~community

Huddled in a grove of trees, the
€scaped prisoners waited out the
daylight hours, fearing recapture
by patrols at any instant.

Then they heard the tune, whis-
tled by the man walking down the
Toad. :

Their minds matched words to
the notes: “It’s a long way to
‘Tipperary...it’s a long way to go...”

Les Moore and Bill McLeod,
both recent escapees from a Ger-
man prisoner of war camp, real-
ized the whistling was a signal.

~@ The whistler was Rene Chappe,

head of the French resistance near
Caen in northern France.

Chappe took the pair to a nearby
farmhouse, where they slept in the
chicken house.

The next night, they traded their
Canadian Army uniforms for the

-clothes of French peasants.

On bicycles provided by Chappe
and escorted by another resistance
member, they rode boldly through
alocal village where German
troops were stationed.

When McLeod’s bicycle tire
went flat — just as they were
passing a tavern filled with Ger-
man troops, one of the resistance
members smoothly traded bicy-
cles, sending McLeod on his way
and staying behind to fix the wom
tire.

For the next two weeks, Moore
and McLeod were in Chappe’s
care — sleeping in an old barn on
a friendly farm.

Moore learned that Chappe had
himself been captured by the Ger-
mans. A graduate of the French
Military Academy, Chappe was
taken prisoner after Dunkirk.

Conveyed to Germany, he
attempted to escape four times,
succeeding on the last attempt.

His official job was acting as
liaison between the local French
farmers and the Germans: earning
the farmers’ gratitude by falsifying
Teports on their livestock and

ge CIOPS.

Unofficially, Chappe headed the
French resistance in the area.

After two weeks, Moore and
McLeod managed to contact the
advancing American army and
were returned to England, and
eventually, home to Canada.

Moore and Chappe exchanged
letters briefly, then Moore lost
touch with the whistling French-
man.

But last summer, 48 years later,
he decided to try and find Chappe.
Now residents of North Saanich,
he and his wife Vivian returned to
France in August.

“When we went back, I wanted
to find Rene,” Moore said.

He told his story to an Ouest

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~ Editor: Valorie Lennox 656-1151

Trip recalls whistling war hero

Then Moore received a letter, in
French, from Madame Chappe.

Translated by George Eckenfel-
der, the letter told Moore that
Chappe had died in 1978.

However, Madame Chappe
enclosed a copy of a certificate
awarded to her husband by Air
Chief Marshall and Deputy
Supreme Commander of the
Allied Expeditionary Force Arthur
Tedder.

The certificate recognized
Chappe’s work in rescuing sailors,
soldiers and airmen from the Brit-

Columbus heeded someone to trust.

ish Commonwealth of Nations.
France journalist: how he was
separated from his unit during a
battle near Caen and taken captive
with over 100 other Canadian
soldiers; how he and McLeod
escaped when their work party
scattered during a bombing raid
and how he was helped by Chappe.

“T had hoped to find one

Frenchman among nine million,”
he said.

There was no response to the
article — until the end of Septem-
ber.

hen Christophe

his claim to a skeptical Queen.

Laurie Salvador

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TheReview Wednesday, October 7,1992 — A9

RESISTANCE LEADER Rene Chappe in a photograph taken
almost 50 years ago. Chappe helped North Saanich resi-
dent Les Moore escape re-capture by the Germans in 1944,
affer Moore fled a prisoner-of-war camp.

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