| “United States Army 28th Infantry Division, XIX Corps, 1st Army, 12th Army Group, marches down the Champs-Élysées after the liberation of Paris by the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI – “French Forces of the Interior”) and the Deuxième Division Blindée Française (“French Second Armored Division”) days earlier. Private 1st Class Robert L. Smith (November 14, 1924 – December 13, 2017), a medic assigned to the 112th Infantry Regiment who would later fight in the Hürtgen Forest and the Ardennes Offensive, stated after the war that Paris marked 1 of the proudest moments in his military career. The division history noted that they had required a week and several major conferences to prepare for the 1941 Memorial Day review. This time, however, the staff held a 15-minute meeting before issuing a page of instructions, and the soldiers formed themselves for a parade in a matter of 22 hours. A parade, however, was not what the American men wanted to enjoy. Shaving before he marshaled for the parade, Smith saw “a very pretty French woman peddling by on her bicycle with skirt flying high and legs showing marvelously in the morning sunshine. In my best French I shouted, ‘Oo la la,’ to which she replied in perfect English, ‘Enjoy the view; you will find it everywhere in Paris.’” Years later, he recalled the emotion felt by many other Keystone soldiers who marched in step down the Paris streets that August morning: “I still feel the pride and excitement I experienced that day.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0490.jpg |
| Image Size | 818.01 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3072 x 2304 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 29, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Paris |
| State or Province | Île-de-France |
| Country | France |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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