Submitted by Steven M. Greenberg, Jews of Nantasket Beach

On this 250th Anniversary of the USA and the 237th Anniversary of Bastille Day. I want to recount an incredible story of the people of France and one American soldier with deep roots in Hull.

In the early morning of June 6, 1944, the day of the Allied Invasion of Normandy in WWII, Lt. Harold O. Cadish led a platoon of paratroopers into occupied Nazi territory. The mission of these paratroopers was to land behind Nazi lines and be prepared for when the US-backed troops broke through. Their target was the French town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.

Unfortunately, a fire started that lit up the dark night and led to the descending paratroopers being seen by the Nazi soldiers. The scene is immortalized in the movie “The Longest Day.”

For a time, the remains of these soldiers had not been found. At this point, Joe Berman, another service member from Hull, who was charged with finding the remains of lost and fallen soldiers, came to Sainte-Mere-Eglise to see if he could solve the mystery. He found that the townspeople, fearing that the Nazis would desecrate the body since his dog tags showed that he was Jewish, had taken Lt. Cadish’s body and buried it in their own local cemetery. If the Nazis knew this, who knows what they would have done to these courageous people?

In 1948, with the help of these same French townspeople, the remains were found and sent back to the US for a proper Jewish burial.

The Cadish family was well-known in Hull; Lt. Cadish’s brother, Abraham, helped start the Nantasket Youth Center and ran the Waveland Market at A Street for many years. In 1946, Bay Avenue – which runs from A Street to Allerton – was renamed Cadish Avenue in Lt. Cadish’s honor.

Lt. Cadish is remembered as a hero to the French as well as to us. I am sharing this information because on July 18, around 11:30 a.m., the flag that accompanied Lt. Cadish’s remains will be decommissioned in a ceremony following regular Shabbat Services at Temple Israel of Nantasket Beach. Members of the 82nd Airborne Division will be there as we honor the courage, bravery and compassion of both another brave soldier who gave his life in order to preserve our freedom and the people of France who helped us preserve the memory of that soldier, one of the many Jews of Nantasket Beach who have served our country and one of the many times the people of France helped us.

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