28 Following the Liberators through France

G.I. Tourists in Paris

Jack at the Palais de Chaillot looking toward the Eiffel Tower

Jack’s group followed the front lines pushing back against the Germans. Paris had been liberated by the French Resistance in August 1944 and Allied troops soon followed, officially and on pass. Jack photographed the famous Champs Élysées Boulevard where German troops had proudly asserted their authority over the French capital in 1940 and General Charles De Gaulle had strolled after liberating the city. By the time Jack arrived, the city looked almost itself again.

“General de Gaulle and his entourage proudly stroll down the
Champs Élysées to Notre Dame Cathedral . . . 25 August 1944”[1]

The Champs Élysées as Jack saw it

Winkler at the Palais de Chaillot

Jack with the Eiffel Tower and the Palais
de Chaillot in the distance

Indulging in one of the things they
missed most from home: ice cream

The Push through France

Now that he was moving through Europe, Jack was able to tell Alice where he had been in England and France over the previous ten months. It was a secret no more.

Keevil > Rivenhall > Stapleton > Maupertus > Montebourg > La Bazoge > Saint-Dizier > Luxembourg[2]

Europe, Oct 17, 1944

Dearest Alice,

  Well honey I suppose you have wondered many times where we have been since coming overseas. We landed in Scotland & took a train to England & went to a place called Keevil. It’s very small & probably not on the map but it’s near Trowbridge which is near Bath. From here we went to Rivenhall. That’s near Witham which is near Chelmsford. From here we went to Staplehurst which is near Maidstone. From there over to France & I arrived just outside Cherburg on July 4 where we were stationed for some time. From there we went to a place near Monteb[o]urg. From there to La Boyoge [La Bazoge], just outside of Le Mans. Then when Derrick & 4 other fellows & I were away on Detached Service we were at Saint-Dizier. From there we left France and are at our present base. I’m sure glad you got the bracelets & I’m glad you like them. They aren’t much but they are a souvenir of France. I got them at St. Pierre-Eglise [near Cherbourg].

  I don’t know what kind of fish they have in France but the ones we caught were just big enough to throw back in.[3]

On Detached Service at Saint-Dizier, France

A sign on the door of the restaurant of the Hôtel de l’Univers takes
clear aim at Allied soldiers. It reads in English, “Off Limits.”

Signs on the Saint-Dizier theater read, “Honor to our liberators” and
“Long live the Republic.”

Opposite the Saint-Dizier theater on the main square sits the town hall with a sign reading,
“Long live de Gaulle.” It honors the leader of the French Resistance who would later become
President of the French Republic. 

Living Quarters as the Group Moved from Base to Base

Jack explained to his grandchildren about the living quarters during his time in the ETO: A tent holds six soldiers or beds. There wasn’t room enough for a bathroom in the tent. The bathrooms didn’t have roofs on them. (Some of them did.) And they got wet.[4]

Morning at the tents

Constructing a latrine: Toy, Judge, Metler and two loafers

Finished latrine with Judge and Metler

Perspective on the tent situation by a member of the 160th[5]

 In fact, only the staff sergeants slept six to a tent. Some grades had fewer men per tent, but most of the men were crowded together. There were stoves for warming, but the stoves had been left in Cherbourg and were not replaced. As the weather turned with the seasons, the men would happily have had the stoves. Jacked mentioned the situation to Alice.

We are still having rain & cloudy & cold weather so there isn’t much to do [i.e., the planes could not fly]. We have no stove in our tent & it sure gets damp & cold in there. I sure hope they get some stoves soon.[6]

All planes flew manually, so rain and overcast skies grounded them, leaving the ground crews with time on their hands. Excitement was on the horizon, however, with the unexpected arrival of an enemy plane.

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[1] “General de Gaulle and his entourage proudly stroll down the Champs Élysées to Notre Dame Cathedral for a Te Deum ceremony following the city's liberation on 25 August 1944,” photograph, Imperial War Museum, Ministry of Information, Second World War Press Agency Print Collection (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205015974), photograph HU 66477, public domain; as reproduced in Wikimedia (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19139629 : accessed 29 June 2018).

[2] “The Push through France,” map created with Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps : accessed 28 June 2018).

[3] Jack J. Kellar (Luxembourg) letter to “Dearest Alice” [Alice (Streeter) Kellar] (Santa Rosa, California), 17 October 1944, excerpts.

[4] Jack J. Kellar, interview by Judy Kellar Fox, December 1993; cassette tape recording and transcription held by the author.

[5] Ralph C. Fritz, illustrated map of the 160^th Squadron in the ETO, 15 August 1945, detail; “Life with the 160 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron,” collection of eleven photographs, U.S. Army Air Force, 1944–1945.

[6] Jack J. Kellar letter to “Dearest Alice,” 17 October 1944, excerpt.

27 All Over but the Fighting: France 1944

Jack at a French cafe

“All over but the fighting”

            --E. R. Quesada, Major General, U.S. Army, Commanding[1]

D-Day ended the anticipation about invasion and began the ground war against German forces. Now there were Allied troops below the planes. Ground controllers called in P-51s for patrol missions and bomber escort. Planes from Jack’s 380^th squadron continued to dive-bomb specific targets (trains, armored vehicles, horse-drawn guns and vehicles). They also escorted a C-47 carrying the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury and provided top cover for P-47 Thunderbolt bombers. They circled over Morlaix while American troops expelled the enemy from the city.[2]

Town by town, kilometer by kilometer, Allies took back France for the French, moving eastwards. Jack, initially stationed near the Normandy landing sites, recorded in photos vestiges of the German occupation and a few scenes of French life. They would remind him of what he could not tell Alice, yet.

Tourists Derrick, Kellar, Winkler, and two others

Destroyed Renault FT tank

Storage of the kind of artillery shells that had damaged the P-51s

 

Warning about mines in French and German

French children

The Automobile-Club de l'Ouest, sponsor of the Le Mans
24-hour auto race, offered assistance to prisoners of war.
The city had been liberated in August 1944, just before Jack's visit.

France, July 15, 1944

Dearest Alice,

Honey I never did tell you about the bread we use to get in England. They do not use bleach bleached flour for there bread & it is a light brown. The first day it’s pretty good but after it gets older than a day its really terrible. All the time it’s sort of mealy and not fluffy like American. We finally got use to it but today for the first time since being over here we had real white bread. It sure was good. We were eating C & K rations over here which are hard biscuits, a small can of food sugar etc. Now we are starting to eat B rations again & it sure seems good to get potatoes, fruit etc. Today was my day off and I spent nearly all the day building a foot locker. I got it nearly done & I am pretty proud of it. I just got back from the show. The shows here on the post are free the same as they were in England. The picture was “Cover Girl.” Now I can see why you like that song Long Ago & Far Away.[3]

To see what Jack and Alice liked so much, click here. 

Brothers Jack and Herald reunite in France

Jack’s brother, Technical Sergeant Herald Kellar, had also moved from England to France, and Jack had the opportunity to visit him at his base.

Herald inspected downed German planes

Jack and Herald

Herald

August 1944

The end of August 1944 saw big changes for Jack and his group and for France. On the 22^nd the 363^rd moved down the Cherbourg Peninsula to Azeville, their second base in France.[4]

On the 25^th French Resistance liberated the city of Paris from German occupation, a huge boost of morale for the French people.[5]

On the 29^th the 363^rd Fighter Group was converted to the 363^rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group. Its role henceforth would be to photograph enemy positions and movements to help commanders make the best decisions for their troops. The 363rd's history sums up the group’s losses in the six months they were active: 103 pilots “killed as prisoners of war, evaders or due to wounds” and 104 P-51s lost and/or destroyed, either by the enemy or by accident. [6]

They were changing us at that time from a fighter to a tactical reconnaissance squadron. They put big cameras in the planes, and sent them over to take pictures of everything.  They still had their guns, so if they ran into a fight, why, they could fight. I received a new P-51D, all silver, and I had a big, red heart with Alice’s name painted on one side. My new plane did not have a fuselage tank, the gasoline tank right behind the pilot. It just had the radio on the floor. We found that we could take the canopy off, the pilot and I would both get in, the canopy was put back on, and I could take a ride with some of the pilots. I had numerous rides this way in my P-51.[7]

Jack and his A9B

Jack in the pilot's seat of his P-51

A Promotion, a Pay Raise, and a Pat on the Back

Working meant payday, and hard work brought Jack its rewards. Early in his stay in England he was promoted to Staff Sergeant, which came with a pay increase. Most of his earnings went home to Alice. Since she was living with her parents and working, Jack’s salary went toward paying off their little “cracker box” house. They were “getting ahead.” Aside from returning home to Alice safely, being on a strong financial footing was Jack’s greatest goal at this point in his life.

England, March 19, 1944

Dearest Alice,

I too was pretty proud when I made staff. My additional allotment to you will be effective the first of April instead of March. The extra money I get for March I will send you by money order.[8]

Medals and promotions were routinely bestowed on the pilots. On 12 August 1944 twelve Staff Sergeants from the 380th received letters of commendation from Colonel Tipton for their “splendid display of skill and spirit” in keeping their aircraft working. Jack’s name was at the top of the list, which included his buddies, Winkler, Derrick, and Haley.[9]

Commendation from Colonel Tipton

The next weeks and months in the European Theater of Operations surely contributed to Jack’s lifelong love of travel and “seeing the country.”

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[1] “Now that we are operating from bases on the far shore, I hope all will do their utmost to continue the high standards of efficiency that have been exemplified in the past. Remember that our work is really just starting. In other words, it is all over but the fighting.” E. R. Quesada (Advanced Headquarters IX Tactical Air Command, Office of the Commanding General, APO 595, U. S. Army) letter to Colonel Tipton, 26 June 1944, excerpt, as transcribed in Nick Marinelli, The History of the 363^rd Fighter Group, 380^th Fighter Squadron, 381^st Fighter Squadron, 382^nd Fighter Squadron, 9^th Air Force, ETO, IX Tactical Air Command, 70^th Fighter Wing until August 1, 1944, XIX Tactical Air Command, 100^th Fighter Wing until August 29, 1944, Reorganized as the 363^rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 160^th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 161^st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 162^nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron after September 4, 1944, and attached to the XXIX Tactical Air Command (South Lynn, Mich.: Nick Marinelli, 1992), E-2.

[2] Marinelli, The History of the 363^rd Fighter Group, chapter 8, esp. 8-197, -199, -200, -201.

[3] Jack J. Kellar (France) letter to “Dearest Alice” (Alice [Streeter] Kellar), Santa Rosa, California, 15 July 1944.

[4] 380^th Fighter–160^th Tac. Rcn. Squadron History, February 1943–August 1945 ([unknown place]: [unknown publisher], printed by A. Roßbach, Eschwege, Germany, [1945]), 46.

[5] “Liberation of Paris,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_of_Paris : accessed 22 June 2018).

[6] Marinelli, The History of the 363^rd Fighter Group, 8-239.

[7] Jack J. Kellar, interview about his first years after high school by Judy Kellar Fox, 12 April 1993; cassette tape recording and transcription held by the author. Also, Jack J. Kellar, “Autobiography,” 1998; two ninety-minute cassette tape recordings; held and partially transcribed by the author. Excerpts from both interviews edited together.

[8] Jack J. Kellar (England) letter to “Dearest Alice,” 19 March 1944.

[9] 380^th Fighter–160^th Tac. Rcn. Squadron History, 45–6.