European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                _ Page 4 cover Story s&3 Dave Casey la Motte recalls its world War ii liberation. Soldiers of the 517th Parachute regimental combat team Drift toward la Motte France on aug. 15,1944. Army another step toward Triumph from the cover looked out the window and there was an american parachutist falling from the House roof Down onto the roof of the smaller part of the House a Icard said recently. _ Icard was so excited about retelling the tale he stopped cleaning the old world War ii hand grenade he was Messing with on a table in his garage to show just where the american had landed and bounced. A a voila Quot Icard said. A we knew this meant War was coming to an end for us and the americans would Chase out the  Icard pointed to the damage at the Edge of the Street made by . Track vehicles. The dents and cracks Are still there. Icard then displayed mementos of the War he had found in the area and Squirrel led away in his garage grenades empty he said emergency Parachute and ammo boxes full of bullets. \ after showing off his Vintage military equipment he walked to the front of City Hall half a Block from his House. He pointed proudly to the plaque honouring the . Paratroopers who liberated la Motte making it the first town freed in Provence. Outside la Motte is the Monument to the 517th Parachute regimental combat team composed of the 517th Parachute inf regt the 460th Parachute arty in and the 596th Parachute engr co the in Cristion reads a remember our 635 casualties r=_534 wounded and 101 killed in action hours before Icard realized the War was coming to an end Max Bryan a member of the 551st Parachute inf div took  an army air base near Rome to participate in the second Allied assault on Hitler s fortress Europe. A i slept on the flight a Bryan recalled from his Home in Yorktown a. A i imagine it took four or five hours before we reached France. We circled for a while waiting for other planes before we dropped. A there we were. Wed been trained in the first Batalion of special forces in Panama for Jungle warfare and now were issued Winter equipment and skis for War in the Alps. That s the army  Bryan said originally his outfit was trained for nine months to drop on the Caribbean Island of Martin que which was ruled by Frances nazi collaboration government in Vichy. Vichy was going to allow German submarines into its ports on Martinique and the United states warned it would put a Quick Stop to that. A the threat of our action made Martinque change its mind a Bryan said. A so Here we were headed for France and the  Bryan believes his unit was the first to Cross train its men. A a i was trained in demolition transportation and communications and everyone had to have language training. I had an understanding of Spanish and had some French in school. During the drop i was the acting Graves registration  at the time of the drop Bryan was an 18-year-old Corporal and was already a two year Veteran. When he came Home after the War he said he had to get his mothers permission to buy a car and Wasny told enough to drink Beer legally. It s get. V by is a s by it s a shied about my age to get into the service. But we had one fellow who was even  the drop area for the 551st Parachute inf was the Plain of la Motte which was close to the Village of be Muy. A a Bunch of us came Down on the Stevens family estate around 5 in the evening a Bryan said. A the a amps Dave Casey Peter Icard and a 50-year-old souvenir. Courtesy Max Bryan Max Bryan with wac Friend in Berlin in 1945. Sunday August 14. 1994