A Summary
The Silent Hero by George Shea
(Image is from Google)
In the night in France in December 1940, Pierre
leans out the window of his bedroom looking at the sky through the window, he
knows that only a few miles, British planes are bombing and German guns are
firing wildly back. He is a young deaf and mute boy but he has wonderful sight
– “X-ray eyes”. He has an aunt, her name is Marguerite. She comes into Pierre’s
bedroom. She listens to the sound of the planes and the shattering fire from
the Germans. She points out the direction of the noise to Pierre. They have
suffered over a half year of Germany’s occupation of France. Germany was ruled
by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In the Spring of 1940, Germany invades France.
Pierre lives in little village of St. Claire. The Germans have chosen St.
Claire as a perfect place to build an airfield. It is near the coast and
England which is the country they are attacking. Nazis ask farmers there to
give much of their produce such as vegetables, fruit, cheese, etc. There is a
strict curfew that everyone has to be in their houses by eight P.M. Anyone who
gets caught outside after eleven will be arrested or shot. Pierre’s aunt,
Marguerite, hates the Germans more than most villagers because they have killed
all the men in her family, including Pierre’s father.
Suddenly, Pierre sees a tiny flash streak across the
sky. It is a British plane which has been hit. It is falling to earth in
flames. Then, Pierre sees something else. The pilot’s parachute has opened. It
is floating down toward the nearby woods. Unfortunately, his aunt cannot see
the parachute but he asks him to go and find the pilot. He has to find the
pilot fast. If the Germans have seen the parachute, they will catch the pilot.
Pierre jogs along the footpath that leads through a meadow and toward the dark
woods. He has to be careful because if the Nazis catch him, they will kill him.
Pierre is small, but strong and fast for his thirteen years. Finally Pierre
sees the parachute coming down over the woods. Up in the sky, pilot Jim Rush
floats toward the ground. Rush is a lanky thirty-year-old American Trenton, New
Jersey. He goes to England and he joins the Royal Air Force because he loves
freedom and hates Hitler and Nazis. He lands in a clearing in the woods but his
big white parachute stands out like a beacon. When he is digging for burying
his parachute, he is shocked because he sees Pierre. Germans are on their way
to come to the place. Rush keeps being careful because he is afraid that the
boy works for Germans. They cut up the parachute and bury it. They are glad now
because the Germans seem to be getting farther aways. Pierre holds Rush’s hands
bringing him through the dark trees.
On the way, Rush asks Pierre many questions but
Pierre keeps silent. Suddenly Germans car come to their way about fifty yards
away. They drop to the ground and bury their faces in the dirt. Two German
soldiers jump out from the car. One of them almost sees Rush and Pierre
crossing the road. They almost find them. Rush and Pierre dare not move.
Eventually, the soldiers drive off. It turns out that they are searching for
Rush. He leads Rush to a little woodshed and motion him inside and Marguerite
comes and introduces herself to Rush. She picks the lantern and climbs down the
steps to the hole in the ground and they follow her down. At the bottom was a
tiny basement room in which Pierre has helped to dig the room. Marguerite says
that Rush is safe now and she and the Resistance, that rescues pilots who are
shot down by the Nazis and pours sand into the gas tanks of German trucks so
the engines will not run, will try to find a way to get Rush back to England.
Rush gives his identity card number that is 3-4-7-1 to Marguerite because the
Resistance will need it. Pierre raises his index and middle fingers to make a
V. The V stands for “Victory”. It is a symbol of the Resistance and their fight
against the Germans. Marguerite will stay up and iron some clothes. Pierre
knows that her iron is not a real iron but it is hollow and it holds a secret
radio inside.
In the morning, Pierre goes to school and he brings
chocolate that is given by Rush last night. His aunt has warned him not to show
the chocolate to others but Pierre keeps bringing it. In the school, Pierre is
always bullied by almost all his friends, especially Andre Moulet. One of the
schoolteacher names Mr. Croteau but he has not arrived yet. In one moment,
without thinking, Pierre takes the chocolate rom his pocket and eats it.
Suddenly Andrew comes and wants to have it that Pierre has that rare food in
the Spring, chocolate. Andre shoves Pierre hard and knocks him down but no one
goes to help him because they are all afraid of Andre. When the bell rang,
Pierre and all his classmates will enter soon the class but Mr. Croteau still
has not come yet. Meanwhile he always comes early to talk to his students in
the yard. Pierre guesses that his schoolteacher has been taken away by the
Gestapo. He is the Nazi secret police. Suddenly, a woman who confesses a
teacher for the day comes and says that Mr. Croteau has been called away. Her
name is Madame Claudel.
A few minutes later, Mr. Croteau comes but three
Gestapo men walk into the classroom rapidly. The captain said that all children
have to rise. Pierre notices Madame Claudel smile at the captain. The captain
looked slowly around the classroom. His eyes seem to stop when they come to
Pierre. The captain names Reiner. He announces that the Nazis offer a reward
with fifty thousands francs and a nice medal to any boy and girl who can find
the airman. The captain asks the students about the boy who has been out last
night but students say nothing. The captain invites the students to play a game
which has prize fifty thousand francs. The game is to guess which boy would
have been out last night. Suddenly Andre rises his hands and he says that the
boy is Pierre Carot and he tells that Pierre was eating chocolate that has not
been any chocolate in months in the village. The captain calls Pierre to come
forward. When Pierre is next to the captain, the captain asks where he had been
last night. Mr. Croteau tries to tell that Pierre cannot hear and speak but the
captain neglects him. He asks same questions to Pierre many times until he will
slap Pierre but it does not happen because Gabrielle, the druggist’s daughter,
jumps and says that Pierre cannot hear and speak. Then, the captain asks Mr.
Croteau to communicate with Pierre but he protects Pierre by using sign
language and asks Pierre to tell that he was asleep in bed last night and Mr.
Croteau who gave the chocolate to him. He says that he got the chocolate from
the Germans when they first came to the village, they gave away free chocolate
and he saved some. Finally the Gestapo goes away from the class.
Mr. Croteau warns Pierre to be careful. In the
night, Mr. Croteau comes to Pierre’s home. He asks the number identity of the
airman to Pierre and he writes down on the paper. Suddenly, Captain Reiner and
two lieutenants come. They are suspicious of the teacher why he has been
Pierre’s home. Fortunately, the Captain is not suspicious of the number on the
paper. Marguerite says that it is a part of the address to her goddaughter. The
captain and two lieutenants look around the house and they almost find the
airman in woodshed but Marguerite says that the woodshed is full of rats. The
captain says that a German soldier will stay in her house. After that, they
drive off. Mr. Croteau gives an idea to bring the airman to choir practice in
order to save him from the Nazis.
Pierre makes his way to the inn for choir practice
and he has his own duty in the place . As Pierre walks along, he goes over the
instructions Mr. Croteau has given him. In his mouth is a tiny metal capsule
that holds a message. The Gestapo radar truck rounds a corner up ahead and
drives slowly toward the inn. Pierre climbs the staircase. On the second floor
were several rooms that are used as quarters for Nazi officers. Pierre sweeps
the crack beneath one of the doors, passes the door, and on down the hall. At
the end of the hallway is the door he has been told about. It seems to be
nailed shut but Pierre finds the secret latch, and the cleverly disguised door
swings open. Behind it is the rickety staircase to the third floor. By the time
he reaches the third floor. Slowly he walks to the end of the hallway that
leads to the attic. A tiny basket is lowered on a string. Pierre takes the
steel capsule out of his mouth and puts it in the basket. He jerks on the
string. From above, a hand pulls the basket up into the attic and shouts the
door. Pierre turns back toward the dark stairs. He hopes that the telegraph
operator would be tapping out the radio code signals for 3-4-7-1. Pierre is
shocked because the telegraph operator turns out Madame Claudel. She is sent to
help the villagers and she is with the Resistance in England.
When Pierre is on the way to go back from the
school, suddenly Gabrielle Le Blanc, the druggist’s daughter comes out of
nowhere and speeds toward Pierre. She places a slip of white paper in his palm.
The paper is the massage from Gabrielle’s father. He is a member of the
Resistance. Then, Pierre goes to the drugstore where Le Blanc hands him a
bottle of pills and another piece of paper. He opens the paper that says
3-4-7-1 will be moved on Monday night at eleven and he must use the pills to
the German.
Day runs slowly and finally the day comes. Pierre
makes many cups of cider and one of them is mixed with the pills that are given
by Marguerite. The pills make the German feel sleepy. Marguerite brings Rush to
make him go to England but Rush wants to say good-bye to Pierre. After he meets
Pierre, two Resistance fighters come out of the shadows. They dress in black
like fisherman. One of them is Madame Claudel. They lead Rush toward the beach.
The boat will take them back across the sea to England. In the end, Pierre gets
sign that Rush is fine in England. One night, when Pierre is in bed, the whole
house begins to shake. He ran to the window. The British planes have come
again. No pilots are shot down. When the raid is over and the planes turns back
across the sea. Pierre slowly saluted, “Someday France will be free again. The
future, the future, belongs to us.” He says it to himself and to his American
friend, Rush, in the sky.
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