Home away from home
e I got my orders it said uh you’re going to France and I was overjoyed because when I was in school I always uh uh dreamed and talked about France I dreamed of coming here to France I even had a uh pin pel from France and um so when the order said you’re going to France like said I was overjoyed and uh after a couple of uh Port visits uh we came to V franch and I saw my new home well the first impression was it it is beautiful uh it was it was beautiful beyond anything I imagined my uh only understanding of what it might look like would be from perhaps reading National Geographic Magazines the opportunity to take in an environment that was so different from all of us uh for all of us than the environment in which we’ been raised there’s nothing like this in the United States it was for me of course the first foreign country that I had that I had ever been to and it was exciting it was uh new it was different it was um an adventure and like any 17-year-old kid I was a little nervous a little scared but when I saw V franch I felt like I was at home it was a beautiful just a a village that I couldn’t believe it took my Breath Away actually the beauty of the area was the first thing we noticed we all St on Deb when we pulled in there were mountains that came right down to the Sea and then all the houses so it was a a visual experience that I’ll never forget the colors the history was all there and in the water and and the mountains all together was such a beautiful uh impression as you arrive the fact that you could be walking along the waterline and see 8 to 10 ft down it was absolutely clear and beautiful and a different color than any water I’d seen before you’d see the fishermen along the harbor with their long fish poles searching for white bait or something anything that they could uh catch as of the five ships I was assigned to uh nothing beats the Springfield in Villa franch that was the highlight of my uh Navy Sea Duty uh Sailors tend to attach a nickname to a place we called it Villa instead of villa franch we had a short name Villa everything was Villa not Villa franch it was Villa let’s go to [Music] Villa my greatest and Fondest Memories of France uh then as today is or the cooking or the cuisine French cuisine which I think is probably uh as you say in French S without there’s no equivalent like pastis yes I remember that well um I tried it and then I tried it again and I tried it again and then I tried to stand up and it didn’t didn’t uh work out that well after I tried to stand up I realized that that was a much stronger drink than I anticipated I remember I liked it because they they put in the I don’t recall the the clear liquid in the glass and then they poured in the pastis and it got all milky and I I really enjoyed watching that happen it occurred to me anyway was I was 18 and I could drink a beer which in the United States I couldn’t drink a beer until I was 21 so I drank a lot of beer I came over here at 17 they didn’t care drink whatever the heck you want I wasn’t even a drinker I’ll be honest with you I really didn’t drink the guys on board ship sort of said you have start drinking because I was like a kid and they would just say no come with us we we’ll straighten you out the loose delay uh gave each of us these cards with our names and uh I’m sure that was to get us to come back to the bar but this was for our division the oi division on board Little Rock and um I’ve kept this card since 1963 and brought it with me this trip for obvious obvious reasons so obviously they they uh set up and and um manage these wonderful little drinking establishments along what we call the O2 level on the ship we have different levels and so you have the 01 02 03 it’s like going up and the o02 level was also the top of the missile house and when we would bring weapons aboard missiles and Warheads they would come in and they would come to the O2 level and then we would lower them down the sailors had decided they were going to name the streets going up in the village O2 level 03 level so the famous one was the O2 level where there were a lot of bars where you could go in and have a good time have a few beers and so on so I had this mental perception of what the O2 level would be like here I had heard rumors from the sailors that had been here before uh that that was the place to go another reason why they adapted to our culture is they named These Bars after states in the US so I’m very fond of the Montana bar spent a lot of time there when I was here for [Music] I was assigned during my time on Springfield I was assigned as senior Shore patrol officer quite often at the Fleet Landing and uh part of my duties was to uh with a couple of our Shore Patrol men is to just to stroll around the 01 the O2 level different places where the the fellas hung out I heard that um well the uh there were uh sometimes um uh how do you say fights be between the the French guys and the the American guys because the French uh were uh like they had girlfriends and then the the Americans were um taking the the girlfriends for them so we are not happy that the Americans take our girlfriends you know he punched me right in the chin and we had white uniforms on and I was beding all over the place I still got a right there only one time having to have a local Frenchman there helped me get down from the bar because I had stayed up there too long and I couldn’t get back to the Liberty ship to get back to the Little Rock So fellow volunteered a a local French fellow there and he help almost carry me down the steps you know from the bar I couldn’t make it back on my own the only problems we had really were fellas but uh had too many beers uh we had a corid with us Shore Patrol and uh if uh they needed some help uh to settle down Corman knew what to do to help them settle down and but uh that was really the only problem and that that didn’t happen too frequently [Music] the big song at the time that we used to listen to over over again on that video juk box was a song by franois hardi T if I’m if I’m saying that correctly all the boys and girls and it was the number one song in France at the time the music I was surprised to hear it over here for some reason or another I thought France had its own music Greece had its own music but I was surprised how much American Music was over here the bars on the O2 level in those areas uh they were playing American music all the time which uh I enjoyed the sailors enjoyed and it was a little bit of home to uh experience [Music] that and one of the things that we typically do is we play the star spangle Banner in the morning when we raised the flag followed immediately by the mares and so the citizens of V every morning at 8:00 would hear the star spangle Banner followed by the mares and they told me when I was leaving the port Calderon told me he says this is something the citizens of V franch look forward to I was worried that we were making too much noise at 8:00 in the morning he said absolutely not he says continue that every time somebody sees me in the street they say long and I said well if you if you like me to do that I’ll do it and I said is the volume too loud he said he said the volume is just right I had no background in French to be quite honest with you and I thought it would be an issue I I thought it would be a problem but uh it turns out it didn’t because they mo for the most part people spoke English they spoke better English than I did French let me put it that way they made themselves understood where I couldn’t okay so I appreciated that they were very they were very nice to me certain I only spoke French to four five years old till we went left and went back to the States when I went back to the States I didn’t know English and to learn it all we always embraced the culture that we found here and that was the thing that our parents gave to us that I think was most valuable um a lot of people who grew up as what we call Navy brats uh did not like moving all around having to change schools having to be uprooted every 3 years but my parents always told us to appreciate it as an adventure and so we did the foods the drinks but it was the people that was number one which was [Music] [Music] unique the people are very friendly and particularly the generation before mine who remember World War II and who remember the effort that the United States made to help liberate France from the Nazi yoke are very very grateful and appreciative of Americans for where we have the bridge team that directs the navigation of the ship my friend Richard Kazar he had a girlfriend that was from Bill franch and she had a friend named Noel gr so I got to meet her and um eventually we went on a couple of Tours we went up to EZ by the Sea we saw a couple of men and woman uh together off in the the grass and we decided we’ better not stay around and so we went we didn’t get to the top of the mountain we came on back down to the highway uh we didn’t want to disturb anybody some of my friends who’ been on the ship longer uh knew some people that were nurses at the British American hospital and they said you know come with us to this dance or party we’re having and and I went to the party and and there were I don’t know 100 people maybe total the some from the officers from the Springfield some were people from V Fran from Ni and there was a young lady from uh she actually lived in niece that I met and and danced with a few times and it turned out to be a long-term relationship uh we we dated for off and on the three years I was here um she is still a friend um she’s married to a a physician and they live in in one of the towns near s Paul deal now uh my w I married the lady I mentioned that I met at the University of Georgia I married her after I got back from from V franch in in the Springfield we’ve now been married 50 years but we’ve come and visited B franch together since then brought our own children along and we’ve stayed friends with this this young lady that I dated and and her husband The Physician we’ve been friends and our children have played together while we have meals at restaurants and and uh it’s just been a fantastic relationship and they they’ve been very nice people and and we’ve stayed in touch my old girlfriend from my VR days uh is uh attended attended this she considers herself an honorary uh Springfield person um she uh her mother lived in Monaco and she was down here quite uh regularly um she introduced me to my wife who came from Monaco the premier United service organization hello [Music] hey some and I read Des and two of my villa mates ended up uh marrying somebody here I I went to two different weddings here just in the seven months An American in 1960 I was invited to a wedding and my wife pre her name was Elan vesperini from B franch she um was invited to the wedding also and we met at the wedding reception and we started dating and uh 1960 we got engaged in 1961 because we liked each other very very much and in 1962 we were married in V franch at uh the uh Sam Michelle IG s Michelle by uh father uh uh luren Zone who was here for a long long time and uh the rest is history we uh we’ve been married uh this year will be 55 years I used to come back every year when my my wife’s parents were alive to see them and they would we would visit and sometimes occasionally they would come to the United States and visit with us [Music] yeah problem my association with v franch was when I was quite young uh between 8 and 10 years old because my father was stationed in the Navy and he was stationed aboard the USS Salem and we were here for 2 years but my mother and my three other siblings younger siblings lived on Kat in a villa and it was called Villa mitsu go so I was when I was born in Monterey California when dad was going to school at Ford or and this is my whole life is life with a father who’s in the military and he was always gone so whenever he was here he made sure he made time with us and he also made sure that we all did Sports and swam and exercise and walking and yeah that’s just that’s just the life of a military brat as I know it when my father would come in it would be a big occasion because you know had they maybe they were away for three months or something and we would all go down get all dressed up and we’d all go down to the pier or The Quay and wait for the ship to come in and then it was a big deal and everybody was happy and all the kids behaved [Music] [Music] when my mother would put out a flag on the balcony when the flag was out that that me we must come home to tweet that was it get home time for dinner but we would look and if the flag wasn’t out we could play all day I was French flag which we took back to California the French flag would be out on the balcony that we as soon as we saw it we knew we had to get home and so she pretty much knew within the hour time frame we would be home so my father was in and he actually was working for the Navy on the ships there and my mother was um came from V so Mom J was my grandmother and she uh well she passed away in 1959 so I didn’t know her I didn’t have the chance to know her mom J of course who else gerain huh we ain’t so up you don’t know about me what are we supposed to know where are you from the ship the Salem and nobody told you about Mom J no no so you find out for yourself she was a very generous person she used to look after all the people who needed help Mom Jermaine became like a h surrogate mother uh for the entire ship uh one thing about Mom Jermaine is that I had learned be actually when I first got here that her oldest daughter Claire had married a sailor uh who had served on our ship and that she had a very strong feeling for our ship the beetle Goose uh the brightest it’s named after it was named after the brightest star in the constellation of Orion the first person who they think of when they needed help was my grandmother and U it’s like Mom when uh when you need help the first person you think of is your mom being in Villa franch uh home ported there the only ship in the area no other support around uh people were like a family the other ships in the fleet were coming over for six Monon tours but uh the de Mo was here for 2 years years and so it became a home for us I just remember we I’d hop on the bus it take me along the water and i’ get off someplace that I can’t remember now then I’d walk up a few blocks and there I was my second home away from home so General deal president deal announced the withdrawal of France from ra from NATO General deal was had some some objections to Nato policy and US defense policy that the proliferation of nuclear weapons was not a good thing and general deal wanted the French to have nuclear weapons he called it his Force def fra well he ordered American NATO forces to leave France s day I think forv Fran and for the US Navy both yeah there was a love here between the people who were here and the sailors and uh we all got along it was uh wonderful you know we come into port and there was bonjour we could all say bonjour for sure you know when we were leaving um when we just pulled outside the harbor and some of us were alongside the there on the main deck and we still still had some French money in our pockets and uh we threw a Frank out into the water as uh you know wishing that we could come back January 20th the flagship left F FR most of the officers and Personnel who was stationed ashore in our um office in in the D uh most of them had gone on to VR and I was the last American left standing FR and it was you know it was a very sad day you could tell and the weather wasn’t very nice it was sort of like this morning overcast threatening to rain it was Breezy and we were putting up banners on the ship that would trail behind the ship supported by big red balloons and I remember we were having trouble getting them to go up they kept getting tangled in the helicopter that was on the on the after deck I didn’t want to leave I would have stayed for sure at that time as I say I mean I had friends here and some very close ones and uh would have like to stay but uh in the military you go where they tell you so that’s where we had to leave um a piece of my piece of myself is still here you know the the the local people that you that you knew that you were friendly with they would say well you’ll be back in uh March and at the time I said no I’m leaving they said no you’re part of the Flag Company you’ll be back you’re Flag Company people they said you usually served two years when you went with them you know you served a twoyear period of time and and those that I met they transferred from ship to ship to the Salem to the de you know they kept doing that for about two years Tour of Duty U and so they expected you would you know be back and they would tell you you’ll be back and I said no I’m I’m leaving you know so uh it was sad as I say I’m crying when the ship left when I when I was not on the ship when I saw it leave past the cap for Lighthouse which we always you could always tell where you were when you saw that and uh um that was a very sad day when he knew that he had to leave and was under orders to to leave he took the ship out of the Bay of V franch around the point uh captain and sailed her down parallel to the promad de zangre at a very slow speed and had sailors man the rail which means they were dressed in their uniforms and they stood uh arms length apart along the rail a very impressive sight under any circumstances but in this case it was particularly pant because the ship was being steered at a very low speed uh absolutely parallel to LA and many many NIS stopped their cars on the promade got out stood on the sidewalk of the promade desung and waved their handkerchiefs in between wiping their eyes and blowing their noses W wave the handkerchiefs and goodbye salute to the view to the Springfield I when I watched the ship leave the spring the prch Harbor I went up on the edge of one of the hillsides here where I had a good view of the ship sailing parallel to nice and I was in uniform and many many local people came up to me and hugged me without words or or said uh just redis or something that effect and expressed their sorrow a number of bum boats being out in the harbor area and people coming by with signs and uh it was a big day for the community as well when you think of the number of sailors that had passed through here over the years and the ties they had to the community and um the economic impact on the community it must have been pretty substantial when you take that number of families out of the area for I I think that that’s how the lots of them uh have a have a souvenir of Il frch like uh their favorite Liberty you know it’s [Music] um it’s for them the the best moment in their life lots of them told me that they they were saying the best time in my life the best moment in my life was in V fr the last day the last visit I had over there I’m a little embarrassed to say it but I I broke down and started crying like a little bit because uh I I could not believe it it just hurt so much to leave you know so it was very emotional day for me you would be moving into a similar sort of existence you’d just be in a different town we were leaving a culture we were leaving a whole way of life life we were leaving great memories of you know it’s just like wow [Music] uh for the last X number of years I’d been involved in military life and now I was going back to civilian life so it was a Double U maybe a double sword one was I had no idea what I was going to do when I got home and secondly I leaving one of one of the most beautiful areas in the world to go back to an unknown uh location I was going back to Florida where my parents lived but uh I had no idea what I was walking into so it was a little bit of uh angst if you will uh what are you going to do next I think we had two weeks there with him and he left for Vietnam and that was September the following year August 19th 1969 his plane was uh listed as missing an action and then it wasn’t until 10 years after the plane was actually shot down did Mom changed the status to killed in action 22 years after the ship left but 20 years after dad was shut down we all came back here to franch and it was Mother’s Day I remember that too we had dinner Mother’s Day dinner at L mer jine which was you know that’s always special when you come here and that’s when the emotion surfaced for all of us emotions that I think we all tucked away in our pockets and tried to be strong in front of each other and then when we all came here is when it surfaced and it was therapy therapy we we didn’t even realize we all needed and it was so nourishing it was so [Music] [Music] good fory [Music] [Music] fr for en so then I was living in Switzerland and Germany I was living all over the place and so I kept coming back to V FR because this was my heart this is where everything began and everything else was nice to have but v f was really where the heart was and I’d always go to Marain and I’d always sit and have these memories of running around and playing in V fr [Music] home away from home wait in fact if I had not had my my girlfriend in Ohio um I’m not sure I would have gone back I uh the first under the War I just I just couldn’t tell the matter was you know I could I couldn’t offer the marrier I just there’s certain things that come to light that just wasn’t real secure about and uh so you know it to me real FR was home uh it’s what we all agreed we had to do come back and uh we’ve been able to uh keep that connection so strongly that we’re back together again and it it’s a unique experience in a wonderful experience for me uh my wife and I did go on a Mediterranean Cruise I got to say it was 10 years ago about 10 years ago I guess and we um this was the first port for that cruise pill frch and that was the only Port I look forward to I told my wife I don’t care where we’re going we’re going to Villa French I don’t want to hear anything else I’m going to Villa French that was the first port and I pointed to that I said yeah let’s go let’s go see the that’s when I went back I said let me go see the O2 level I said I’ve got to see what’s up there and I was just like fla aast oh man the bars they’re not here anymore things change what are you going to do you know even though I was so young when I lived here there was something that must have happened to me as a young person that that was positive obviously and that was joyful that when I came back back again after that it was like coming home it’s like now it’s like coming home I don’t I can’t tell you why I feel that way but it’s obviously I think it has to do with um a happy time in my life and uh Happy Time in my parents life and um I don’t know why I’m getting emotional but anyway it’s it’s it’s a very special place the people are still the same they still is nice the The Village hasn’t really changed that much I like the colors it just hasn’t changed in my mind it’s the same and uh like I said I’m thinking about retiring here you know I mean it’s it’s great to be back with uh you know there’s I think two other fellas that were on the ship at the same time so to come back back with fellows that you served with it’s very meaningful um very nostalgic uh to know that you know that you and your buddies you know 54 years ago you were here you know and the things you did together and now you’re back together again in the same space walking the same streets the same cobblestones I mean it’s uh uh it’s very nostalgic you know surprisingly um I ran into at the at the very first uh event in the G Martine uh meeting different people and what ship are you from and so so forth and this gentleman walks up and he and his wife and I so I looked down at his badge and I saw you know Springfield but I looked at the name uh John Remy I boy I know a John Remy I remember a John Remy um and I looked at him again and I said that to him I said that’s interesting I your your name I I I knew a fellow by that name and I looked at him again I went oh my gosh I think it’s I think it’s you you you went to the University of Maryland you played lacrosse he goes yes oh my God and he looks at me again and he goes the same thing oh For Heaven’s Sake yes we have close ties we need to continue that and our our ties with the Navy at V franch is uh one that Bears um keeping straight um I think it is one of the most significant keys to uh any success we have um the United States and the United States Navy knows that we’re never going to go It Alone um that we need our partners in any region that we operate and this is their water they understand it and I think we learn from each other we get better from each other uh from working with each other and when the time comes because of that interoperability and the uh the ability to work together on a on a routine basis if the time comes to fight and win I’m confident that we will as a coalition so um today is not an ending it’s just the next and uh it’s a relationship that will continue it’s a partnership that will continue that that history is so important to both uh the United States and to France uh and to the people and to how we work together to come through such a horrible time in our lives and to to to have that connection cuz if we don’t remember that we don’t remember where we came from then it’s difficult to know how to go forward we there are differences I mean we speak different languages and we have sometimes we have different forms of government we have but we’re all the same we all basically uh are the same we have the same desires and wants for our lives we we want uh we we want to have a happy life we want what’s best for our children we want our children to have a better life than we had and and and 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En 1950, l’OTAN confie à la 6e Flotte américaine, la mission de protection des eaux méditerranéennes. Villefranche-sur-Mer devient le port d’attache de différents navires amiraux.
Ce documentaire retrace les souvenirs d’une amitié solide entre les Etats-Unis et la France qui se manifeste encore aujourd’hui au-delà du contexte politique.
Home away from home (2017) – produit par l’association Les Américains et la 6e Flotte à Villefranche-sur-Mer, à l’occasion du 50e anniversaire du départ du navire amiral de la 6e Flotte américaine de Villefranche-sur-Mer. Réalisation : Hugo Le Gourrierec et Florent Plana avec la participation des étudiants de l’école supérieure de réalisation audiovisuelle ESRA Nice Côte d’Azur. Musique : Baptiste Leblanc – Audios et sous-titres français-anglais. DVD disponible sur demande à l’association.
In 1950, NATO entrusts the US Sixth Fleet with the mission of protecting Mediterranean waters. Villefranche-sur-Mer becomes the home port of various flagship vessels.
This documentary retraces the memories of a strong friendship between the United States and France, which still persists today beyond political contexts.
Home Away from Home (2017) – produced by the association Les Américains et la 6e Flotte à Villefranche-sur-Mer, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the departure of the US Sixth Fleet’s flagship from Villefranche-sur-Mer. Directed by Hugo Le Gourrierec and Florent Plana, with the participation of students from the High School of Audiovisual Directing ESRA Nice Côte d’Azur. Music: Baptiste Leblanc – French-English audio and subtitles. DVD available upon request from the association.