The year after the liberation of France, a boy with dark skin was born in a small town in Normandy. Daniel Lefrançois’ father was an American GI, his mother was French – their relationship was considered disgraceful. Today he says: “Nobody talks about what happened after the liberation.”
This article comes from the stern archive and first appeared in 2014. On the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day, we are publishing it here again.
Back then, he often stood on the side of the road, watching the GIs driving through the village in their GMC trucks toward the huge military cemetery they were building a few kilometers away on the hill overlooking the sea. Now and then a soldier would throw him candy. “Maybe that was my father, I thought,” says Daniel Lefrançois, 68. “I never found out anything about him. Not even his name.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
