Association TLS; Addressed To Wife of Mayor of Sainte Mere Eglise

Pittsburgh, PA, 1980. Very good. SIGNED "M. B. Ridgway", 8.5" x 11", 1 p., with Ridgeway's home address block stamped in red, usual mail folds, torn upper left corner from staple removal, light smudging in first three lines of second paragraph. Addressed to Madame Alexandre Renaud, wife of the mayor of St. Mere Elise, historic village where 82nd Airborne Paratroopers landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. <br /> <br /> Matthew B. Ridgway (1894 - 1994) was a 4-Star General who as Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Dvision led action inSicily, Ital and dropped in with his troops during the invasion at Normanday. After WWII Ridgway resurrected the United Nations war effort during the Korean War and became the 19th Chief of Staff of Staff of the Army.<br /> <br /> Sainte Mere Eglise is a town in Northern France which was the site of an unintended battle early in the morning of D-Day and became the first town liberated and held later that same day. The Mayor of the town, Alexandre Renaud, walked a precarious line between subservience to the German occupiers and maintaing the attitude of his constituents. He later wrote a book on the town and the battle. "Thank you from the heart for everything and most of all for your unceasing efforts to keep befoe your younger people, who did not experience the Liberation from German Occupation, the meaning of the ties which bind us together so closely. I am enclosing a photograph insribed to you (not present), and with it our warmest greetings.