Until last week Plouvien was just another of the quaint, peaceful villages that dot the Breton peninsulaa set pattern of small tidy houses, large untidy barns and barnyards, a few shops, a church at the crossroads. Even their namesPlouescat, Plougonven, Ploudanielbear the patina of time: plou is the ancient Celtic prefix for "parish."
Plouvien had been left behind by U.S. tank columns bearing south to the siege of Brest, ten miles away. By the time their vanguard had passed, Plouvien's 2,500 citizens had decked their cottages with the tricolor and with homemade U.S. flags, The men came in from the fields...