Escape Over The Pyrenees
from Catherine Ramognino
Salt Lake City, Utah
ESCAPE & EVASION REPORT OF GILBERT RAMOGNINO, FRENCH
RESISTANCE FIGHTER AND ESCAPE HELPER
This report is written in Gilbert Ramognino’s own words in
somewhat broken English and punctuation.
---------------------------
PARIS March the 22nd 1946
From Lieutenant RAMOGNINO Gilbert
2e Commando Parachutistes de France
To:
Ministere de la Guerre
Services du Colonel de BOISSOUDY
231 Boulevard Saint Germain, PARIS
and
Escape and Evasion Service
Hotel Majestic
19 Avenue Kleber, PARIS
Sirs,
The 20th of December 1943, after having been working for my
underground “reseau” (network) for three years, the Gestapo
being a bit too much on my trail, I decided to join the
French Free Forces. I was sent to TOULOUSE, to the local
underground forces, represented by “CHARLIE” and police
Inspector KELLER, who asked me to wait a few weeks in the
town before crossing the Pyrenees – time necessary to group
a few allied airmen they intended to try to send to Spain.
This request was made because of my knowledge of the English
language, as none of the airmen could speak any French.
The 20th of January 1944, I was ordered to get a ticket for
a station at ST LAURENT de l’EST (LAURENT DE NESTE), a small
village after the more important station of MONTREJAULT (MONTREJEAU).
I was instructed that 6 allied airmen would be introduced to
me at the TOULOUSE station itself.
In the waiting hall of the station of TOULOUSE on the 20th
of January 1944 at about 14h00, my friends showed me 4
groups of 2 chaps whom I had to convoy. I found out
afterwards that 2 of them were Dutch civilians, who could
speak fluent English and very little French.
We all went separately on the platform, but learned that our
train was 3 hours late. During those 3 hours I had to
navigate from one group to another to explain the delay, and
interfere when the very talkative French people of the
Toulouse region wanted to start a conversation with members
of the group, which would have been rather awkward and
dangerous. Useless to say that those 3 hours seemed rather
long to all of us, as the German and French Gestapo, and
Gendarmes were rather numerous on the platform. It was the
time of forced labor for French youngsters, and our allied
friends were rather athletic looking and had mostly weird
attire given to them by French peasants where the airmen had
fallen.
The train came at last, and then another problem started
because it was impossible to put my 8 chaps in the same
compartment where 3 French people were already there. I told
my friends of escape to pretend to sleep to avoid any
questioning. Anyway, at the third stop I could manage to
have them all in the same compartment after the 3 Frenchmen
got off. Now we only had to rely on our luck to not be
inspected by the German police. We decided in case it should
occur, if there were only 2 of them, to get rid of them. But
everything went smoothly. No Jerries came.
At St. Laurent de l’Est there was no station control, but
the car that was supposed to be waiting for us, to take us
to the foot of the mountains, was absent. I decided it was
impossible to wait in the station (which was very modest in
importance) with a group of men like us which would surely
have attracted attention. I took the men to a nearby field
and asked them to wait and to lie down in the snow, as we
had the bad luck to have a brilliant moonlit night. During
the next 2 hours, I went to and fro, from the field to the
station until at last the car came.
The story is nearly ended. We started to walk with our guide
for 3 days and nights, and after a rather very hard journey,
very often in 2 feet of snow, going up to nearly 6,000 feet,
we touched Spain at a village called OST or BOSOST. From
there we were duly accompanied by “carabineros” and taken to
Viella, Lerida.
I parted from my friends in Lerida, the American airmen
being called by their consul in Madrid, and I was myself
(having been declared being British to the Spanish police)
called to Barcelona by Mr. WINKFIELD, of the British Consul,
who gave me a British Passport for Madrid and Gibraltar –
from there I was flown to Algiers, where I enlisted in the
French paratroops.
I had the joy to travel from Madrid to Gibraltar in the same
train as my American comrades, and from there I lost sight
of them.
Names of the American Airmen:
Lieutenant (Reuben H.) ECKART (Eckhardt)
Sergeant (Russell) JEVONS
Snd Lieutenant Glen Mc Cabe, Route Mt Pleasant, IOWA
Sergeant Arthur K. ENDERS Box 362, Globe, Arizona
Sergeant Joseph (BALEAH) – Left to the care of a French the
second day of the Journey in the mountains (he was
exhausted). Mc Cabe later told me in Gibraltar that he had
reached Spain safely in another convoy.
Name of the British airman: BRIGHT, Tom (Thomas) Flight
Sergeant 105 Varley Road, West Ham, London E.
Names of the Dutch Civilians: (Rene de Vries, and Kornelis
Ydoma or Jdoma)
I must mention that Glen Mc Cabe and Enders were my closest
friends during the trip. I was known only to them by the
name of GILBERT.
Signed,
Gilbert Ramognino
