Merci

By Shane Roeschlein, Francine Delgado, Ellie Wright, Justin Birch and Chas! Pangborn

I was invited to submit a story to the Lower Your Sights anthology by Mad Cave Studios for Voices of Children to help raise awareness and proceeds for children impacted by the war in Ukraine. All proceeds from the book’s sales go directly to the Voices of Children Foundation, a charitable organization based in Ukraine that provides women and children emergency housing, psychological assistance, and evacuation aid.

This story, Merci* is based on true events and comes from family oral history.

It takes place in the small commune of Séchilienne in the Rhone-Alpes sometime between the late summer and early fall of 1944 when the Allies liberated southern France from Nazi German Occupation in Operation Dragoon. My grandparents, Claude and Pepée, along with other refugees had taken to the woods above the town to hide and survive the scorched earth retreat of the Nazis.

They were all starving.

At one point, they even resorted to eating a cat.

My grandparents had more than their own bellies to fill. Their newborn son, Georges was also with them.

Due to stress and lack of food, Pepée couldn’t produce her own milk. Rather than starve to death, Pepée made the trek from their hideout in the hills above the Chateaux Séchilienne. For several years, the Chateaux was used by members of the French resistance as a storehouse for supplies. That summer the Nazis discovered the cache of weapons and supplies and torched the Chateaux. 

Pepée cut through the forest using a number of paths to hide her tracks and access the town. At the corner near the cathedral where she and Claude had married in 1943, she surprised a teenage German soldier. He was armed with a rifle and dressed in an infantry uniform two sizes too big. 

Neither could speak one another’s language.

My Grandmother, Pepée, did her best pantomime that she was getting food for her baby. 

The soldier aimed his rifle. 

“S’il vous plais,” she pleaded.

Something in the way she spoke or communicated for mercy in that instant resonated with the young soldier. He relented and let her pass. Pepée made it to her childhood home where she was given shelter and sustenance by her mother, Yvette.

Thanks to Chas! Pangborn and the Mad Cave Studios crew for the opportunity to bring this story to life.

My co-creators/collaborators for this story are nothing short of remarkable in their generosity and talent: Francine Delgado (art), Ellie Wright (color) and Justin Birch (letters).

Massive thanks to Tony and Dani Thiret for reference materials, details and photos.

*French for “Thank You”

This story is dedicated to the memory of “Pepée” Huguette Marie Rose Benit Thiret and Claude Joseph Victor Thiret