Verdin visits site of ill-fated WWII amphibious raid

Franklin playwright Ed “Tiger” Verdin recently returned home from a two-week trip to France and Northern Ireland after using his vacation time to do research about Operation Jubilee, an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in Northern France in 1942.
During Operation Jubillee, Franklin native Edward Loustalot became the first American soldier to be killed by Germans on land during World War II.
Verdin was asked to write a play about the Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) by the Aug. 19 Memorial Museum, named for the date of the raid, and also the date (Aug. 19, 1942) when Loustalot, one of the first U.S. Army Rangers, was killed.
Verdin said he went to France to research the military operation for his play.
“I had the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of each of the battles of that operation,” Verdin said. “I got to walk the beaches. I got to run up the hills.”
Verdin said he met with both the current and the former mayors of Berneval-le-Grand, France, which is the town along the coast of the English Channel with a beach where Loustalot and other Allied soldiers made landfall during the Dieppe Raid.
Berneval-le-Grand has a monument remembering Loustalot, and a street named after him, Verdin said.
“His name is on quite a few plaques,” Verdin said. “It’s on the town wall. They have a placard coming up the beach about Operation Jubilee. In Dieppe, there’s a plaque and a new monument that was erected last year by the Remembering Americans in Europe Foundation.”
Diane Boutier and Patrick Ober of Remembering Americans in Europe were Verdin’s guides on the trip.
“They were the ones who really sparked the project in totality,” Verdin said. “They are the driving force behind keeping this story alive.
“(The trip) was all made possible through the Remembering Americans in Europe Foundation. They put me in key contact with people that want to see this play happen.”
Verdin said Canadian government has made sure its contribution to the operation is well-known in the Dieppe region.
“Dieppe doesn’t have a lot of stuff about the American portion, the U.S. Ranger portion of the operation,” Verdin said. “It has everybody else.
“I really feel like the U.S. government is slacking compared to the other countries, especially Canada. Canada probably has the biggest monuments — open-air parks, memorial parks, memorial places in the region.”
The Remember Americans in Europe Foundation is working to correct that, he said. Fifty Rangers joined British Commandos and Canadian Army units in the Canadian-led raid on the French port of Dieppe, and Remembering Americans in Europe erected a memorial in Dieppe last August to the 1st Battalion U.S. Rangers force that took part in the raid.
Verdin went to Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, to visit the site of the original Ranger training facility where the Rangers were formed in June of 1942. The American commando-style force was set up during World War II and remains the only U.S. military unit to be formed on foreign soil. Three hundred Rangers were trained in that first group, and Loustalot was among the first 50 Rangers to go to war.
Verdin said that the Dieppe Raid had been characterized until recently as a warm-up or test run for the D-Day raid of Normandy, France, and as a way to show the Nazis that the Allied Forces were intent on liberating France.
But Verdin said that talk while he was in Europe was that the actual reason for the Dieppe Raid was to capture an Enigma machine, a cipher device used by the Nazis to encrypt their military communications. The Allies had learned that an Enigma machine was being sent on a regular boat to Dieppe, so the operation’s main goal was to capture the encryption machine, reportedly. Verdin said he hasn’t verified yet if that rumor is true.
“It was amazing over there, being an American and walking over there,” he said. “The people are just so grateful. They celebrate and memorialize our military every year (on the anniversary of the raid, as well as other military operations from the war). It was mind-blowing the way our military is just revered. You can tell it’s just a genuine thankfulness from everybody in France.”
Verdin said he felt a great deal of pride as an American during his two weeks in France and North Ireland.
“I can’t even put it into words,” he said
The play he’s planning will focus on the entire operation.
“I do plan on telling the story through the eyes of 2nd Lt. Edward Loustalot,” Verdin said. “However, he does pass away. He was killed in action in the early onslaught of everything going on. The British captain that was in the vessel with him, that was in charge of their portion of the operation, which was called Orange Beach, he died very early on in the landing vehicle. So Edward, 2nd Lt. Loustalot, was the second in command, so he assumed command of this battalion. He literally, in Ranger fashion, led the way.”
Verdin said the soldiers had to scale booby-trapped cliffs once they reached the beach to get on the hill.
“The largest dogfight in World War II history was happening above their heads, so the Royal Air Force wasn’t able to clear out machine gun nests that were there,” Verdin said. “They had no idea that hadn’t happened, so the Germans came over the hill and just started shooting, and that’s how he passed away, leading them into battle.”
Loustalot had become good friends with one of the British Commandos.
“The story of Operation Jubilee, up until he dies, will be told through Edward Loustalot’s eyes,” Verdin said. “The story in general will be told through the British Commando’s eyes. There’s just so many amazing stories throughout. I plan on highlighting those stories of not only the soldiers that fought in Operation Jubilee, but the people of France that did some pretty amazing things.”
Verdin plans to have the play completed and ready to produce in the fall of 2024, and he hopes to debut it in New Orleans and in Franklin. He’d like to have one cast perform the play in Louisiana, and overseas. He would like to see it performed in France, but the play will be written in English, so there’s a language barrier that must be overcome first.
“I’m also in talks with Carrickfergus to have a premier in Northern Ireland,” he said.
He plans to design a multimedia set with a digital wall to make it easier to transport, as opposed to a physical set.
“There’s going to be some challenges, but in theater I’ve never not met the challenges I’ve put on myself,” he said.
Verdin said the project sprang out of the Teche Theatre for the Performing Arts production of The Quarters winning 10 awards in the 2022 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards.
He added that one of his plays has been picked up by a production company, and plans are to film portions of it in New Orleans and portions in Franklin.