Istres Air Base (BA 125), France, July 25, 2001: A SNCF COUVERT “40 and 8” OCEM 29 K-219 329 railroad car is being loaded on to a USAF C-5 cargo plane before flying across the Atlantic Ocean. © Marc Voizot Private Collection. All rights reserved.
The « Train de la Reconnaissance Française » aka the « Merci Train » (1949).
#GRATITUDE
#RESISTANCE
#FREEDOMOFTHEPRESS
#MDFDEFriendshipMerciTrain75
© The Official French-American Project entirely conceived by Ms. Elisabeth JENSSEN to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the “Merci Train” (1949-2024/2025). All rights reserved.
Chair, Elisabeth Jenssen
Honorary President: The Comte Gilbert de Pusy La Fayette
Contact: elisabeth.jenssen@francaisdeletranger.org
1944 – 2024
Ask NOT What Our Veterans Can Do For YOU.
Ask What YOU Can DO For Our Veterans!
Elisabeth Jenssen
Istres Air Base (BA 125), France, July 2001: Arrival of the SNCF COUVERT “40 and 8” OCEM 29 K-219 329 railroad car loaded on a French Army tank carrier. © Research Div. National Museum of the US Air Force (USAF) Dayton, OH, USA. All rights reserved.
On June 8, 1944, U. S. Air Force pilot John H. Oliphint, who fought in France during WWII (1939-1945) crashed his plane at La Flèche (Sarthe), France. | ARCHIVES
John Houston OLIPHINT, II Collection
https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.57384/#item-service_history
For his numerous exploits during WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, John Houston OLIPHINT was awarded the Command Pilot wings and 43 medals including the Silver Star, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Air Medals, 2 Purple Hearts, Bronze Star, Commendation Medal, Prisoner of War Medal, and numerous theater and foreign medals.
Istres Air Base (BA 125), France, July 2001: The SNCF COUVERT “40 and 8” OCEM 29 K-219 329 railroad car loaded on a French Army tank carrier sits inside a hangar prior to being flown across the Atlantic Ocean. © Research Div. National Museum of the US Air Force (USAF) Dayton, OH, USA. All rights reserved.
2001 – 2024
Dear MDFDE and Friends of the “Merci Train,”
In this Historical Year marked this past June by thousands of moving ceremonies held in French cities and villages for the 80th Anniversary of D-DAY and the Normandy Landings (Operation Overlord), ahead of the commemoration, this month, of the 80th Anniversary of the Allied Landing in Provence (Operation Dragoon) with the support of the French Résistance, the 2nd “D-DAY,” between the beaches of Le Lavandou and Saint-Raphaël (Var), on the night of August 14th-15th, 1944. Another TRIUMPH over Nazi Germany in the name of DEMOCRACY…
In the last days of the glorious Paris 2024 Olympic Games still going full speed before the Closing Ceremony this Sunday, the United States leading overall with 103 medals, and France in 4th place (as we speak) with an amazing 53 medals, the highest number of olympic medals ever for France thanks to new “King Leon” MARCHAND, our EXTRAORDINARY 22-year old French swimming champion (4 Gold medals + 1 Bronze Paris 2024), trained in Toulouse — France’s capital of the aerospace industry — by Nicolas CASTEL and by the legendary Bob BOWMAN, Michael PHELPS’s former coach, in the United States…
As many States throughout the United States are still celebrating, this year, and in 2025, the 75th Anniversary of the Merci Train (1949 – 2024) — the French grateful response to the People of the United States for the Friendship Train (1947), the greatest American humanitarian campaign led by Washington D.C. veteran journalist Drew PEARSON — with various events held by the American Legion, the 40 and 8 Society, museums and other cultural associations, whom we thank for their undying dedication to the preservation of their own SNCF “40 and 8” “Merci Train” boxcars…
Ahead of next month 77th Anniversary of the establishment of the U. S. Air Force (USAF), the World’s largest air force and preeminent force in air, space and cyberspace, created the very same year (September 18, 1947) as Drew PEARSON’s Friendship Train…
Today seems to be a great day to salute the memory of all the heroic men and women of the U. S. Air Force who fought and died for the Liberation of France’s and Western Europe in WWII; and also to express our sincere gratitude to the U. S. Air Force for its active participation, 75 years ago, — on February 2, 1949 — in the most spectacular Air and Sea show of French-American Friendship a French cargo ship, the SS Magellan, or any other foreign ship had ever received upon arrival in New York Harbor…
Indeed, we, the MDFDE, will NEVER FORGET how, thanks to Drew PEARSON, also heading in 1948-1949 the National Welcoming Committee for the “Merci Train,” and who made sure the Air Force was there… Twenty-five thousand cheering New Yorkers, massed at the docks, already overwhelmed by the sounds and sights of the city fireboats, police launches and a dozen crafts blasting their greetings at North River piers, watched proudly the “grand finale,” as formations of Air Force F-80 and F-82 jet planes, roaring over New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, dipped in salute overhead while the SS Magellan, carrying on board the precious “Merci Train” forty-nine “40 and 8” box cars, was easing toward her Weehawken, New Jersey, berth…
Please let me tell you a very special story starring two U.S. Air Force veterans, the late John H. OLIPHANT and Jacques ADNET, along with one SNCF “40 and 8” boxcar you might not have heard about that also travelled 23 years ago — 52 years after the original “Merci Train” — as it moved permanently from France to its new home in… Dayton, Ohio.
THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE “FLYING” SNCF
“FORTY AND EIGHT”
Fifty-five years ago — in late 1999 — retired U.S. Air Force officer, John Houston OLIPHINT (1921-2011), born in Hemphill, Texas, a former P-47 and P-51 pilot who had joined and served the Air Force for 26 years, starting right after the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Dec. 7, 1941), thus fighting in France during WWII (1939-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War, had a dream.
On D-Day (June 6, 1944), John had taken an active part in the bombing of a French railway installation in Le Mans (Sarthe). Two days later, on June 8, as the Allies were trying to cut off the German Army’s supply routes to the west, John was now in charge of bombing La Flèche’s train installation (about 38 km away south of Le Mans) when the P-51 Mustang he was piloting had a cooling problem: Held by the FLAK, the German Anti-Aircraft Artillery, his plane crashed in La Flèche. Captured by the Nazis, John escaped from the enemy a few days later thanks to the extraordinary help of the Fléchois, the bravest people of La Flèche, who treated him for his injuries and took the risk of hiding John for several weeks before smuggling him out of France.
23 Year ago, Veteran John H. OLIPHINT, never forgetting about his war experience in occupied France, especially his awful rough-riding trips aboard these SNCF “40 and 8” boxcars (40 Hommes ou 8 Chevaux/40 men or 8 Horses) transporting supplies and troops, first endured by the American “Doughboys” carried to and from the fighting front during WWI. Then by his fellow soldiers of which many Allied prisoners of war like himself riding under the harshest conditions (sometimes as many as 90 men forced into each of these French boxcars) to German POW camps during World War II. And most tragically by millions of Holocaust victims herded into these boxcars on their way to German concentration camps like Buchenwald death camps in August 1944.
Indeed, determined to create an exhibit to better educate young Americans on the horrific experience of WWII, of the Holocaust victims and American POWs held in German camps, to be displayed in an American museum, John H. OLIPHINT shared his idea of possibly acquiring one SNCF “40 & 8” boxcar with his friend, Jacques ADNET, another retired USAF pilot.
Embarked on their new mission, sure enough, a few months later, thanks to Mr. Louis GALLOIS, then President of the French National Railroad (SNCF), who gifted the special railcar to the American Ex-Prisoners of War, Jacques ADNET was able to obtain a suitable SNCF “40 and 8” boxcar which had been withdrawn from service in the 1980s and was then being used to store equipment at the SNCF Dijon-Perrigny Wagon Maintenance Establishment (now closed).
Built in 1943, thanks to John H. OLIPHINT, who covered the costs of restoration from his own pocket, this SNCF “40 & 8” wagon was returned to its original condition and configuration by the highly skilled, dedicated French craftsmen of the said SNCF Dijon-Perrigny Wagon Maintenance Establishment.
On May 4, 2001, at the then SNCF workshop in Dijon, France, the ownership of the SNCF “40 and 8” boxcar OCEM 29 K-219 329 was officially transferred to the American Ex-POWs.
Placed on a French Army tank carrier, thanks to Gen. François BECK, the French Air Force, and Mr. Gérard ROUX from the SNCF, who together handled all the road travel logistics, in cooperation with John H. OLIPHINT and Jacques ADNET monitoring the entire operation from Colorado Springs, Co., U.S.A., the 13-ton SNCF “40 and 8” wagon, escorted all the way from Dijon to Istres by the French National Police, safely reached the US Air Force detachment at the 125 Istres Airbase (BA 125) — one of the longest runways in Europe (5,000 km long) –located 60 km (about 38 miles) north-west of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Istres Air Base (BA 125), France, July 25, 2001: The SNCF “40 and 8” covered boxcar OCEM 29 K-219 329 about to be loaded on to a USAF C-5 of the 439th Airlift Wing. © Coll. TJP. DocRail France. All rights reserved.
439th Airlift Wing Shield
Istres Air Base (BA 125), France, July 25, 2001: Loading of the 13-ton SNCF “40 and 8” covered boxcar OCEM 29 K-219 329 on to a USAF C-5 of the 439th Airlift Wing flown across the Atlantic Ocean. © Coll. TJP. DocRail France. All rights reserved.
DAYTON, Ohio — “Forty and Eight” boxcar on display in the Air Power Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)
On July 28, 2001, the SNCF “40 and 8” boxcar was officially moved to its permanent home, the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, U. S. A. So please, next time you are in Ohio, please check out this special SNCF “40 and 8” boxcar you know so much about now in Dayton, and say hello to our dedicated friends at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Kindest regards to all,
Elisabeth Jenssen Founder & President
Friends of Laperouse USA
Chair, #MDFDEFriendshipMerciTrain75
Le Mouvement des Français de l’Étranger (MDFDE) French and Francophones Abroad
Liaison of the American Legion (USA-Europe) for the Friendship Train and the Merci Train
DAYTON, Ohio — SNCF “Forty and Eight” covered boxcar OCEM 29 K-219 329 on display in the Air Power Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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National Museum of the United States Air Force
1100 Spaatz Street
Dayton, Ohio 45433
Phone: + 1 (937) 255-3286
Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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