Three visits to Paris by Peggy Scholberg

Can you imagine seeing the city of Paris crowded with American GIs?  Paris was liberated in August of 1944. Soldiers famously marched through Champs-Élysées in a victory parade. Immediately, vast numbers of American GIs and Jeeps filled the streets, bars, and historic places. Evening celebrations were filled with dining, dancing, and drinking some of the area’s finest wines and champagnes.

Three times my mother visited Paris as described in Girls in a World at War. Each visit the city was vastly changed from the last, seeing it before the war, just after liberation, and later when Paris was beginning to recover. She definitely recalled French citizens gleefully calling out to her and other Americans with chants of "Libérateur! Libérateur! Libérateur!"

Unlike many European cities that were destroyed in the War, Paris was largely preserved. Read more to find out who was considered the “Savior of Paris,” someone that might surprise you. Learn why Hitler’s orders to bomb and burn the city were not followed. 

Book Excerpt

Charles turned the Jeep and drove along an avenue of sidewalk cafes and into an area of fashionable and expensive hotels and restaurants. Here the Parisians’ clothes looked less shabby and gray, but did look worn. Here the elegance of the hotels looked out of place among the tired people and Army uniforms.

They dined at white damask-covered tables served by white-jacketed waiters at the Hotel Normandie. This most luxurious hotel had been taken over as a leave center by the Army. “It’s ridiculous to be eating in so much luxury in the middle of a war,” said Charles. He carefully cut his meat which had been dipped in a batter and French fried to make a crisp crust. He tasted it and laughed. “Under that crust, we’re still at war. Taste it.”

Kathy tasted it and smiled. “Spam, it’s still better than anything we’ve managed. The sauce helps. I have to find out how the chef did that.” So, Kathy took Charles back into the kitchen and gathered recipes. The chefs were delighted to give their secrets to the heroes in American hospitals and welcomed them as American liberators.

“Freshen your lipstick, and we’ll go to the opera,” said Charles. He glanced at his watch. “You have fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes to get ready to go the Parisians Opera House in Paris, one of the most famous buildings in Paris. I ought to at least polish my buttons.”

With no more preparation than a fresh coat of lipstick, Kathy walked beside Charles up the grand curves of the famous double horseshoe staircase at the Opera House. They walked under the magnificent marble carvings and gold chandeliers. Elegantly dressed ladies smiled admiringly at Charles. Tuxedoed gentlemen smiled pleasantly at Kathy. They both wore their uniforms with pride, as the best-dressed opera-goers there.

The program was a ballet, the Swan Lake, and a pantomime, Le Coq d’Or. They shifted from the golden splendor of the Opera House to impressionistic scenery of the Swan Lake. When the music stopped, the lights went up.

The woman who sat next to Kathy tried to explain it to her, and laughed with delight at Kathy’s outlandish French accent.

“Don’t laugh at that accent,” said Kathy: “It has made me more French friends than a proper accent ever could.”

Girls in a World at War by Peggy Scholberg is available online wherever books are sold.