Frank Berniaz by Eric Chown
Introduction
In February 2011 my wife and I and about sixty other people attended the 90th birthday celebration at the Taunton Deane golf club in Creech Heathfield of former American GI Frank Berniaz – the long time companion of the late Eileen Webb.
Frank Berniaz, courtesy Eric Chown 2011
He is a quiet man, always supportive of Eileen. Their friendship strengthened after both lost their spouses.
Frank, surrounded by his family, stood up and gave a thank-you speech and told us about his life and how he came to be living in Creech Heathfield. It was an enthralling and entertaining story.
In April I had just taken over the publicity role of the Creech St Michael website and met Frank again at the unveiling of a plaque in memory of Eileen, who had done so much for Creech St Michael and the running of the village hall.
I approached Frank and said that his story deserved to be shared with us all. He did say that his granddaughter was also writing his history but I did not see any problems as I am sure our two styles would compliment each other.
I have written five chapters about the life of Frank Berniaz and hope you enjoy his story.
Please click the links below for the chapters:
Chapter 1 Early Days
Chapter 2 D-Day
Chapter 3 The Ardennes Forest
Chapter 4 V E Day and After
Chapter 5 Somerset Life
Author E R J Chown BSc (Hons) © 2011