THE GIRL WHO WORE FREEDOM<\/p>\n
“We may have heard of D-Day, but we have not heard the stories of the men, women, and children liberated from enemy forces that day. For the citizens of Normandy, D-Day is more than a date in a history book or archival footage on a movie screen.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n “D-Day means liberation.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n “D-Day is freedom.”<\/em><\/p>\n So go the opening lines in the trailer for <\/em>The Girl Who Wore Freedom,<\/a> the new documentary directed by Christian Taylor, mother of Jake Taylor \u201920. The film tells the story of D-Day from the perspective of those who were freed, their children, and grandchildren. It begins with the story of Dani\u00e9le Patrix Boucherie, who was a little girl when soldiers from the U.S. Army\u2019s 4th Infantry and 101st Airborne Division liberated her town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont from Nazi control on June 6, 1944. She showed up at a ceremony a year later wearing a red, white, and blue dress her mother had made from the parachutes of the American soldiers who freed<\/em> her.<\/p>\n The film focuses on the extraordinary gratitude felt toward Americans in Normandy to this day, celebrated by thousands during four days of events Taylor witnessed for the first time in 2015 when her son, Hunter, a sergeant in the 101st, participated in re-enactments there.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n WM asked the director to tell us about that first visit to Normandy, and the moment she knew she had to make a film.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n WM:<\/strong> You went to Normandy in 2015 to see your son participate in D-Day commemorations there. Did you travel there with the army?<\/p>\n Christian:<\/strong> Oh no! Hunter called me in April of that year and said, \u201cMom, the Army is sending me to France.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to France!\u201d He says, \u201cMom, you cannot go.\u201d I said, \u201cHunter, there is no way you\u2019re going over to France to do something for D-Day and I am not going.\u201d<\/p>\n So, you traveled by yourself?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ve only been overseas one other time, right out of college. I speak Spanish, but not French. I knew nothing about anything that was going on in Normandy. Jacob [Taylor \u201920)<\/a> was graduating from high school. I knew I had to take him to help me.<\/p>\n What did you find when you got there?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n We rented a car in Cannes and were following an old U.S. Army Jeep when it broke down, so Jacob got out to ask the soldiers for directions. When he came back he said they didn\u2019t speak English\u2014they were French.<\/p>\n We drove on to Carentan and into the middle of what seemed like a Fourth of July parade. American flags waving. Hundreds of people\u2014mostly French and many dressed as civilians or GIs from the 1940s\u2014 crowded around our soldiers and the WWII veterans. I felt like I was in a time machine.<\/p>\n The French people asked our soldiers to hold their babies and have their pictures taken with them. They stood in line for hours just to meet the World War II veterans, shake their hands, and tell them thank you. The women plastered them with red lipstick kisses that the veterans left on their faces all day long.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just for the soldiers. I didn’t pay for a meal the whole time I was there. I had a personalized tour of the Utah Beach Museum. All because I’m an American and my son was in the 101st.<\/p>\n At one ceremony they played \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner\u201d first, then “The Marseillaise.” I wondered, Why are they playing our anthem first? Then it dawned on me. If there were no American forces here, there may not have been a French national anthem.<\/p>\n It was a level of gratitude that, unless you see it with your own eyes, you cannot comprehend. My father was in Reagan\u2019s administration, and I have been a part of some spectacular Veterans Day events. I have never seen anything that would compare to what I saw in Normandy.<\/p>\n