Henri

Two years ago today I received a call from St. Quay/Portrieux, France that our dear friend, Henri Poulouin, had passed away. On May 29th, 1943, Randy's dad (Ted Peterson) was shot down over occupied France. Henri was a sixteen year old boy working on his father's farm when he saw the B-17 streaming for the bay and dad's parachute floating toward the ground just a few fields away. Henri and two of his friends ran toward the parachute and found dad trying to untangle his shroud lines from this very oak tree where Henri is pictured 49 years later with Kristin and Randy. At risk of death or deportation to prison camp, these three boys hid Ted until he could be put into the hands of the French Resistance. After that day, Henri and Ted never saw each other or communicated with each other again for 42 years, but oh, what a bond of love existed between the two of them. In this life, they could not communicate with words, but Ted and Ann and Henri and Louisette communicated with their hearts. When we received word that Henri had passed away (the last of the four to go), I recorded in my journal, "I sort of imagine Ted and Ann, Henri and Louisette sitting together communicating freely for the first time. It's a sweet thought."

Ted with the three boys who rescued him at the dedication of a monument made from one of the propellers retrieved from Ted's B-17.