French Assets

It was meant to be a short detour, really. Not a deep dive into military service and secret assets.

My husband and I spent part of last summer camping in Nova Scotia’s delightful Annapolis Valley. On the trail of Rose Michaud, we set out one July morning, headed toward Port-Royal National Historic Site, a reconstructed Acadian French settlement you’ll hear more about later.

However, along the way, we decided to stop at the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum near Kingston. And we were captured for hours by the military memorabilia there.

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” ―Dale Carnegie

Please, if you’re ever in the area, I encourage you to visit this fascinating, well-curated museum. I’m sure my patient husband counts it as the high point of the book-research trail.

Museum Magic

Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Greenwood began its history as a Royal Air Force station in 1942, the midpoint of World War II. Fifty years later, then-base commander Colonel Kenneth Allen initiated the museum. Its many displays showcase 14 Wing Greenwood’s story as well as that of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Since its inception, the collection has grown to include a large array of historical aircraft, restored by volunteers. Among the ten outdoor planes stars the Avro Lancaster Mark X. That meant little to me, but my husband was excited to learn that this rare craft is one of only three to fly sorties over continental Europe during the Second World War. Only 17 remain in the world.

We could have spent much longer than we had time-budgeted here. As I’ve mentioned before, my husband is a World War II buff. He waded in his glory!

According to some writers, as I tell him, just reading ten books on one subject makes you an expert. After all, that’s far more than most people will ever do. Together we read war correspondent William Shirer’s 800+-page The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, in about a year and a half of (only) grocery runs.

Granted the Second World War encompasses a vast amount of information on a wide gamut of topics. So…

Others claim you need to put in about 10,000 hours, or about four years of regular work, to master a subject or skill. Neither of us has any idea how many movies and documentaries he’s watched on different aspects of the war. Then there’s the collection of miniature war tanks and trucks I painstakingly assembled for him over months of visits to a local newspaper kiosk. I suspect we may both be amateur scholars, with always more to absorb.

Top Secret

In other words, I wasn’t at all averse to prolonging our stop at the aviation museum. Those military assets touched on many of my own passions: real-life stories, lifelong learning, world travel, women in service, mysteries, mission, and music (yes, imagine that)!

“Mastering (anything) is always more costly than it first appears… It requires an immense amount of time, pain, and sacrifice. Along the way, it will become clear your gifting is less about you and more for others. So rather than expect your passion to result in acclaim, validation, or income, what if you defined success as simply doing what you love with God…and that was enough?” –Allen Arnold, Daily Thoughts

Many of you will no doubt have heard of the Navajo Code Talkers who utilized their traditional language as an unbreakable communications code in which to transmit top-secret military messages during the Second World War. Because the Navajo code conformed to no linguistic system known to the Japanese, Tokyo’s cryptographers could never decipher the strange, seemingly inhuman sounds. On the iconic day when Marines raised the American flag at Iwo Jima, the world’s first word of this crucial action crackled over the radio in Navajo (or Diné).

One of the war’s best-kept secret assets, the work of Navajo Code Talkers was not even declassified until 1968. Although they received some recognition thereafter, congressional medals were not awarded until 2001. (Wow.)

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt

Of course, you know about the renowned French Resistance too (and the patriotic wartime resistance of many other fine partisan groups throughout Europe). But what about American and Canadian French assets?

Secret Service

And why don’t we hear more about them? The astounding story of the Navajos in the war’s Pacific theater should have emerged into the spotlight years ago. Likewise, the crucial role played by North American Francophones in the European theater has stayed hidden in the deep shadows and dusty annals of history…until more recently.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” —Winston Churchill

Perhaps, as with countless others, these quietly heroic assets haven’t talked much about the war or their exploits in it. Maybe they told tales to their families or shared memories with their friends, but they didn’t go public.

It’s time for us to listen to their stories before it’s too late.

Many obscure citizens of widely varying skill sets and commercial interests contributed their specific talents and positions in the Allied war efforts. Dozens—even hundreds—of business, industry, and even entertainment moguls risked their lives to maintain “offices” in unoccupied countries of Europe. And some bold souls brought their families to keep up the façade.

For example, cork became an essential component of aircraft during the war. In Cork Wars, David A. Taylor recounts the endeavors of industry personnel to protect the supply from (supposedly) neutral Portugal and Spain and to promote the cultivation of cork oaks in the southern U. S.

In another instance, Aline Griffith, an ordinary young woman who majored in French at college, worked as a secretary for an American government commission in Madrid. While socializing among the international embassy crowd, she collected information and intelligence. Aline ended up marrying into the Spanish aristocracy (as told by Larry Loftis in The Princess Spy).

Special Forces

Believe me, I can’t mention even a fraction of these unsung heroes. Most of them didn’t talk about their missions. As the character Rose Michaud also kept close to her heart what she and her husband Will did in French North Africa.

Like Americans of Italian ancestry in Italy, Francophones served as interpreters and agents in France, Belgium, North Africa, and even Japanese-held French colonies during the Second World War.

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. “ ―C.S. Lewis

While some French Canadians resisted participating in a war they claimed was not their own on any side, many others volunteered. They represented over 20% of Canadians serving overseas on both Pacific and European fronts. The majority fought in one of four Francophone infantry units, where soldiers used French as their everyday working language but administration and communication with other units took place in English.

A significant number of French Canadians also served in two Quebec armored units, Anglophone artillery, and the Royal Navy. A Francophone air squadron, the 425 Alouette, flew bombers as part of the RCAF.

French Canadians also mobilized for home defense. And they were the perfect candidates for espionage behind enemy lines in Nazi-held Europe under the direction of British SOE. Priceless assets, to be sure.

So, where were the Americans? Enter the Cajuns, Louisianians of Acadian French ancestry who for decades had experienced prejudice, discrimination in school, and conflicts because of their failure to assimilate.

“My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” ―Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Foreign Service

A recent documentary film, Mon Cher Camarade, and a new book by Dr. Jason P. Theriot (2024), Frenchie: The Story of the French-Speaking Cajuns of World War II, both share the stories of these Cajun French assets and veterans of World War II.

Even at boot camps and processing centers, Southern officers and other GIs disdained—occasionally ridiculed—the French-speaking heritage of the Cajuns who enlisted in the U. S. military.

But no sooner had the American (and other English-speaking) troops landed on the beaches of Normandy in June 1944 than frantic field commanders called for “those Frenchies” and their once-derided bilingual skills.

Even prior to D-Day (in North Africa, for instance), hundreds of Louisiana Cajun assets assisted their officers as effective interpreters with the local population. Other Francophone Americans (those hailing from northern New England, for example) served in this way too, but the Cajuns comprised by far the largest group. Their wartime roles included coordination with the French underground as well as communication with local authorities. Since French was their first language, some became OSS agents and slipped beyond enemy lines as French natives.

“Your experiences, expertise, and stories matter. Your words may inspire movements, spark innovations, challenge preconceived notions, create meaningful connections, and make a world of difference.” –Aurora Winter, Marketing Fast Track

Thus, the Cajuns’ French-speaking abilities proved invaluable to U. S. military operations in Europe and North Africa. As they provided critical support and intelligence to the American army around the world, they became of vital importance. Our overlooked French assets were prized as a resource instead of disparaged as a relic.

Assets Portfolio

Through memoirs and interviews, Mon Cher Camarade allows us to see World War II from the perspective of the Cajun French of Louisiana. Their lives differed from the typical American experience. Mainstream Louisiana society usually viewed them as second-class citizens.

But remarkably, the same generation of French-speaking GIs who grew up shamed as “swamp-singers” for their cultural pedigree bridged the language gap for the Allies. Their denigrated linguistic skills helped to win the war.

Moreover, as Dr. Theriot explains, a long-lost pride in their Cajun heritage revived following the war. Their positive experiences profoundly impacted their sense of identity and triggered a cultural awakening that flourished two decades later.

“We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are.” ―Madeleine L’Engle

Like the Navajo Code Talkers, the Cajuns’ unique contributions to the war effort have been largely forgotten or disregarded until recently. As we near the 80^th anniversary of V-E Day and V-J Day, isn’t it past time to bestow credit where credit is due?

Many of our greatest assets—whether Francophones, indigenous, intrepid pilots, boring business suits, or women behind the scenes—never received the honor they deserved. Where others gained the gold bars and the glory, these brave ones simply kept on moving, marching, and serving.

Because true success is best defined as doing what you love, with God, for others.