Francois Chouin was 8 when American solders of the 83d Infantry Division punched through his hometown in Normandy during the summer of 1944.
The GIs handed out candy and chewing gum to the children, an act of kindness that Chouin would never forget.
Fifty years later, during a reunion of the 83d in France, Chouin met some of those old soldiers and thanked them for their bravery so many years before, when the Americans liberated the town from the Germans.
One of the vets was Warren Rangow, 87, of Huntingdon Valley, who spent 21 months pushing across Western Europe to within 40 miles of Berlin, much of it documented on his 8mm movie camera. When Rangow got home from the 1994 reunion, he got a call from a buddy in the outfit who said Chouin wanted to contact a certain soldier whom he had met at the gathering.
It was, as Humphrey Bogart says at the end of Casablanca, the start of a beautiful friendship.
Chouin, 73, started sending Rangow chocolate, wine, and artwork at Christmas. The men exchanged letters two or three times a year. Rangow sent him a copy of his book, Hut Two, about his experiences during the war.
Then, last month, Chouin, a retired bank employee, told Rangow that he and his wife, Therese, a former teacher, wanted to make a quick visit.
This week, the men and their wives spent three days together in Montgomery County, reliving those frightening and powerful days when the steady courage of thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen who took part in the Normandy invasion turned the tide of the war.
"We do not forget. We owe our liberty to Warren and the GIs of the United States," Chouin said in broken English at the Rangows' home at Gloria Dei Manor, an assisted-living community.
The Chouins, who had visited the United States twice before, came just to see the Rangows, though they did take in the nearby Bryn Athyn Cathedral and the couples went out to dinner.
Warren Rangow, who grew up in Northeast Philadelphia and worked for the telephone company serving equipment, was bemused by Chouin's devotion.
"It's baffling," said Rangow, as tall and slim as he was in 1944, "People around here ask, 'What's going on?' They say, 'You weren't a hero.' "
To the people of Sainteny, the French town that threw the 50th anniversary bash, he certainly was.
Ironically, he doesn't even remember meeting Chouin at the reunion.
"I shook a lot of hands and kissed a lot of girls," Rangow said with a smile as his wife, Ginny, shook her head.
Rangow's 21 months in the service repairing howitzers, mortars, and other weapons defined his life. In addition to his self-published book, he has written about the war for military magazines and stays in touch with members of his division, though their numbers are dwindling. Of the 150 in his company, "there are only 10 of us left, and four or five are in their 90s," he said.
He also transferred his home movies of the war onto DVD. They document his landing at Omaha Beach on June 16 - 10 days after D-Day - and the march through France, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally the arrival at the Rhine River and Germany. When the division got within 40 miles of Berlin, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered it to turn back and wait for the Russians, who were the ones designated to capture the German city.
His grainy black-and-white films show the flat landscape of Normandy and typical villages. Sainteny had just 390 people and was destroyed by bombs and artillery as the Allies fought back the Germans.
"We lost a lot of men going through Sainteny, and even though we destroyed their town, they didn't forget," Rangow said.
For the reunion, Rangow took along his video camera and recorded the festivities, which included French reenactors dressed like American soldiers and driving old military jeeps, a parade, and an American flag-bedecked banquet hall with long tables laden with wine and calvados, an apple brandy made in the region.
Chouin said his son, who has since died, wanted to attend the reunion because he was a history buff. Now Chouin is lobbying the mayor of the town where he lives, Dinan, to rename a bridge that had been destroyed by the Germans and was rebuilt by Americans in honor of Gen. George S. Patton.
He is an advocate to try to "promote French-U.S. relations," Rangow said, translating for his friend - even though he doesn't speak French.
That promotion of better relations is easier now that the United States has a president who is popular in Europe.
"Generally, opinion is good for Obama," Chouin struggled to say. "But for Bush, not good."
The visit ended yesterday when the Rangows drove their French visitors to the airport. Chouin promised to send more chocolates at Christmas and to write, which he does in English. It is easier than speaking the language, he said apologetically.
But the bond between the men transcends language. They lived and fought through one of the most important battles the world has ever known.
Contact staff writer Kathy Boccella at kboccella@phillynews.com or 610-313-8123.
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