McQuaid: Pitiful sights found in La Haye
By B. J. McQuaid
La Haye-du-Puits, France – (July 11, delayed)
The beautiful big church, which was practically the only sizeable structure here to maintain recognizable architectural lines through the bombing and shelling of the town, is going to be demolished this afternoon by the high explosives of an American engineer battalion.
Characteristically, the withdrawing Germans left it so full of mines and booby traps that there just isn’t any other way to deal with the problem.
No townspeople remain to witness this sorry sight, however. The last of them were passing by the church yesterday on their way to a nearby refugee camp.
I think this small column was the most pitiful sight I have seen, in a France full of pitiful sights.
There were only about 150 of them. They were straggling along on foot, carrying their belongings in pushcarts and hand wagons.
Their bent postures and the heartbroken looks on their faces told the story of La Haye with the same sort of eloquence as the chunks of broken masonry that clutter the village square.