Ellen Hampton - Women of Valor: The Rochambelles on the World War II Front

Many Rochambelles gave much of their time and opened up their personal archives in order to bring this story to light. Jacqueline (Jacotte) Fournier, the eldest of the group, spent many hours remembering the tiniest details of her life as an ambulance driver sixty years before. It wasnt easy, and it is a measure of her patience that it wasnt until nearly the end that she threw up her hands: Ellen, you squeeze me like a lemon! Jacqueline and her sister Suzanne were of invaluable assistance, as were Jacquelines memoirs. Rosette Trinquet Peschaud and Marie-Thrse Pezet Tarkoy also were kind enough to let me read and use material from letters they wrote home during the war. They answered far too many questions, and Rosette patiently explained the jokes in Totos Rules when they were less than clear to me. Raymonde Jeanmougin took time out from her busy days at the Maison de la 2 e DB to find books, dossiers, and phone numbers, and also to recount her own experiences. Danile Heintz Clment and her husband Jacques were delightful hosts on several occasions, and Daniles well-thought-out perspectives on the war experience were particularly helpful. Edith Schaller Vzy, a monument to energy and verve, provided stories, along with permission to use material from her memoir, which were vital to this book. Many thanks also are due Arlette Hautefeuille Ratard, Madeleine Collomb Bessires, Anne Hastings, Janine Bocquentin Barral, Christiane Petit, Laure de Breteuil, and Michette de Steinheil. I am grateful to the volunteers and staff of the Mmorial du Marchal Leclerc de Hauteclocque et de la Libration de Paris, particularly Charles Pegulu de Rovin, whose patience and knowledge were unending. Any mistakes in the book are my own and despite their great assistance. Sylvie Zaidman, director of the new iteration of the Muse de la Libration de ParisMuse du Gnral LeclercMuse Jean Moulin, beautifully arranged in the old Resistance headquarters of the 1944 liberation, also has provided key and vivid support for the Rochambelles story.

I am delighted that McFarland is bringing out this revised and updated second edition and am deeply grateful to editor Dylan Lightfoot for his commitment to keeping the story of the Rochambelles alive. Thanks also remain due to my original agent, Robert Shepard, and to Palgrave Macmillan for the first edition, published in 2006. Lt. Gen. Kathleen Gainey (U.S. Army, Ret.) has my profound thanks for her delightful foreword and everlasting admiration for her stellar career. The Rochambelles would have been proud. And I am very grateful to Lt. Col. Marilla Cushman (U.S. Army, Ret.), public relations coordinator of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, for helping bring about the foreword.