Crashed near Toul in B-17 My Baby 42-107033 Evaded (EVD) on 5th September 1944.



When Andy Anderson bailed out over Alsace-Lorraine 5th September 1944 and landed in a small meadow in the middle of a wood he was met by a local lady, Jeanne Jacob, who took him to a cave where she and her husband Roland were already hiding two Russian soldiers. They later brought in three more members of Anderson's crew and - with the help of another farmer Jean Ney - fed and sheltered them for several days. One day a stray jeep with four GI's came by and the four airman climbed in and 'roared away to freedom' or so they thought! The GI's were effectively AWOL and had managed to drive straight through the German lines. They did manage to turn around and arrive at a forward Allied gas and ammo dump where the four airmen 'hurt, tired,cold,hungry and vermin-infested' wangled their way back to Bassingbourn via a lately liberated Paris.



Some 37 years later Andy contacted the French Consul-General in Los Angeles and asked for his help in arranging a ceremony to honour the Jacobs and Neys during his family's planned visit to France. When the Anderson family arrived 22nd April 1981 everything had been arranged; they were given an incredible welcome culminating in a ten-course meal in the village hall of Baslieuse, made many new friends and exchanged gifts. On the way home they visited Bassingbourn and Andy's old Cambridge haunts.