The straight facts of a veteran’s life don’t always tell the whole story. On Memorial Day, I always think of my father, Gayle Smith, who was an ambulance driver during World War II. After the war Gayle followed his father’s footsteps as a college professor, teaching English at the University of Maryland when he wasn’t reading stories to his kids. My brother and I found out there was more to his military service when we came across a box containing a medal. It was a square cross over two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon–the French Croix de Guerre. We begged for the story of the medal.
Horrified by Hitler, my father had joined the war effort before the US did, in 1940. After lying about his age to join up at 17, Gayle signed up with the American Field Service and the British Eighth Army. He served under the command of a French officer in North Africa, alongside other Americans, Brits, and New Zealanders. The officer was also a respected chef. When word came of chickens for sale at a nearby farm, Gayle was happy to drive him there by ambulance. But, while driving back with enough chickens for a gourmet treat, they discovered that the farm was on the other side of enemy lines. They were noticed by German machine gunners, and it took some wild driving to get back to base. My father and his commander made it there in one piece, but the chickens in the back of the ambulance did not. Medics poured out to treat the wounded, seeing the shot-up and bloody ambulance. They were waved off by Gayle and his commander, both rushing to properly hang the dead chickens by their feet, to bleed out before cooking. The resulting meal was legendary, and my father chuckled that his commander had awarded him the Croix de Guerre as a result.
Ten years later, I received a different perspective on the story when I mentioned it to my mother, a historian. She reminded me that Dad had lost his hearing for a few weeks during the war, and she told me why. He had carried stretchers under fire, evacuating the wounded for three days straight, at the battle of El Alamein in Egypt. The blasting of the cannons deafened him for weeks afterwards. Mom said it was the lives he saved during that battle that earned Gayle the Croix de Guerre. My brother and I believe both stories. Our Dad never lacked courage, and he did love a good meal.
Judy Young is a retired United Methodist pastor. She convenes Gettysburg for
Gun Sense and the Adams County branch of the PA Prison Society, and is a
member of the Green Gettysburg Book Club.