American Embassy
17 Tudor Arghezi
Bucharest, Romania
June 3, 1994
Editor
International Herald Tribune
181 Avenue Charles de Gaulle
92521 Neuilly Cedex, France
Dear Sir:
The Herald Tribune has been running stories about D-Day and the liberation of France. The following story regarding the Casablanca Conference where the political planning for D-Day was carried out was told to me in Rabat, Morocco by General Alfred Grunther while waiting for dinner with the American Ambassador (to whom I was then Counselor of Embassy).
When former NATO Commander Grunther was still a mere Colonel serving in North Africa, he was detailed to President Roosevelt's staff for the Casablanca Conference. The President, who was meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the next stages of the war, had made every effort to keep General DeGaulle, leader of the Free French, from attending the meeting because of DeGaulle's prickly insistence on involving himself -- on behalf of France -- in every major wartime decision. Casabalanca was the main city in French Morocco, and DeGaulle had learned of the meeting. He turned up, uninvited, insisting on his role as "host" of the Conference which was, after all, to take place on French soil.
Roosevelt called Colonel Grunther to the house in which he was staying (now the residence of the American Consul General in Casablanca), instructing him that his sole responsibility the next morning would be to see that DeGaulle did not attend the meeting -- and that Grunther should adopt any steps necessary to insure this.
The next morning, de bonne heure, the Colonel was waiting outside the front door of the building in which the Conference was to be held. When DeGaulle arrived, Col. Grunther informed him that he had been assigned as his U.S. Military aide for the day, genially suggesting that they had ample time before the meeting to view the rose garden behind the residence.
As General Grunther told the story, he had taken time to bone up on the roses beforehand and made it a point to give DeGaulle a detailed account of each variety, giving its Latin and popular name, its breeding history, and an account of the prizes each had won in international competition, focussing especially on pre-war French exhibitions. As time went on, DeGaulle began to exhibit some nervousness, realizing that the time for the meeting had come; but being the iron-disciplined military man that he was, he refused to "lose his cool" in front of his American military aide, even as he eventually realized he'd been outflanked.
The Colonel had won "skirmish Casablanca".
Some years later, however, now a Four Star General and just named Supreme Commander of NATO Forces, Europe -- and with DeGaulle now President of France -- General Grunther began to wonder with some concern, what he would say and how he would be received when he called upon the President of the French Republic to present his credentials.
Finally he decided to take the bull by the horns, and as he stepped into the Presidential office in the Elysee Palace, the General said, in his best French, "J'imagine Monsieur le President, que vous vous rappeler de notre derniere rencontre?" To which DeGaulle smilingly responded, "Bien sur, mon general. Et je me rappele bien la douce odeur des fleurs dan le jardin. Vous avez bien remplis vos ordres."
Grunther said he and DeGaulle got along splendidly during his tour as NATO Commander.
David B. Timmins, FSO (ret.)
American Embassy
17 Tudor Arghezi
Bucharest, Romania
June 3, 1994
The Atlantic Monthly
745 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
Sir:
The March Atlantic ran a clever short piece about a meeting between General Dwight Eisenhower and General Bernard Montgomery. I wonder whether you might be interested in a similar anecdote about a meeting between General Alfred Grunther and General Charles DeGaulle at the time of the Casablanca Conference where the political planning for D-Day took place. The story was told to me in Rabat, Morocco by General Grunther while I was entertaining him in an ante room of the Residence while waiting for dinner with the American Ambassador (to whom I was then Counselor of Embassy).
Seems that when former NATO Commander Grunther was still a mere Colonel serving in North Africa, he was detailed to President Roosevelt's staff for the Casablanca Conference. The President, who was meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the next stages of the war, had made every effort to keep General DeGaulle, leader of the Free French, from attending the meeting because of DeGaulle's prickly insistence on involving himself -- on behalf of France -- in every major wartime decision. Casabalanca was the main city in French Morocco, and DeGaulle had learned of the meeting. He turned up, uninvited, insisting on his role as "host" of the Conference which was, after all, to take place on French soil.
Roosevelt called Colonel Grunther to the house in which he was staying (now the residence of the American Consul General in Casablanca), instructing him that his sole responsibility the next morning would be to see that DeGaulle did not attend the meeting -- and that Grunther should adopt any steps necessary to insure this.
The next morning, de bonne heure, the Colonel was waiting outside the front door of the building in which the Conference was to be held. When DeGaulle arrived, Col. Grunther informed him that he had been assigned as his U.S. Military aide for the day, genially suggesting that they had ample time before the meeting to view the rose garden behind the residence.
As General Grunther told the story, he had taken time to bone up on the roses beforehand and made it a point to give DeGaulle a detailed account of each variety, giving its Latin and popular name, its breeding history, and an account of the prizes each had won in international competition, focussing especially on pre-war French exhibitions. As time went on, DeGaulle began to exhibit some nervousness, realizing that the time for the meeting had come; but being the iron-disciplined military man that he was, he refused to "lose his cool" in front of his American military aide, even as he eventually realized he'd been outflanked.
The Colonel had won "skirmish Casablanca".
Some years later, however, now a Four Star General and just named Supreme Commander of NATO Forces, Europe -- and with DeGaulle now President of France -- General Grunther began to wonder with some concern, what he would say and how he would be received when he called upon the President of the French Republic to present his credentials.
Finally he decided to take the bull by the horns, and as he stepped into the Presidential office in the Elysee Palace, the General said, in his best French, "J'imagine Monsieur le President, que vous vous rappeler de notre derniere rencontre?" To which DeGaulle smilingly responded, "Bien sur, mon general. Et je me rappele bien la douce odeur des fleurs dan le jardin. Vous avez bien remplis votre commande."
Grunther said he and DeGaulle got along splendidly during his tour as NATO Commander.
David B. Timmins, FSO (ret.)
US Mission - Geneva
c/o Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20521
November 25, 1997
Humor in Uniform Editor
Readers Digest
Box 100, Pleasantville, NY 10572-0100
Dear Sir:
The following story regarding the Casablanca Conference where the political planning for D-Day was carried out was told to me in Rabat, Morocco by General Alfred Grunther while waiting for dinner with the American Ambassador (to whom I was then Counselor of Embassy).
When former NATO Commander Grunther was still a mere Colonel serving in North Africa, he was detailed to President Roosevelt's staff for the Casablanca Conference. The President, who was meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the next stages of the war, had made every effort to keep General DeGaulle, leader of the Free French, from attending the meeting because of DeGaulle's prickly insistence on involving himself -- on behalf of France -- in every major wartime decision. Casablanca was the main city in French Morocco, and DeGaulle had learned of the meeting. He turned up, uninvited, insisting on his role as "host" of the Conference which was, after all, to take place on French soil.
Roosevelt called Colonel Grunther to the house in which he was staying (now the residence of the American Consul General in Casablanca), instructing him that his sole responsibility the next morning would be to see that DeGaulle did not attend the meeting -- and that Grunther should adopt any steps necessary to insure this.
The next morning, de bonne heure, the Colonel was waiting outside the front door of the building in which the Conference was to be held. When DeGaulle arrived, Col. Grunther informed him that he had been assigned as his U.S. Military aide for the day, genially suggesting that they had ample time before the meeting to view the rose garden behind the residence.
As General Grunther told the story, he had taken time to bone up on the roses beforehand and made it a point to give DeGaulle a detailed account of each variety, giving its Latin and popular name, its breeding history, and an account of the prizes each had won in international competition, focussing especially on pre-war French exhibitions. As time went on, DeGaulle began to exhibit some nervousness, realizing that the time for the meeting had come; but being the iron-disciplined military man that he was, he refused to "lose his cool" in front of his American military aide, even as he eventually realized he'd been outflanked.
The Colonel had won "skirmish Casablanca".
Some years later, however, now a Four Star General and just named Supreme Commander of NATO Forces, Europe -- and with DeGaulle now President of France -- General Grunther began to wonder with some concern, what he would say and how he would be received when he called upon the President of the French Republic to present his credentials.
Finally he decided to take the bull by the horns, and as he stepped into the Presidential office in the Elysee Palace , the General said, in his best French, "J'imagine Monsieur le President, que vous vous rappeler de notre derniere rencontre ?" (I suppose Mr. President that you remember our last meeting?) To which DeGaulle smilingly responded, "Bien sur, mon general. Et je me rappele bien la douce odeur des fleurs dan le jardin. Vous avez bien remplis vos ordres." ( To be sure, General. And I remember the sweet odor of the flowers in the garden. You carried out your orders well.)
Grunther said he and DeGaulle got along splendidly during his tour as NATO Commander.
David B. Timmins, FSO (ret.)
American Embassy
17 Tudor Arghezi
Bucharest, Romania
June 3, 1994
Editor
The Atlantic Monthly
745 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
Sir:
The March Atlantic ran a clever short piece about a meeting between General Dwight Eisenhower and General Bernard Montgomery. I wonder whether you might be interested in a similar anecdote about a meeting between General Alfred Grunther and General Charles DeGaulle at the time of the Casablanca Conference where the political planning for D-Day took place. The story was told to me in Rabat, Morocco by General Grunther while I was entertaining him in an ante room of the Residence while waiting for dinner with the American Ambassador (to whom I was then Counselor of Embassy).
Seems that when former NATO Commander Grunther was still a mere Colonel serving in North Africa, he was detailed to President Roosevelt's staff for the Casablanca Conference. The President, who was meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the next stages of the war, had made every effort to keep General DeGaulle, leader of the Free French, from attending the meeting because of DeGaulle's prickly insistence on involving himself -- on behalf of France -- in every major wartime decision. Casabalanca was the main city in French Morocco, and DeGaulle had learned of the meeting. He turned up, uninvited, insisting on his role as "host" of the Conference which was, after all, to take place on French soil.
Roosevelt called Colonel Grunther to the house in which he was staying (now the residence of the American Consul General in Casablanca), instructing him that his sole responsibility the next morning would be to see that DeGaulle did not attend the meeting -- and that Grunther should adopt any steps necessary to insure this.
The next morning, de bonne heure, the Colonel was waiting outside the front door of the building in which the Conference was to be held. When DeGaulle arrived, Col. Grunther informed him that he had been assigned as his U.S. Military aide for the day, genially suggesting that they had ample time before the meeting to view the rose garden behind the residence.
As General Grunther told the story, he had taken time to bone up on the roses beforehand and made it a point to give DeGaulle a detailed account of each variety, giving its Latin and popular name, its breeding history, and an account of the prizes each had won in international competition, focussing especially on pre-war French exhibitions. As time went on, DeGaulle began to exhibit some nervousness, realizing that the time for the meeting had come; but being the iron-disciplined military man that he was, he refused to "lose his cool" in front of his American military aide, even as he eventually realized he'd been outflanked.
The Colonel had won "skirmish Casablanca".
Some years later, however, now a Four Star General and just named Supreme Commander of NATO Forces, Europe -- and with DeGaulle now President of France -- General Grunther began to wonder with some concern, what he would say and how he would be received when he called upon the President of the French Republic to present his credentials.
Finally he decided to take the bull by the horns, and as he stepped into the Presidential office in the Elysee Palace , the General said, in his best French, "J'imagine Monsieur le President, que vous vous rappeler de notre derniere rencontre ?" To which DeGaulle smilingly responded, "Bien sur, mon general. Et je me rappele bien la douce odeur des fleurs dan le jardin. Vous avez bien remplis votre commande."
Grunther said he and DeGaulle got along splendidly during his tour as NATO Commander.
David B. Timmins, FSO (ret.)
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