Elodie Marie Vanderschaeghe

Comments: Elodie-Marie Vanderschaeghe never married.

The following is from a newspaper article...
Headline: ORCHARD MAN'S SISTER HIDES FLYER AFTER HE WAS SHOT DOWN OVER BELGIUM

An Orchard Lake farmer and his brother of Minneapolis, MN, got first hand information last week of the effectiveness of the underground fighting the Nazis, when they heard that a Minneapolis flyer who bailed out of a plane, stayed for 17 days at the home of their sister in Ruddervoorde, Belgium, their old home town.

The letter was received by Leo Vanderschaegen, Orchard Lake, from his brother, G. Paul Vanderschaegen, a former importer in New York and Los Angeles, now a realestate dealer in Minneapolis.

The letter, which is self-explanatory, follows:
Dear Folks,
     I hope you are all well and I suppose working hard. Here is a story that you will hardly believe: My oil station man had a neighbor, a flyer, who came home a few days ago. He was shot down over Belgium, was taken up by the underground and had stayed in Ruddervoorde, at Elodie's (our sister) for three weeks.
     The plane was shot down by flak over Gent. They bailed out and were brought to Elodie's. It happened just as the Canadians arrived there. The flyer was hidden 17 days and then as the Canadians came, he could go around in the town for four days. He left after that. He said Elodie and Adolph were very much in the underground. They are all well and there was no fighting in the town. I guess they all came through pretty well; the people in the country always have enough to eat.
     It sure was nerve for Elodie. If they had found it out, the Germans might have shot her.
     I saw the flyer, night before last, and he said they had plenty to eat and Elodie looked after them real well. As he could not talk to them they used a Flemish-English dictionary, so he really didn't kow much about them.
     I thought I would write you right away as it is so nice to know they are all right.
     How it happened: My oil man saw Elodie's name written on a thousand frank note. All the people who helped him had written their names on it and when he saw the name "Vanderschaegen", he said, "I bet I know her brother and he telephoned me. The flyer said Elodie had said "California" before but he didn't understand well and of course she didn't know I had moved over here. She had given him your address and he would have written you if I had not come to see him.