French cafe owner who hid in cellar as child on eve of D-Day recalls moment troops liberated family
Madame Arlette tells ITV News Meridian's Matt Teale of the moment her family was liberated by British troops
A woman whose family were the first French people to be liberated by British troops has spoken of that night, as the nation marks the anniversary of D-Day.
Madame Arlette Gondrée was four years old when, on the night of 5 June 1944, a small unit of airborne troops, landed in France after setting off in wooden gliders from a base in Dorset.
The mission of the troops from D Company of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was to take control of Pegasus Bridge, and another, to slow the German's progress.
On the eve of D-Day, after the soldiers had secured the bridge, they entered the Pegasus Bridge Cafe where a young Arlette and her family were hiding in the cellar.
Arlette now runs the cafe and said: "French children go to bed at a similar time to their parents so in June it is very late.
"It wasn't long before we were made aware of a tremendous crashing noise and different voices around the house and different footsteps so we were very frightened.
"Daddy came into the room and ordered my mother to take the two little girls down into the cellar.
"Suddenly, we heard the window of our dining room being forced open and footsteps above our heads, which was quite frightening. But Daddy left us for a second - opened the door in the kitchen and was faced by two people who said to him - it's OK, we've arrived, we're British."
The soldiers from D-Company were under the commanded of Major John Howard.
After entering the cafe, they had come bearing gifts that would temped Arlette out from hiding.
"They gave something that we had not had for a long time. So, I came forward for the chocolate, of course.
"From that moment on, my parents said, 'What can we do for you?' So, we came up and the front door was open.
"By then there were casualties and they were brought in on the kitchen table, in the dining room which was the operating table and we were with them the whole time because Mummy was a trained nurse."
Arlette says her father was a great lover of champagne and made sure that the Germans would not get their hands on his supply.
"He was determined the Germans were not going to have it so they made a great big hole in the garden and lowered in the champagne the wine and the liquor and then they covered it with corrugated iron and soil and grew vegetables on top.
"The Germans never found out about Daddy's haul. But, when the British arrived to give us the freedom and started digging their trenches in the garden, Daddy said, 'It's all for you. You dig it up.'"
On the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Arlette will be hosting veterans at the cafe to commemorate the specific time at 11.16pm on 5 June when "Great Britain brought us the freedom that we were hoping for".
She said: "We are very honoured to be the first French family liberated. That is why they had a mission, but I have one also."
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