By Joe Conroy, Staff writer Standrad-Journal
LEWISBURG - Jack Fairweather, a resident of Lewisburg, has seen and experienced things during his time in World War II that most people only see on the big screen. His valiant efforts as a prisoner of war and temporary service with the French Resistance has earned him one of France's highest honors.
In the upcoming months, Fairweather, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, will be awarded the Legion d'Honneur on the behalf of French president Jacques Chirac by Counsul General Jean-Pierre Allex-Lyoudi in Washington D.C.
"France has been extremely grateful for our efforts in World War II," said Fairweather. "The award certainly is an honor to say the least."
Fairweather's story of how he came to be a candidate for the award is quite an interesting tale to say the least.
Fairweather was a member of the Canadian Army and part of the June 6 D-day landing in Normandy. On the second day of the landing, he was taken as a prisoner of war along with dozens of other Allied soldiers.
"Almost immediately, many of the men were shot," said Fairweather. "They marched the rest of us southeast to Rennes, France where we remained for three weeks as prisoners of war."
It was in those three weeks that Fairweather experienced what he called "a chronic terror" of being executed.
"I was actually expecting to be killed within the first few days," said Fairweather. "I basically waited in fear for death to come at any time."
Somehow, Fairweather and a handful of others were spared and taken by train out of the P.O.W. camp to be transferred. During their trip, the train was bombed by the Allies, halting it in its tracks. Fairweather wasn't hurt, but the explosion allowed him and some of the men enough of a diversion for them to make a small opening in the side of the boxcar.
According to Fairweather, soldiers were trained that it was an officer's duty to escape if captured by the enemy. Remembering their training with the assistance of their sense of self preservation, the men were always looking for a safe way to escape.
"We couldn't do much during the day for fear of being caught," said Fairweather. "And the trains only moved at night because during the day, our forces were instructed to fire on anything that moves. It took us three days of working on the hole at night that we were finally able to escape."
Fairweather teamed up with a fellow soldier from his native Canada, Jack Vaness, and stuck together as they went on the lam from the S.S.
The two were picked up by underground French resistance fighters not long after the escape. At a time when the two thought they'd be in good hands, more trouble arose.
"The leader of the group was an outlaw of sorts named Lecoz, who despite not having been in the Army, dubbed himself a captain of this group," said Fairweather. "The guy was pretty much out for himself. Anyone that got in his way he'd have them either executed or beaten to death."
While with the group, Fairweather and Vaness helped to liberate the small French town of Loshes. Once the town was liberated, Lecoz rounded up many of the residents and declared that they should be executed for no reason other than he found them undesirables.
"Jack and I were told by Lecoz to shoot one French police officer in particular," said Fairweather. "He just sort of said to us, ÔYou two, go shoot him.' We refused him outright and fortunately, he got sidetracked with everything else that was going on and forgot about the man."
Fairweather and Vaness felt they had overstayed their welcome after the debacle with Lecoz so the two moved over to a neighboring group who had radio contact with London.
After alerting the Allies that they were in need of immediate extraction from France, Fairweather and Vaness were taken to a secret location where a plane dropping off supplies in the region, quickly scooped them up and flew the men back to London.
Fast forward to 2003, where Fairweather was a retired doctor, previously running his own practice in Lewisburg for almost 40 years. He received a surprising letter in the mail that year from a French woman he had never met. Upon opening the letter, it turned out to be from the daughter of the policeman who, with Fairweather's refusal to kill, saved the man's life.
"It turned out that the man had written a book on his experiences with the war and mentioned Jack and I," said Fairweather. "Now I don't know if that had anything to do with my receiving the award but it most definitely prompted the woman to seek me out."
The woman thanked Fairweather profusely for sparing her father's life. She was born 10 years after World War II ended and said in no uncertain terms that if it hadn't been for Fairweather, she would not have been born.
"I responded to her by jokingly saying that makes Jack and I kind of like uncles to her," said a smiling Fairweather. "She wrote back to me and began the letter, ÔDear Uncle Jack.'"
The French policeman has since passed away. Neither Fairweather nor Vaness ever saw the man again after that fateful run in with him. Fairweather kept in constant contact with Vaness up until his death a few years ago and remains in touch with the woman.
In 1954, Vaness and Fairweather sat down with a Canadian author and dictated their own harrowing story which was subsequently published under the title, "The Two Jacks."
Fairweather comes across as quite a modest person for being bestowed such a high honor, though there is an air of pride in his voice as he speaks of it.
"It's definitely a real honor to be given this award," said Fairweather. "Even if it is 60 years later."Ê