Show With Ernie Erlie Pyle at the Front 1 Hysterical Crowd Welcomes 1 Return of Liberating Yanks Parisi Parisians aIlS Well Fed FecI and Clothed t tAnd And City in Excellent Condition I I IBy By Ernie Pyle 1 I PARIS I I had thought that for me there could never a aga be any elation in war But I had reckoned without the libera liberate on n of Paris Paris Paris-I I had reckoned without remembering that I might b be bel bon e a apart part of this richly historic day Wo We are in Paris Paris Paris-on on the first day- day one of the great days of all time This is being written as other correspondents correspondents correspondents cor cor- respondents are writing their pieces under an emotional tension a pent- pent up semi Our approach to Paris was hectic We Ve had waited for three days in a near-by near town while hourly our reports reports reports re re- ports on what was going on in Paris changed and conj contradicted contradicted con con- them them- j s selves e 1 v e s. s 0 Of f a morning it would I look as though we were about to break through the thep German ring p around Paris and come to the aid of the brave French Forces of Ernie Pyle the Interior who I were holding parts of the city By afternoon it would seem the enemy had reinforced reinforced reinforced rein rein- forced until another Stalin Stalingrad grad was developing We could not bear to think of the destruction of Paris and yet at times it seemed desperately desperately desperately desper desper- inevitable That was the situation this morning morning morn morn- ing big when we left Rambouillet and decided to feel our way timidly to toward toward toward to- to ward the e very outskirts of Paris And then when we were within about eight miles rumors began to circulate that the French Second armored armored armored ar ar- ar- ar mored division was in the city We argued for half an hour at a crossroads crossroads crossroads cross cross- roads with a French captain who was holding us up and finally he freed us and waved us on For 15 minutes we drove through a flat country under a magnificent magnificent magnificent mag mag- bright sun and amidst greenery greenery greenery green green- ery with distant banks of smoke pillaring the horizon ahead and to our left And Arid then we came gradually gradually gradually ally into the suburbs and soon into Paris itself and a pandemonium of surely the greatest mass joy that has ever happened S S S The streets were lined as by Fourth of July parade crowds at home only this crowd was al almost almost almost al- al most hysterical The streets of Paris are very wide and they were packed on each side The women were all brightly dressed in white or red blouses and colorful colorful colorful color color- ful peasant skirts with flowers in their hair and big flashy ear ear- rings Everybody was throwing flowers and even serpentine As our jeep eased through the crowds thousands of people crowded crowd crowd- ed up leaving only a narrow corridor corridor corri corn dor and frantic men women and children grabbed us and kissed us usand usand usand and shook our hands and beat on our shoulders and slapped our backs and shouted their joy as we passed I was in a jeep with Henry Gorrell Gorrell Gorrell Gor- Gor rell of the United Press Capt Carl of Washington D. D C. C and Corp Alexander Belon of Amherst Mass We Ve all got kissed until we were literally red in the face and I Imst must mst say we enjoyed it Once when the jeep was simply swamped in human traffic and had to stop we were swarmed over oven and hugged and kissed and torn at Everybody Everybody Everybody Ev Ev- Ev- Ev even beautiful ul girls insisted insist insist- ed on kissing you on both cheeks Somehow I got started kissing babies that were held up by their parents an and for a while it looked like a baby- baby kissing politician going down the street The fact that I hadn't shaved for days and was gray-bearded gray as aswell aswell well as made no differ differ- ence Once when we came to a astop astop astop stop some Frenchman told us there were still snipers shooting so we put our steel helmets back on The Tile people certainly looked well fed and well ell dressed The streets were lined with green trees and modern buildings All the stores were closed in holi boll day lay Bicycles were so thick I ha have ve an idea there were plenty of accidents that day with tanks and jeeps overrunning the populace We entered Paris via Rue Aristide Briand and Rue dOrleans We were slightly apprehensive but decided it was all right to keep going as long as there were But finally we were stymied by the people in the streets and then above the din we heard some too not-too-distant explosions the the Germans trying to destroy destroy destroy de de- de- de stroy bridges across the Seine And then the of rattling machine guns up the the street and that old battle battle- I field whine of velocity high-velocity sh shel just overhead Some of us veter veteran ducked but the Parisians j laughed and continued to carry on There came running over to o jeep a tall thin happy woman j in light brown dress who spoke p pe pen feet American i She was Mrs Helen Cardon Garden lived in Paris for 21 years and and hi not been home to America sin sina 1935 Her husband is an officer i French army headquarters home now after 2 years a as a c German Ger man prisoner He was with her j i b civilian clothes Mrs Cardon Garden has a sister MIL lui George of New York cit city and I can say here to her relatives in America that she is well a aci happy Incidentally her two chil dren Edgar and Peter are the o onh oLl two American children she says saw who have haye been in Paris through the entire war We Ve entered Paris from doe dosi dae south and the Germans were still battling in the heart of the the city along the Seine when we arrived but they were doomed There was a full French ar f ar-f mored division in the city American troops entering con conJ 1 K V The farthest we got in our fir fiz hour in Paris was near the sena senata building where some Germans wie holed up and firing desperately we took a hotel room near by hy a decided to write while the oth other fought By the time you read thi Im I'm sure Paris will once again h bj free for Frenchmen and Ill I'll be ci all over town getting my bald b bei kissed Of all the days of nation national joy Ive I've ever witnessed this is t biggest 1 i iThe The other correspondents ha hai ha written so thoroughly and so wa w w. about the fantastic eruption of majoy majoy ma- ma maa ma joy when Paris was liberated that shall not dwell on it much longa longs But there are some little thing thin I I. have to get out out- of my well we'll have at least this one mo ma column on it Actually the thing has floored roar mor of us I know that I have fe it I totally incapable of reporting it t fe you It was so big I felt to touch it I didn't know where I start or what to say The words jr yo I put down about it sound feeble b t I Ith th the point of asininity Im I'm not alone in this feeling Ive I've heard a dozen other corres say the same thing A g i many of us feel we have failed is a t. t properly presenting the lovelies brightest story of our time It C be that this is because we hait been so unused for so long to at any anything thing bright 1 I At any rate lets let's go back to t demonstration From 2 o'clock D the afternoon until darkness aro 10 we few Americans in Paris C a that first day were kissed and ba baull 1 and mauled by friendly mobs unwe us un we hardly knew where we were were Everybody kissed you you little little C dren old women up grown-up IU Dl v beautiful girls They jumped a Li squealed and pushed in a liter lit fren frenzy tt They pinned bright little and badges all over you AnU A- I cameramen took picture They tossed flowers and tomatoes into your jeep Out One little girl even threw a bottle O w cider into ours As you drove drove along long giga masses of waving and scream I I human humanity ty clapped their hands though applauding a fine per o ance in a theater We Ve in the Je jeer smiled back until we had set f fon gr on our faces We waved until until arms gave out and then we J 3 waggled our fingers We Ve until our hands were bruised J scratched If the jeep stopped stopped- Those YI were swamped instantly couldn't reach you threw kisses kisses' you and we threw kisses back They sang songs They san sang French songs we had De heard And they sang 4 Tipper TipP and Madelon and Over land fliers l here and the Marseillaise French policemen saluted io for ly but smilingly as we passed French rench tanks that went vent in iii ahe d us pulled over to the sidewalks were immediately swarmed over over- |