In december 1945 verbleef de Engelse Reg PYE met zijn compagnie in Maaseik waar ze hielpen bij de bouw van de noodbrug over de Maas. Ze sliepen in klaslokalen van de school op de Markt waar mijn grootouders en tante als conciërge werkten en woonden.  Mijn ouders woonden op de Wal vlakbij de Maas en de kapotte brug. De soldaten mochten zich tussendoor bij mijn ouders aan de kachel warmen en kregen koffie aangeboden, weliswaar ersatzkoffie want 'echte' koffie was er niet. Reg herinnert zich maar al te goed hoe koud het was en hoe blij ze waren met de warme kachel en koffie...

Adressen Engelse soldaten

Op 6 juni 2019 bij de herdenking van D-Day in Normandië was Reg ook aanwezig.  Presidenten en ministers van landen uit de hele wereld stonden er zij aan zij met de laatste nog levende veteranen.

Reg is in november 99 jaar geworden en woont nog op zichzelf.  Onlangs haalde hij het BBC nieuws met onderstaand opmerkelijk verhaal! 

The British soldier had landed at Sword Beach with 224 Field Company, Royal Engineers, to assist the Allied invasion of mainland Europe against the German enemy when he stopped for a break.
"A van pulled up driven by a chap called Geordie and he offered us a can of pilchards," military truck driver Reg recalled, taking his mind back to that unknown village in an area known during the war as the Falaise Gap when he came face-to-face with an unknown French teenager.
"There was also a slice of bread. He put margarine on with a paintbrush and we also had a dollop of red jam.
"We walked back to where I had parked my van and I shared the pilchards between me and this other chap.
"Then I looked up and there was a girl standing in front of me. I didn't see her coming.
"She had a, I shouldn't say it, but a shabby white dress on. She didn't want pilchards.
"She was staring at me and I thought what is she staring at. I looked down and it was the bread. So I offered her the bread."
He does not recall her taking the bread, but can remember her "running across the village square and going into the church. I never saw her after that".
The next morning, in his cab was his mess tin and in it, along with his quantity of milk, was a photograph of the girl.
"And that is the photograph I have kept in my wallet for all that time."

But, surrounded by their extended family, they did share champagne as friends helped to translate a conversation in which Huguette said she was "extremely touched" that Reg tried to find her.
"And she's still alive!" said Reg smiling. "Because in my own mind, I thought she's probably passed away by now because they'd had a hard time when they were young.
"She was very prim and proper. We had a good welcome, the best 45 hours of our lives."
At the end they shared a hug and kiss on the cheek, after which Huguette laughed and said they would have to get married now.
Reg agreed as Huguette vowed to "dump" her current boyfriend in the care home.
"That's what they said through the interpreter 'she's going to marry you'," Reg added.
"There we are!"