Executive Trustee Paul McCue departed on the Sunday as historical guide with a 40-strong party from a British Army unit, conducting a Battlefield Tour of ‘secret war’ and behind-the-lines locations across central and northern France. A complex and varied itinerary until the following Friday involved MI9 (Fréteval Forest), SOE (HISTORIAN circuit), OSS (Operational Group CHRISTOPHER), Jedburgh (Team BUNNY) and 1^st and 2^nd SAS Regt (aspects of Operations TRUEFORM, DEFOE, DUNHILL, GAIN, KIPLING and ROBEY, but chiefly HARDY and WALLACE) locations and personnel. In particular, a Ywartime link with the village of Nancray-sur-Rimarde was resurrected. SECRET WW2 wreaths were placed on the memorials to the OSS and Jedburgh officers – Lt Walter Larsen of OSS OG Group CHRISTOPHER at Maisey-le-Duc (below left and centre) and Captain Jocelyn Radice of Jed Team BUNNY at Auberive (below right) respectively. A wreath on behalf of AJEX, together with a commemorative Star of David, was placed on the grave of an 2 SAS soldier, Joe Kalkstein, who was killed when his parachute failed to open on an operational drop near Recey-sur-Ource. Many other wreaths were placed by the Army on relevant Regimental graves and any RAF graves encountered in passing were all marked with poppy crosses or appropriate religious equivalents.

Members of the local community of Recey-sur-Ource, where Kalkstein parachuted to his death, have installed a fine explanatory plaque (below left) on the wall of the village cemetery (below right) where he is buried.