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Show Willi Ernie Pyle at the Front: Hysterical Crowd Welcomes Return of Liberating Yanks Parisians Well Fed and Clothed And City in Excellent Condition By Ernie Pyle PARIS I had thought that for me there could never again be any elation in war. But I had reckoned without the .liberation of Paris I had reckoned without remembering that I might be a part of this richly historic day. We are in Paris on the first day-one day-one of the great days of all time. This Is being written, as other correspondents cor-respondents are writing their pieces, under an emotional tension, a pent-up pent-up scmi-dclirium. Our approach to Paris was hectic. We had waited for three days in a near by town while hourly our reports re-ports on what was going on in Paris - ' changed and con-pi con-pi - tradicted them- YMM-'-i selves- Of a k" morning it would I(Y:::vi; i look as though wo (' ' ' were about to y" r break through the Gcrman ring - around Paris and A s''Ai f come to the aid tVl! of the brave French Forces of Ernie Pyle the Interior who were holding parts of the city. By afternoon it would seem the enemy had reinforced rein-forced until another Stalingrad was developing. We could not bear to think of the destruction of Paris, and yet at times it seemed desperately desper-ately inevitable. That was the situation this morning morn-ing when we left Rambouillet and decided to feel our way timidly toward to-ward the very outskirts of Paris. And then, when we were within about ight miles, rumors began to clrcul.te that the French Second armored ar-mored division was in the city. We argued for half an hour at a crossroads cross-roads with a French captain who was voiding us up, and finally he freed v and waved us on. For 15 minutes we drove through a flat gardenlike coun.try under a mag nificent bright sun and amidst greenery, green-ery, with distant banks of smoke pillaring the horizon ahead and to our left. And then we came gradually gradu-ally into the suburbs, and soon into Paris itself and a pandemonium of surely the greatest mass joy that has ever happened. The streets were lined as by Fourth of July parade crowds at ' home, only this crowd was almost 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 color-ful peasant skirts, with flowers In their hair and big flashy earrings. ear-rings. Everybody was throwing flowers, and even serpentine. As our jeep eased through the crowds, thousands of people crowded crowd-ed up, leaving only a narrow corridor, corri-dor, and frantic men, women and children grabbed us and kissed us 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 Gor-rell Gor-rell of the United Press, Capt. Carl Pergler of Washington, D. C, and Corp. Alexander Belon, of Amherst, Mass. We all got kissed until we were literally red in the face, and I must say we enjoyed it. Once when the jeep was simply swamped in human traffic and had to stop, we were swarmed over and hugged and kissed and torn at. Everybody, Ev-erybody, even beautiful girls, insisted insist-ed on kissing you on both cheeks. Somehow I got started kissing babies that were held up by their parents, and for a while it looked like a baby-kissing baby-kissing politician going down the street. The fact that I hadn't shaved for days, and was gray-bearded as well as baldheaded, made no difference. differ-ence. Once when we came to a stop some Frenchman told us there were still snipers shooting, so we put our steel helmets back on. The people certainly looked well fed and well dressed. The streets were lined with green trees and modern buildings. All the stores were closed In holiday. holi-day. Bicycles were so thick I . have an idea there were plenty of accidents that day, with tanks and Jeeps overrunning the populace. We entered Paris via Rue Aristide. Brland and Rue d'Orleans. We were slightly apprehensive, but decided it was all right to keep going as long as there were crowds. But finally we were stymied by the people in the streets, and then above the din we heard some not-too-distant explosions explo-sions the Germans trying to destroy de-stroy bridges across the Seine. And then the rattling of machine guns up the street, and that old battlefield battle-field whine of high-velocity shells just overhead. Some of us veterans ducked, but the Parisians just laughed and continued to carry on. There came running over to our jeep a tall; thin, happy woman in a light brown dress, who spoke perfect per-fect American. She was Mrs. Helen Cardon, who lived in Paris for 21 years and has not been home to America since 1935. Her husband Is an officer in French, army headquarters and home now after 2!6 years as a Ger man prisoner. He was with her, in civilian clothes. Mrs. Cardon has a sister, Mrs. George Swikart, of New York city, and I can say here to her relatives in America that she is well and happy. Incidentally, her two children, chil-dren, Edgar and Peter, are the only two American children, she says, who. have been in Paris throughout ( the entire war. We entered Paris from due south and the Germans were still battling In the heart of the city along the Seine when we arrived, but they were doomed. There was a full French ar- I mored division In the city, plus American troops entering constantly. con-stantly. The farthest we got in our first hour in Paris was near the senate building, where some Germans were holed up and firing desperately. So we took a hotel room near by and decided to write while the others fought. By the time you read this I'm sure Paris will once again be free for Frenchmen, and I'll be out mi uvti iuwii geuing my uam iieuu kissed. Of all the days of national joy I've ever witnessed this is the biggest. The other correspondents have written so thoroughly and so well about the fantastic eruption of mass joy when Paris was liberated that I shall not dwell on it much longer. But there are some little things I have to get out of my system, so we'll have at least this one more column on it. Actually the thing has floored most of us. I know that I have felt totally incapable of reporting it to you. It was so big I felt inadequate to touch it I didn't know where to start or what to say. The words you put down about it sound feeble to the point of asininity. I'm not alone in this feeling, for I've heard a dozen other correspondents correspond-ents say the same thing. A good many of us feel we have failed in properly presenting the loveliest, brightest story of our time. It could be that this is because we have been so unused, for so long, to anything any-thing bright. At any rate let's go back to the demonstration. From 2 o'clock in the afternoon until darkness around 10, we few. Americans in Paris on that first day were kissed and hauled and mauled by friendly mobs until we hardly knew where we were. Everybody kissed you little children, chil-dren, old women, grown-up men, beautiful girls. They jumped and squealed and pushed in a literal frenzy. They pinned bright little flags and badges all over yon. Amateur Ama-teur cameramen took pictures. 1 They tossed flowers and friendly tomatoes Into your jeep. One little girl even threw a bottle of cider into ours. As you drove along, gigantic masses of waving and screaming humanity clapped their hands as though applauding a fine performance perform-ance in a theater. We in the jeeps smiled bBCk until we had set grins on our faces'. We waved until our arms gave out, and then we just waggled wag-gled our fingers. We shook hands until our hands were bruised and scratched. If the jeep stopped, you were swamped Instantly. Those who couldn't reach you threw kisses at you, and we threw kisses back. They sang songs. They sang wonderful won-derful French songs we had never heard. And they sang "Tipperary" and "Madelon" and "Over There" and the "Marseilalse." French policemen saluted formally formal-ly but smilingly as we passed. The French tanks that went in ahead of us pulled over to the sidewalks and were Immediately swarmed over. |