In a small French town, a Youngstown connection

There’s always a Youngstown connection everywhere, said longtime Vindy sports editor Chuck Perazich.

If you get to Sarreinsming, France – about 5,000 people in the farmlands where France meets Germany – and if you ask to see what was the Lorang grocery store and home, there you will find a Youngstown connection.

You might even feel it if you touch the home’s walls.

Jeff Loman did last summer.

“I just could not believe it,” said Jeff. Touching them, he paused. Then he cried.

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Loman is the son of Stan Loman, who was a long-ago resident of Erskine Avenue in Boardman. For about 30 days, Stan called home a small room above Paul Lorang’s grocery store in Sarreinsming. As it was during a most-pivotal era – World War II – it was 30 days that would last a lifetime, a war, span an ocean, outlast death and make friends of two descendants.

The events stayed mostly locked away in Stan’s memories and that of Paul’s son, Gerard, who was 11 when Stan lived with them. Stan died in 2004. Gerard is alive today at 83. His soul is joyfully seared from those days with Stan. But only in 2013 did he tell his son, Jean-Marc, this family story he’d not told before.

Dad’s story sent son on an Internet and international mission. It brought Jean-Marc to Youngstown, and to Washington, D.C., and into the life of Jeff Loman.

Jeff’s middle name is Paul, and his whole life, he only knew he was named for a war friend. Now, Jeff was to learn a lot about the war friend.

Sarreinsming was among the first French regions occupied by the Germans.

“This area was devastated,” said Jean-Marc by video phone Friday. “My father said their lives all the time were in terror.”

And in tears.

As it was German-occupied and near the border, Allied bombings were frequent. Gerard’s sister and other family members were killed by an Allied bomb.

The town was liberated Dec. 8, 1944. On Dec. 23, Stan’s 324th Regiment arrived to stabilize the town. U.S. soldiers stayed in local homes. Stan stayed in the home of Paul Lorang – the war friend.

Stan, 22, was the only person in his regiment trained to speak German – a common language in that part of France. By day, Stan worked in offices across the street. At the Lorang home at night, he and Paul would stay up late into the night talking.

It was Christmas when Stan was there – a special one being the first without war in many years. The soldiers provided Gerard and other town children some pineapple and sugar cake. Stan even dressed as Santa Claus.

And then, Stan was gone.

By summer 1945, he was training to be shipped to the Pacific conflict. The atomic bomb halted that, and Stan resumed his life on Erskine Avenue near Southern Boulevard and Indianola Road.

Stan was the only son of John and Elsie, who moved here in 1934 when Stan was 12. John was a Yale grad who worked downtown in insurance. Stan was part of the Boardman High School Class of 1940. He was a student at Yale when duty called. After the war, he took a steel-mill job for several months until he could resume Yale studies.

“They wanted only the best for their only child,” said Jeff, who lives in D.C. and has been here only a couple of times, the last time being several years ago to visit his grandparents’ graves. John died in 1974; Elsie in 1985.

Stan followed dad into the insurance business and lived a global life – New York, Saigon, Morocco, Vienna, and, oddly, France for a period. His wife was French, and his three kids were raised there.

Throughout his business success, Stan could not shake all the demons of war. He lived many tough moments, and Jeff retains some of those tales in some letters of his dad’s. An executive’s son, prep school, Ivy League, international business – and a war victim.

“They did not call it PTSD back then, but that was him,” Jeff said.

Their family split in 1968, and Stan left France for Montreal, where he died in 2004.

Stan’s connection with the Lorang family lasted for just three letters after the war, written in June 1945, and January and February 1946. Jeff said he would only mention it in passing occasionally.

“He considered Paul a real war hero for raising and caring about his children in these rather hostile living conditions,” said Jeff. “When I visited my grandmother in Youngstown, I do recall her mentioning – a tad jealous – of her son’s strong friendship for this French family. I wish I asked more questions. I just had no idea.”

When Stan lived in France as an adult, he did not mention the Lorangs nor visit, said Jeff.

All this was as much a mystery to Jean-Marc – until 2014 when his dad pulled out those three old letters from Stan written to Paul. They included:

“I want to send you my greetings from Germany. We are on our way home now. The main question remains after this joyous lull: what is the next destination?”

“It is simply impossible, Paul, to tell you all the things I have on my mind. I truly regret to not be around you all. Please tell me exactly what kind of candies you would like and if there are other things you urgently need.”

“On New Year’s Day in Youngstown, Ohio, the custom is to eat sauerkraut with pork roast to invoke happiness for the coming year.”

“Here in the U.S., we talk a lot about the shortages affecting Europe. It is imperative that each country organizes its own economy. It will need time and focus.”

Jean-Marc loves America. He works for Procter & Gamble in France. The letters stunned him.

“I said, ‘Dad why did you never tell me? I want to find this guy.’ I am so proud to be in a free country due to them.”

The envelope had the Erskine address on it. With Youngstown as a target, Jean-Marc found Pam Speis at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society. He visited here in August 2014 while on a U.S. trip. She said such searches happen all the time – simple family requests and professional researchers.

“It‘s a simple search for us,” she said. “Yet it means so much to others. We never know how our research will affect someone’s life.”

Speis found Elsie Loman’s Vindicator obituary, and it listed a son named Stan living in Montreal.

With that, Jean-Marc searched Montreal records hoping to find Stan. Instead, he found that Stan had died.

“When I told my father that Stan was dead, my dad thought ‘Well, that’s it.’” But not for Jean-Marc.

Jean-Marc searched the Linked-In social media site. Unable to find Jeff, he found whom he thought was Jeff’s daughter. He sent her a message telling her he knew a lot about her grandfather from World War II and that he wanted to talk to her dad.

In 12 hours, Jean-Marc got a response from Jeff, and a couple of hours later, they were on the phone. Three days later, the two men talked via Internet video. Jeff was wearing Stan’s World War II jacket and hat.

Jeff and Jean-Marc, both in their 50s and proud sons, became fast friends. During an October visit at Jeff’s home, the two agreed more could be done.

Last July, the town of Sarreinsming, for the first time since 1944, celebrated the Americans who freed them. The two-day event included American soldier re-enactors in WWII-era Jeeps, dinner, music, fireworks and more.

A main bridge in the town was adorned with a plaque built from metal from the 1940s bridge that was destroyed in the war. Bridge pieces had been in storage all this time.

Leading dignitaries from the region spoke. Though it’s normal for the highest official to speak last, this event would be different.

That last official gave the floor to Jean-Marc. And when Jean-Marc finished, Jeff had the final speech.

It was emotional. It was tearful. It was meant to be.

The two-day celebration would not be complete without one detail.

Placed on the tomb of Paul Lorang – store owner, mill worker, father, WWII survivor and hero and war friend – is a plaque, reading:

“In remembrance of our love for Paul and Mathilde, from the whole family of Stanley S. Loman (1922-2004), Youngstown, Ohio – USA, Sergeant of 44th Infantry Division, 324th Regiment, company L.”

Yes, in the small town of Sarreinsming, France – wrecked by war only to shine again – there is a Youngstown connection.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. Email him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.