Denise & Monique CARPOPHORE
Savannah FRANÇOIS
Lion-sur-mer & Caen
The Carpophore family: generations of memories of the landings
Denise Carpophore, I was born on 31 July 1937. In Lion-sur-mer. I was 7, but I remember everything.
The Germans were always turning around in front of the house. And Dad listened to Radio London.
Then Mum would have a fit: she'd break the dishes to make noise, so they wouldn't hear.
Normally there should have been 7 of us, but there were 18 in the trench.
In the trench, I had an aunt who had a nervous breakdown, Louisette. You (Marie-Louise) were in Mum's arms, and I was sitting next to my grandmother and it was shooting just above.
The family's clandestine radio and objects collected from occupied homes.
There were many ‘Hail Mary's’ and ‘Our Father's’ ...
We were ordered to leave and take refuge in Caen.
We left, and at Hermanville there was a plane attack. So we went back into the woods.
Roger in the middle, Dad on me and Mum on you. When it was over, Dad said, ‘We're going home. If we have to die, we'll die in the shadows, at home’.
We went inside and stayed in the trench for 3 days and 3 months in the cellar.
There was a house that had been converted into a bunker and there were about ten Germans who didn't want to leave. It was my uncle who took the English out and it was the last street (de Lion) that was liberated.
I can't hear the planes any more, it's difficult. It was the planes in particular ... Because above the trench, they were whistling.
I've got goosebumps and I haven't been able to go out since ...
I was 7 and I haven't forgotten. I said to myself ‘If there was someone above me, he wouldn't allow that’.
My name is Monique Carpophore and I was born on 28 December 1950 at 23 rue Bertin in Lion-sur-Mer.
I got Dad to write it all down. Dad never talked about it. He never spoke to us.
He started talking about it when he had grandchildren and when the grandchildren started growing up. So there they were, topics of conversation at family dinners.
And once, at the end, I said to him ‘well that's good dad, you're telling us this, we know, but you should write it down’.
It's true that we don't want war. I remember my grandmother always saying: ‘Better peace than war’, and I always say that to my children.
My name is Savannah, I was born on 29 October 2004 in Caen and I'm currently 19.
I'm the granddaughter of the Carpophore family, and therefore the granddaughter of MOnique Carpophore.
Savannah has a tattoo of her great-grandparents' date of birth.
We mustn't forget them. My grandmother used to say to me when I was very little: go and see your great-grandparents. You'll see, or you'll regret it. And I'm glad I talked to them about it, that I benefited from them. I would say to everyone: enjoy your great-grandparents, grandparents. They have very rich lives. On the contrary, you have to listen to them, you have to be there for them and they have a lot to pass on to us.
Love each other, enjoy your families, because it's now or never.