From my book "This too shall come to pass"

Operation Nordwind in northern Alsace - January 1945

    "The massive attack of January 7 launched in the middle of a snowstorm threatened to break the allied defenses at any time. Northeast of Haguenau, the 79^th American ID struggled to contain the Germans in Hatten and in the south the 1^st Free French Division (DFL) which had no tank was losing ground before the German Panthers approaching Erstein. To make matters worse, on January 8, Hitler sent two additional armored divisions to Hatten to break the line of Haguenau. Fortunately, Eisenhower did the same and on January 8, the 12th US Armored Division reinforced this portion of the front. The HQ of the division settled in Hochfelden with the various backup units spreading in the surrounding countryside. It was in this context that Marius and Louise met and befriended Colonel John H. Evans.

            Evans was one of the five colonels of the division. He was in charge of the Division Train. As such, he had under his command one maintenance battalion (134th Ordnance Maintenance) one medical battalion (82nd Armored Medical Battalion), a detachment of military police and the division orchestra. While his men deployed in the various villages of the area, Evans setup his personal camper right next to the school of Hohatzenheim. The classroom immediately became the colonel’s new war room whose entrance was forbidden to all civilians. Since Evans could speak French, he and Marius quickly became friends. Marius’ prime activity at the time was to post news and instructions for the population in German (known as Bekanntmachungen) since that was the only language that all Alsatians understood. Occasionally, Marius would perform translations for the Americans as well. The Meyers once invited Evans over for dinner. Louise asked the colonel what he would like to eat, and Evans replied: “Eggs! Fresh eggs!” because the military only had powder milk and eggs; very little fresh produce. It is likely that Louise cooked roast pork though because as she put it herself: “at the time that was the only meal that I knew how to cook well.”

            Security around the classroom was extremely tight and of course the Meyers were not allowed in. But one day, it was so cold that Louise was worried for the officers inside. The coal heater was empty so she decided to bring over a bucket of coal. She went downstairs and knocked on the door. An officer came out and immediately took her aside, a little annoyed that a civilian was here. She wanted to give him the coal but it wasn’t needed. The Americans had brought their own gas heater. Louise marveled because that was quite a novelty for the French at the time. In the end however, one French civilian did indeed make it to the classroom. Four year old Simone used to sneak in and always come back with her pockets full of chocolate. The Americans called her “the little blond girl” and were quite fond of her.

            Colonel Evans often had to go to Hochfelden to the division HQ. Since Marius had business there too at the FFI head office, Evans would take him along in his jeep but he would always drop Marius at the town entrance because the meeting location was always kept secret. In the evening, Evans would pick Marius up again at the same place. One time, as the two returned from such a trip to Hohatzenheim, they saw great excitement in the school yard. A soldier said something to Evans who turned to Marius and said sternly: “the men found flame throwers in the garage!” Marius was astounded: “Flame-throwers in my garage? Impossible!” So, they went ahead to check it out. When Marius saw the suspicious equipment he burst in laughter: “These are no lance-throwers! They are sprayers against potato beetles given by the Germans a few years ago.” The US army had never seen such weapons of mass destruction."

Colonel Evans in Alsace after the war:

Ichtratzheim - Spring 1946

Ichtratzheim - Spring 1946

Evans at the US cemetery in Hochfelden, Alsace

In Neuilly around 1947-48: