Our principal reason was to be at Ranville War cemetery for the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings on the 6th June as my wife’s uncle, Emile, is buried there with his war dog Glen.

However our biggest surprise was that our hosts asked us on our last day, Friday 8th June 2024, that they would be honoured if we would attend services commemorating two fallen veterans that were buried in their local cemeteries after they had performed one service for a soldier, John Arthur James, at a further cemetery earlier.

The services were led by the mayor and attended by local residents.

We were asked to assist in the laying of wreaths and placing candle lights.

At each grave the mayor read out their names and gave a short speech about them.

We then joined in the singing of the French national anthem and this was followed by the singing of “The Chant des Partisans” – “The Partisans Song”.

Le Chant des Partisans

This song was born in London in May 1943. The music, composed by Anna Marly, is said to come from a Russian melody.

The tune appealed to Joseph Kessel, who was looking for a title for the “Honneur et Patrie” program.

So, together with Maurice Druon, he decided to write new lyrics.

The melody was broadcast regularly by the BBC, and the lyrics were printed clandestinely in the “Cahiers de la Libération”, then distributed in France.

The song quickly became the anthem of the Resistance.

It goes:-

Friend, do you hear the black flight of crows on our plains?

Friend, do you hear the muffled cries of the country in chains?

Ahoy! Partisans, workers and peasants, it's the alarm!

Tonight the enemy will know the price of blood and tears...

Up from the mines, down from the hills, comrades

Out of the straw, the rifles, the machine-guns, the grenades...

Ahoy! Killers, with bullet or knife, kill quickly! Ahoy! Saboteur, mind your load... dynamite!

It is we who break the prison bars for our brothers

Hatred at our heels and hunger that drives us, misery

There are countries where people dream in bed

Here, you see, we walk and we kill, we die Here, everyone knows what they want, what they do when they pass by

Friend, if you fall, a friend comes out of the shadows in your place

Tomorrow, black blood will dry in the sun on the roads

Whistle companions, in the night freedom listens to us 

These services are performed every year and attended by as many villagers as possible – this is how much liberation and the people involved means to them.

These cemeteries are situated in three small hamlets – Saint Loupe de Fribois, Biéville en Auge (Belle Vie en Auge) and Quétiéville all within the Calvados region.

Here are the details of the three fallen servicemen provided to us by the local mayor:

1) Saint Loup de Fribois cemetery JAMES John Arthur Age 18 - Private, ICF Durham Light Infantry Killed on 19 August 1944 during the assault on Mont de la Vigne at Monteille Son of Arthur and Hilda JAMES (Yardley Birmingham)

2) Biéville en Auge cemetery (Belle Vie en Auge) WOOD Bertram born in 1911 - originally from Denby Main in Yorkshire His parents: Mr and Mrs Charles WOOD His wife: Ann WOOD He was a corporal in the York and Lancaster Regiment, The Hallamshire. He was killed at the age of 33 at Biéville en Auge on 18 August 1944, the day the town was liberated. His headstone bears the inscription ‘Thy will be done’.

3) Quétiéville cemetery ROWLAND John James On 7 June 1944, 10 Typhoons took off from Westhampnett in the United Kingdom, south of England. They had to strafe a German rail convoy stopped at Mézidon station.

During the mission, 3 aircraft were hit by German flak. Squadron Leader F Holland crashed at Croissanville, Flight Lieutenant L Tidbury at Mézidon and Flight Sergeant J.J.Rowland at Quétiéville.

Only the first 2 pilots survived. John James Rowland did not have time to eject; the aircraft lost its wings as it passed between two trees and ended up in a field near the river Dives between the Montjean farm and the Quétiéville mill.

The pilot was pulled out of his aircraft by local residents and taken in a critical condition to the town hall, where he died on the town council table.

He was buried in the Quétiéville cemetery in the presence of the entire town council and the Germans.

The Germans refused to allow flowers. 

The civilians put some in the coffin.

John James ROWLAND was 23 years old and came from Tooting on the outskirts of London. He was a volunteer reservist with the Royal Air Force, 184th Squadron.

On 28 March 2003, his Squadron Leader, F. HoIIand, came to Quétiéville to pay his respects at the grave of his comrade in arms, J.J. Rowland. In his speech, he said: 'I was with this pilot, I was lucky in a way that the 850 pilots who fell in Normandy during the D-Day landings were not.'

A replica of his Typhoon, the JP 656, is on display in the entrance hall of the Caen Memorial. The engine from his plane has been recovered and is also on display.