Andre G. Beaumont

Biography

Andre Gabriel Beaumont was born in New York City on January 3, 1926 to Aurelie Blanche Javet and John Baptiste Gabriel Beaumont. His mother was born in a little town called Preles, in the Canton de Fribourg in Switzerland, and his father was born in Biarritz, France.

Before they came to the United States

His mother was born on a farm as one of eight children, six girls and two boys. The brothers were due to inherit and run the farm and the daughters were sent off to school. Most of them became governesses and French tutors. Andre’s mother went to Berlin when she had finished school where she worked as a governess for a wealthy Berliner family. Most of her sisters did this, because they spoke French and, growing up right next to the German-speaking part of Switzerland, they also spoke German. French however was the language of the aristocracy and it was very desirable for rich families to have their kids speaking French. His father had grown up in Biarritz, also as one of eigth children, six boys and two girls. Most of the sons went into the culinary/restaurant business and Andre's father was trained as a chef. He spent seven years as apprentice in different types of cooking. Then, he began as a chef, working with the Paris Exposition, where the Eiffel Tower was first introduced. He later worked around, for various people and ended up in Vienna, working for the English ambassador. When the World War broke out, the English ambassador obviously left, and Andre's father got a job working for the Rothschild family in Vienna. He was not allowed to leave Vienna. In fact, they put him in an internment camp for a while. It was in Vienna where Andre's parents met and got married after the war, in 1921. After that, Andre's father worked as a chef to the English ambassador once more and he had the American ambassador come over. The American ambassador was impressed with the cooking and offered a visa to come work in the United States. One of his brothers already worked in the US so he decided to cross the ocean..
John Baptist Beaumont worked as a chef in various restaurants and his wife was pretty much a stay-at-home mom. She did tutoring and she did a lot of work with musicians, singers, teaching them the enunciation, pronunciation of French words, so that as they sang in French, they would be pronouncing the words correctly. They were settled in Manhattan, on the Upper West Side of New York City.

Growing up in New York City

Andre G. Beaumont was born and grew up in New York City, speaking French as his first language. Because he went to school in New York City it meant he became fluent in both English and French.
December 7th, 1941 was a day he would never forget. Andre was at that time 15 years old, and they were at home, in their apartment in Manhattan listening to the radio. The broadcast was interrupted by an announcement that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, which was somewhat of a big shock. But his parents, having been in Europe during World War One and when the war started in 1939, they had premonitions that they were going to get into the war at one time or another. Unfortunately they were right. Andre at this point was still too young to know really what this was going to mean for him. Andre did have a half-brother who was 18 years older and born in France. He was called up, when he was 18, by the French government to serve his one year of military training. Then he came to live in the United States with his family in 1939. He received a letter from the French Embassy saying he has to report for active duty in the French Army. They passed the draft law in 1940, and he was one of the first ones drafted in the American Army. So he was already in the military when Pearl Harbor came. Actually he had written a letter to tell everyone that he was going to be discharged in December of '41 because he had fulfilled over a year of service.
Andre graduated from high school in 1943 and was accepted to Harvard in June of 1943. Andre turned 18 on January 3, 1944, and he wanted to at least finish his freshman year at Harvard. The army had a program where you could enlist, and they wouldn't call you up until your semester was over. So he enlisted in December of 1943 in the army, and was called up middle of March, which allowed him to finish his first year at Harvard.

Wartime Service

When Andre Beaumont was called up for active duty in March he reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey. From there he was sent to Camp Stewart, Georgia. It was an anti-aircraft center and he was being trained in a 90mm anti-aircraft gun battery. There, he learned how to be a gunner and to do all the stuff to set up the guns and fire it. But at the same time he was trained in running the Sperry gyroscope mechanical computer, wich took in information as far as the altitude, elevation, left, right, all the different factors. And then after about a week or two, he was shipped to Camp Haan, California. That was a five-day train trip. When he arrived in Camp Haan, he was assigned to the director section of a 90mm gun battalion. However in September or October 1944 the entire camp was disbanded and all soldiers sent to infantry units where they were more needed. Andre had a six week hurry-up course to be trained as infantry replacement at Camp Howze, Texas. Then he was shipped across the country to Fort Meade, Maryland to be send overseas.
In January 1945, Andre Beaumont arrived 'somewhere in Belgium' during the Battle of the Bulge as an infantry replacement. On January 23, 1945, he was assigned to his combat unit from the 92nd Replacement Battalion. When he got off the truck a Captain cames up and said: 'I'm Captain Thomas Mitchell. Welcome to F company, 331st Infantry Regiment, 83rd Division. We are just a mile from combat. We just came out of combat. We're going back in in a couple of days. And you men are first replacements'. From then, Andre Beaumont was as a rifleman in the 3rd platoon, until the end of the Battle of the Bulge. In March he was assigned to Communications Squad, Company F, HQ as a SCR-301 eadio operator, serving in this capacity until the end of the War in Europe. During ocupation in Pocking, Germany, he was a substitute clerk. In October 1945, Andre transferred to 205 Army Postal Unit, 3rd Army HQ, Rear, in Munich, Germany. Andre Beaumont shipped home to the United States in May 1946 and was discharged June 11, 1946 at Fort Dix, New Jersey with the rank of Sergeant.

In 2001 Andre gave an extensive interview to Thomas J Healy which has been documented at the Library of Congress.
Click the photo below to listen to Andre's interview.

Gallery

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