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Hold until relieved were the orders for the 7th company commanded by Captain Richard Todd (see footnote 6) that had jumped at 1:30 a.m.
These fellows went to reinforce the Ox and Bucks, and to pay a heavy tribute towards the liberation of Europe. There were 432 men after 12 hours of combat, and the reinforcements of Canadian parachutists and glider soldiers occupied the area which had been cleared of Rommel's Asparagus.
The 6th Airborne of General Richard Gale used Pegasus, the winged horse, as their insignia, which was selected by Daphne Du Maurier (daff-knee du- more-ee-aay), the wife of General Browning, the British General who formed this elite unit. It is they who gave their christened group name to this famous canal drawbridge...
Thus, the name Pegasus Bridge was given by the British.
In 1989, the Bruxelles Commission decided to de-commission this bridge at Benouville for economic reasons. The Prefecture (regional authority) at the time didn't seem to know about this, as was written.
Finally the media heard about the plans, and articles were published in both a large regional newspaper, and a historical military publication.
After having read these articles, Mr. Claude-Andre Simoneau (see footnote 7) was quite touched by the situation, since he had both worked and lived near the location of the bridge. He also knew the history of the bridge, and, being a veteran himself of the French Resistance, decided to take action.
After the formation of a defense committee named The Association of the Pegasus Bridge, this small group began to grow as the number of members increased, one of them being Mr. Robert Fieffe (WWII veteran and president of the National Union of Parachutists of France) who accepted the presidency.
After making much progress through group meetings, meetings with administrators, the Press, and picketing, nothing yet happened. Finally, it was proposed to help save the steel industry of Caen to maintain the future of the port at Caen.
It was necessary to battle bad fortune through determination, and finally it was decided to save the economic future of the region - why not?
However, quite disappointingly, these efforts could not stop the closing of the Uni-Metal Steel Company during the last months of 1993, in which Caen inherited 3,000 more unemployed workers, and lost 48% of its port's traffic.
To make matters worse, the bridge of Benouville was to be scrapped in preparation for a new bridge. And then, hope broke through. The Minister of the Interior allocated 300,000 Francs for the moving of the bridge.
Footnotes:
6) British actor whom portrayed Captain Howard and his bridge assault in the film The Longest Day. In World War II, he served six years with the British Army as a commando, an armored cavalryman, and a paratrooper. Todd jumped at Normandy and was one of the first British airborne officers to land on D-Day. He fought across France and Germany, serving in Palestine after the war, and was discharged in June of 1946.
7) Mr. Simoneau participated in the French Resistance during WWII by giving information to British Intelligence, and also drove a gazogene truck (a coal hauling truck which burned carburant, an alternative fuel, since gas was rationed by the Germans) transporting wounded for the French Red Cross. After the Liberation, he joined the 5th Armored Division of General De Vernejoul, under the orders of Jean De Lattre De Tassigny, who was the future Marshall of France. After his retirement, he became a historian of the WWII time era in Normandy, France and fathered the saving of the Pegasus Bridge, and the construction of a memorial to honor the British paratroopers who captured and held the bridge.
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