Glenn McMullen and Alice Boden hope the city of Prince Albert pursues a partnership with Thorey-en-Plaine. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Franco-P.A. sisterhood

P.A. family moved by French village outreach

Jan 20, 2020 | 12:44 PM

The family of a Second World War veteran is honoured the French village of his gravesite wants to become sister cities with Prince Albert.

“My hope would be that council would see a positive view of it and pursue contacting and whatever councils do to make this come about,” Glenn McMullen told paNOW. “It’d be really nice to be twinned with this village.”

McMullen remembers his stepfather, Robert, speaking highly of his younger brother, James Giles.

“I know that dad was very very proud of James,” he said.

The two grew up together, along with another brother and sister on a farm in Red Deer Hill, 20 kilometres south of Prince Albert. While Robert was rejected from the army for medical reasons, James joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942 at the age of 21. By late 1943 he was posted overseas as a gunner with a bomber squadron. In July of 1944, two months shy of turning 23, James’s plane was shot down returning from a bombing mission in Stuttgart, Germany.

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The pilot only had time to parachute out before the aircraft crashed in the woods on the outskirts of the Thorey-en Plaine village.

The six soldiers who perished in the crash were buried in the village cemetary. The site of the crash is now home to a memorial, erected by Thorey-en-Plaine.

McMullen was so surprised to see his uncle’s name in the media last week, he went to the family history book to make sure he was reading it correctly. Then he called Alice Boden, a cousin and something of a family historian.

“It means a lot,” Boden said of the village’s efforts to honour James Giles and the others who perished in the crash. “It’s something that we can’t really appreciate or understand because we’ve never been in a war that we were taken over by a foreign power. I think they just see it a whole lot different than we can even imagine.”

The Giles family home before and after restoration. (submitted photo/Judy McMullen)

Boden lives in Red Deer Hill in the same community where Giles grew up. The family regularly gets together at the restored Giles family house where he was raised.

She said she feels connected to Thorery-en-Plaine despite having never visited, and like McMullen hopes the city of Prince Albert pursues the partnership.

“After 75 years, the efforts they’re doing, I think it’s amazing,” she said.

Two bodies of water near La Ronge, Giles Lake and Giles Creek were also named in honour of James Giles.

The Giles family gets together about once a year at the old family home. (submitted photo/Judy McMullen)

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom