WW2TV | The Caretakers: War Graves Gardeners and the Secret Battle to Rescue Allied Airmen in World War II @WW2TV | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 14 hours ago.
The Caretakers: War Graves Gardeners and the Secret Battle to Rescue Allied Airmen in World War II
With Caitlin Galante Deangelis
Part of our DDay and Battle of Normandy series
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lD-VIZrUhFbYxwDvdobbkEs&si=alYb5gBq6fxj5zoL
Also part of our 80th Anniversary Series
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lCyOAGNszPdUOkA43dfSldX&si=bfIRjfLj4XKUcXds
When World War I ended, hundreds of British veterans stayed in France to work for the newly chartered Imperial War Graves Commission. Through the 1920s and 1930s, these veteran-gardeners married local women, raised bilingual children, and dedicated themselves to caring for the graves of their fallen comrades.
When World War II swept through Europe in 1940, more than 200 War Graves gardeners were stranded in Nazi-occupied France. Their bosses explicitly ordered them to remain at their posts, even when their villages were under attack by the invading Germans. While some escaped, others were arrested by the Nazis. A handful managed to stay free and join the French Resistance. With their English-language skills and unshakable loyalty to the Allied cause, the gardeners and their families took on crucial roles in the effort to save British and American airmen shot down in France. In some cases, they hid the airmen in World War I cemeteries.
Caitlin Galante DeAngelis is an internationally renowned expert on cemeteries. She earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University with a dissertation on the political histories of cemeteries in Britain and America. Formerly a lecturer at Harvard, she was also employed by the President of the university to write a proprietary report about Harvard's historical ties to slavery.DeAngelis has been interviewed as an expert on cemetery history by media outlets including the Boston Globe, The New Yorker, and WBUR and her cemetery photography has been published in Atlas Obscura and 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoades. She is an active member of several UK-based historical associations including the Western Front Association and the Great War Group, and contributed a popular article about the 80th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's blog.
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USA bookshop.org/a/21029/9781633888999
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The Caretakers: War Graves Gardeners and the Secret Battle to Rescue Allied Airmen in World War II
With Caitlin Galante Deangelis
Part of our DDay and Battle of Normandy series
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lD-VIZrUhFbYxwDvdobbkEs&si=alYb5gBq6fxj5zoL
Also part of our 80th Anniversary Series
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDG3XyxGI5lCyOAGNszPdUOkA43dfSldX&si=bfIRjfLj4XKUcXds
When World War I ended, hundreds of British veterans stayed in France to work for the newly chartered Imperial War Graves Commission. Through the 1920s and 1930s, these veteran-gardeners married local women, raised bilingual children, and dedicated themselves to caring for the graves of their fallen comrades.
When World War II swept through Europe in 1940, more than 200 War Graves gardeners were stranded in Nazi-occupied France. Their bosses explicitly ordered them to remain at their posts, even when their villages were under attack by the invading Germans. While some escaped, others were arrested by the Nazis. A handful managed to stay free and join the French Resistance. With their English-language skills and unshakable loyalty to the Allied cause, the gardeners and their families took on crucial roles in the effort to save British and American airmen shot down in France. In some cases, they hid the airmen in World War I cemeteries.
Caitlin Galante DeAngelis is an internationally renowned expert on cemeteries. She earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University with a dissertation on the political histories of cemeteries in Britain and America. Formerly a lecturer at Harvard, she was also employed by the President of the university to write a proprietary report about Harvard's historical ties to slavery.DeAngelis has been interviewed as an expert on cemetery history by media outlets including the Boston Globe, The New Yorker, and WBUR and her cemetery photography has been published in Atlas Obscura and 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoades. She is an active member of several UK-based historical associations including the Western Front Association and the Great War Group, and contributed a popular article about the 80th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's blog.
Buy the book
UK uk.bookshop.org/a/5843/9781633888999
USA bookshop.org/a/21029/9781633888999
You can become a YouTube Member and support us here youtube.com/channel/UCUC1nmJGHmiKtlkpA6SJMeA
You can become a Patron here patreon.com/WW2TV
Please click subscribe for updates also "like" the video - it really helps!
Social Media links -
twitter.com/WW2TV
facebook.com/WW2TV
instagram.com/ww2tv
WW2TV Merchandise ww2tv.creator-spring.com
WW2TV Bookshop - where you can purchase copies of books featured in my YouTube shows. Any book listed here comes with the personal recommendation of Paul Woodadge, the host of WW2TV. For full disclosure, if you do buy a book through a link from this page WW2TV will earn a commission.
UK - uk.bookshop.org/shop/WW2TV
USA - bookshop.org/shop/WW2TV
Patreon Brigadiers: Susan Yu, David Keahey and Tom Mullen
Become a WW2TV Brigadier and become part of this Hall of Fame
patreon.com/WW2TV
