In 1972, a letter was printed in the RAF magazine which attracted John Harder's attention & led to him returning to France to meet up with thge people who had sheltered him on his first night in France...

Story From The Past
SIR, — On June the 10th, 1944, when the battle was rag­ing on the ground and in the air all over west France, a Spitfire of the RAF was hit by a German anti-aircraft machine-gun above Rennes.

It was only when he flew over Laval that the pilot noticed that his plane was lost. He baled out before the machine crashed on the territory of a small village named Mezangers, in a farm named "La Bouverie". The whole region was over-run with enemy troops. A large number of German infantrymen started look­ing for the pilot.

Close to that spot, a little farm named "Mortry" was run by a farmer and his family. They realised the danger the pilot was in if he was found by the Germans.

The son of the farmer, aged 21, found the pilot before the Germans. He dressed him with his own jacket and his own hat. He thought that the best way to lull the suspicion of the Ger­mans was to take the main road. Sitting beside his rescuer in a light car, harnessed to a pony, the British pilot passed through the German units sent into the area to search for him.

In the farm house, the pilot was well looked after and re­freshed, and was ready to attempt his escape.

His name was John W. Har­der. He was born in 1923, and was married four days before.

After one night with the farmers, in a building sur­rounded by enemy soldiers, John Harder refused to stay any longer, although the far­mers proposed to hide him. He also refused a bicycle which the farmers offered to give him. Fully dressed in civilian clothes and provided with supplies and food, he set out on foot in the direction of Caen, hoping to get across the front.

TWENTY-THREE YEARS LATER
Since that day twenty-three years have past.

The family Leblanc has awaited for news from John Harder but nothing more was heard of him. They are living as many modest country people do, and know no one who could help them to find out if their rescued pilot is still alive, or if he succeeded in his escape. Possibly, John Harder met with bad luck in the fighting zone; on the other hand, he could have just forgotten the Leblancs' address, and as he did not know any French, he could not find it again in order to give them news as he had promised.

It would be a great thing for the Leblancs to know the end of the adventure, and, if John Harder is still alive, to get in touch with him and eventually to welcome him and accommo­date him again in more peace­ful circumstances. By chance, they have opened in my pres­ence the cabinet in which they have kept, in spite of the mor­tal danger in the event of a German house search, the RAF uniform, the compass and the maps printed on fabric. When I saw those objects, which are treasured by the family, I promised to try to elucidate the mystery. I should be most grateful for any information which your readers may be able to give as to the outcome of this brave adventure

Yours, Bertrand Mauduit, Haras Des Vignes,
Evron (Mayenne) France.

Here is a photograph of the reunion meeting...