Family of US airman shot down over France and saved by Resistance continue lifelong bond

A young American airman's survival after a crash landing in rural northern France during World War Two, has led to a lasting bond between his family and the people who hid him.

In April 2026, his daughter Mary Behrends-Pederson returned once more to Échauffour, continuing what has become a transatlantic bond spanning generations. 

Arnold Pederson, a 21-year-old from Minnesota, was shot down over Normandy in February 1944, beginning a weeks-long escape through Resistance networks before eventually returning home to the United States.

The bomber he was flying in was hit over occupied France. Arnold managed to parachute from the aircraft, landing in Fort-Moville (Eure) in the middle of winter snow on February 8, 1944.

He then walked for three days through harsh conditions to reach the village of Orgères. Exhausted, he knocked on the door of the Letessier family by chance, who were part of a Resistance network in the Orne region, Janine, a member of the Marie-Thérèse Auffray (MTA) association, told The Connexion.

"He was mistaken for a German because of his blond hair and blue eyes, and, not speaking a word of French except 'American aviator', he was questioned by Gaston Mignot, a resident of Échauffour, a commune a few kilometres from Orgères," she said.

At first, locals feared he might be a German infiltrator. Gaston Mignot — who had previously lived in the United States during Prohibition and spoke fluent English — interrogated him, asking him to hold a cigarette and quizzing him about America, Norway (a country involved in Allied wartime operations), and his identity details to verify he was an Allied airman and not a German spy. Convinced he was telling the truth, Mr Mignot decided to protect him and hid him for two weeks in his home in Échauffour.

As the danger increased, Arnold was moved to the Fouqué-Roullé farm in Sainte-Gauburge, around 4km from Échauffour, where he remained hidden for the next two weeks.

"Shortly after, however, the situation became extremely dangerous, so Marie-Thérèse Auffray, an artist and member of the “Ceux de la Libération” Resistance network in Paris, who was living with her partner Noëlle Guillou in Échauffour, escorted him by train with her cousin Monique Tarin," added Janine, who was also a close friend of Marie-Thérèse Auffray.

He was then taken to Paris, where he was hidden for two weeks in the studio of Marie-Thérèse Auffray on rue Gazan. From there, he was smuggled through Spain before reaching England and eventually returning to the United States.

What Arnold carried home with him, however, was more than gratitude. He had fallen in love with Marie-Thérèse — a feeling he would quietly hold for the rest of his life, as Marie-Thérèse was gay and devoted to her partner Noëlle Guillou. 

The two maintained a close and affectionate friendship, exchanging letters regularly from 1945 until Marie-Thérèse's death in 1990. He kept her photograph in his wallet and behind the sun visor of his car. When he died, his daughters placed it in his coffin with him.

"They were respectful of this beautiful love," Janine said.

Arnold later rejoined his family in Minnesota and rebuilt his life, marrying 11 years after the war. "He was happy to have only three daughters who would never have to go into the army," his daughter Mary told France Télévisions.

 "He himself said he wished he would never have to go to war again. He was always grateful to the people who helped him here. He never forgot."

Arnold returned to France for the first time since the war in 1986, accompanied by his wife Irja and three daughters, to revisit Echauffour and meet those who had helped him. The reunion with Marie-Thérèse, 42 years after the war, was deeply emotional. "It was very moving; I was present," said Janine. The two had never stopped writing to one another in all those decades, and their friendship remained as strong as ever.

He returned again in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the Liberation. By then, Marie-Thérèse Auffray had died in 1990, so he visited her grave (she and Noëlle are buried together in Échauffour) as well as that of Gaston Mignot, alongside the Fouqué-Roullé family.

A further visit followed in 1996, when he was again hosted locally and was able to return to Mr Mignot's home, where the current owner warmly welcomed him inside.

Mary explained that her father never wanted to be seen as the hero of the story, and that he always believed it was he who had been saved by the people of Normandy.

“He was very proud of it, he didn't always talk about it, and as he got older he stopped talking about it altogether, but he hadn't forgotten anything. His story is a story of war, but not of violence”.