Entering the Battle

On August 13, Chaplain McDonald flew to a field near Bayeux, France, and then traveled by jeep 60 kilometers west to a tent-filled apple orchard south of Periers. There he met Major Pierre Boy, who explained that he was now Chaplain of Special Troops, 12th Army Group, commanded by Lt. General Omar Nelson Bradley. While in Normandy during his first days of the war, Frederick was dismayed by the destruction wrought by Allied forces on the French towns and countryside, observing great bomb craters and dead cattle. He was particularly bothered by the shattered churches.

Saddening to me were the number of Church towers shot down, those upward pointing symbols of the majesty of God. I thought ‘those barbaric Germans’ and then I realized that the shells which destroyed them had come from our batteries. Of course a high spot like a spire is a choice mark for enemy artillery observation but remembering this did not make me feel much better.

–Fred McDonald