![]() ![]() The two became friends, and when the former pilot returned to France and married a young lady from Vimoutiers, he thought his famous American friend might be willing to help.īarois and Mitchell had corresponded frequently, sending one another small gifts. Barois had previously written to the author to tell her how much he had enjoyed Gone With the Wind. The plight of Vimoutiers came to Mitchell’s attention when a friend, Denis Barois, a veteran of the French Air Force who had trained in Georgia during the war and traveled to Atlanta to meet Mitchell, wrote a letter explaining the situation. Mitchell, the report noted, had written a check to rebuild the town’s hospital and enlisted the aid of the Pilot Club International to assist in financing the reconstruction of the remainder of the town, which had been mistakenly destroyed by Allied bombing. Until recently, however, Mitchell was relatively unknown for a gesture of kindness toward a small French town devastated by World War II.Īlthough her generosity to the people of Atlanta has been documented, and others have been the recipients of her philanthropy, it was not widely known that she had been instrumental in the rebuilding of the town of Vimoutiers until last July when the Associated Press published a report. Gone With the Wind, her novel of the Old South and the perseverance of heroine Scarlett O’Hara, stands as a literary classic which spawned one of the most famous motion pictures of all time. Author Margaret Mitchell is remembered as one of the “first” citizens of Atlanta. ![]()
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