In this photograph taken in Trévières, American soldier Fred Linden holds a young Norman boy on his lap, whom his family wishes to identify.
Photo: US National Archives
July 22, 2017: The family of an American veteran seeks to identify a young Norman boy in a 1944 photo taken during the Battle of Normandy.
Author: Marc Laurenceau
This photo, published on the D-Day Overlord website since 2008, among several thousand others, is taken in Trévières, Calvados, during the Battle of Normandy. It was taken on June 23, 1944, by an American war photographer. It shows Private Fred Linden of the 2nd Infantry Division holding a smiling young Norman boy on his lap. Today, the American veteran’s family would like to put a name to this face and, if possible, arrange a meeting between the two families.
A call for identification was launched at the beginning of July 2017 by Fred Linden’s nephew via social media, whose power to reach people is now inseparable from this type of research. Within days, the photo had been shared thousands of times, and the press also picked up the slack, in an effort to reach as many people as possible.
In just one week, two people identified themselves: the first was Gérard Poincheval, 76, now living in Saint-Martin-des-Entrées. He was recognized by his daughter, and the person concerned, whose memories of this period are still hazy, told journalists from La Manche Libre: “For me, the photo was taken in Bayeux on Rue de Bellevue. That’s where my mother and aunt washed the clothes of the Canadian soldiers stationed at Petit Magny. I’m told the photo was taken in Trévières, why not? My grandparents lived nearby, but the GI’s nephews might know better.” This photo is part of my life; I’ve always seen it at home; my mother had it in her family album.
The second person’s name is Marcel Gastel and he lives in the Pyrénées-Orientales. “The little boy in the photo with Fred Linden is Marcel Castel. He now lives near Perpignan and has given me permission to share this information with you. I am his wife’s nurse, and the photo hangs in the dining room.”
A meeting between Marcel Gastel and Gérard Poincheval could be arranged in the coming weeks to help the two men clarify this part of their childhood and so that the Linden family can finally meet the man who, for the moment, is still only the “little boy from Trévières.”
2017 news of the Normandy landing beaches
