Hi: I thought that you KY HInds researchers would be interested in this mention of a Hinds historian in KY - historian, not a genealogist. And, in the two viewpoints of men who were "there" in Normandy. Interesting is the fact that he was head of the KY Historical Society at one time - wonder what Hinds line he is part of? Any of you know? Regards, Nan [email protected] ----------------------------------- I am leaving out parts of the article Modesto Bee newspaper, Sunday, July 15 FINDING THE FATHER HE NEVER KNEW French Villagers Kept Pilot's Memory Alive for Kentuckian's son by Charles Wolfe, The Associated Press OWENSBORO,Ky - Jesse Mountjoy had a job at a finance company, musical talent, an attractive wife and a son. He also had a patriotic streak that spurred him to enlist in the Army Air Corps and led to his death in Normandy. Last month, the namesake son who had been too young to remember stood near a cornfield where his father's P-47 Thunderbolt crashed in 1944. Also present were French villagers, and descendants of villagers, who had hidden the dead pilot from Germans. They later added his name to their own war memorial and eventually tracked down the son in Kentucky. "They have been the stewards of my father's memory for 57 years," Jesse T. Mountjoy Jr. said. A sign of that stewardship is etched into a monument to war dead in La Haye-Pesnell (LyePenn-NELL),a village of about 1,500. It commemorates "Lt. Jesse T. Mountjoy, American aviator, 9th U.S. Army Air Force, killed for the liberation of La Haye-Pesnell, July 31, 1944". (It then goes on to tell of memories of his father and the villagers story of the crash.)................................................. (continued) To find the pilot's relatives, the people of Le Haye-Pesnell enlisted the help of Ken Dungey, a retired U.S. Air Force major who settled in Frnce. He teamed up with Howard Swonger, who maintains a nostalgic Web site about the 2nd Armored Division. Both have helped find a number of American veterans. Using the Internet, Swonger found Jesse and Helen Mountjoy in Owensboro. Helen Mountjoy said the couple found in France "a resurgence of interest in putting up monuments" to the war and having American visitors when a monument is dedicated. Charles Hinds, a historian and D-Day veteran who once was director of the Kentucky Historical Society, said he thinks the interest in cynical. The Normans want to get on the right side of history, he said. "They were not very friendly toward us, which is sort of understandable. American came, and we bombed the heck out of them." said Hinds, of Frankfort. Swonger, who was an 82nd Armored scout, said Hinds experience was "far from the way I found it" in Normandy. Some young Frenchmen actually fought alongside Swonger, he said. (Article then goes on to family memories of the dead pilot)