Mother of Normandy: The Story of Simone Renaud | movie | 2010 | Official Trailer - video Dailymotion

This is the story of one remarkable woman, whose devotion to a generation of heroes transcended all boundries. Madame Si | dG1fNE1yeG5GUlhEblU

Transcript

00:00World War II.

00:04In the early morning hours of the Allied D-Day invasion, thousands of paratroopers from the

00:0982nd and 101st U.S. Airborne Divisions landed in the Normandy countryside and liberated

00:15the small town of St. Marigliese.

00:19The night of June the 5th, June 6, 1944, is probably one of the most indelible moments

00:27in American military history.

00:29Madame Simon-Renaud, her husband Alexander, the mayor of St. Marigliese, and their three

00:35young sons witnessed the triumph and tragedy of D-Day firsthand.

00:41We had front row seats on what happened there because we were living on the square.

00:49The Germans shot all the paratroopers who landed in the trees.

00:55They did not take any prisoners.

00:58St. Marigliese became the final resting place for thousands of soldiers killed in the battle.

01:04But they would not be forgotten.

01:07Madame Renaud took it upon herself to care for the graves of the boys who gave their

01:11lives so that her sons could grow up in peace.

01:16All her life changed entirely after the invasion.

01:24And then, letters from American families began to arrive.

01:28Within a couple of months after my father's death, my grandmother contacted Mayor Renaud

01:35and asked him,

01:37Is there anyone in your community that could possibly put some flowers on my son's grave?

01:43The mayor gave the letters to his wife.

01:46Madame Renaud, who spoke fluent English, reached out across the ocean to strangers in need.

01:53Dozens and dozens of people wrote to her.

01:56They responded immediately and sent her a picture of my father's grave with the flowers

02:01and with them there and with their son there, and that was a tremendous boost to my grandmother.

02:08When Life magazine published a photo of Madame Renaud tending to Theodore Roosevelt Jr.'s

02:13grave, even more letters began to pour into the town.

02:17Madame Renaud answered every single one of them.

02:20She saw the boys laying outside on the church ground.

02:25In her heart, she knew what her mother was feeling when she got that telegram.

02:31It helped a great deal knowing that there's somebody there taking care of their son's

02:36grave.

02:37It's part of our heritage that we express our gratitude to the American people.

02:49Join us for a journey into the life of a woman whose heart knew no bounds.

02:54Madame Simone Renaud, the Mother of Normandy.