FRENCH CITATIONS

   ST MERE EGLISE, France (AP) --- More than 5,000 Norman villagers and peasants paidf tribute yesterday to the American 82d airborne division --- which two years ago liberated this hamlet from the Germans --- in one of several D-day commemoration ceremonies held in Normandy.

   Twenty officers and enlisted men of the 508th regiment of the division, selected for devotion to duty under long periods of combat were awarded the Croix de guerre, with stars and palms, by Gen J P Le Gentilhomme military governor of Paris and commander of the French first military region.
   Monuments to Allied invasion forces were dedicated in ceremonies in Collenville [sic] and St Laurent on bloody Omaha Beach in the American sector.

Lt Col Otho E. Holmes who is serving at Frankfurt, Germany with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment is pictured in the M-G-M News of the Day news reel to be shown at the Murphy Theater Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, manager Joe R. Murphy said he was informed last night.
   Col Holmes' aunt, who resides in Xenia, saw her nephew on the screen in the news reel Friday and notified his mother, Mrs. Frank Holmes, of New Vienna.  Murphy said this same news reel would be here the first three days of next week.
   According to reports, Col Holmes is seen while taking part in the D-Day celebration June 6 at Ste Mere Eglise, France.
   The young Wilmington officer had written friends here that he took a detachment of 11 officers and 39 men there for the celebration.  Two years ago the 508th Parachute Regiment jumped at this spot with other units of the 82nd Airborne Division in the D-Day landing.
   One of the pictures shows Col. Holmes receiving a decoration.  He wrote that the men were given the French Croix de Guerre with two palms and the French Fourragére for the regiment and 11 other units of the 82nd Division.
   Twenty-six men of the 508th Regiment led the 20,000 troops in the Victory Day parade in England last month also.
   Col. Holmes, who is the husband of Mrs. Reba Sims Holmes, now in Los Angeles, Calif. expects to return to the States about August 1 for assignment to a post here.

Note:  Col. Holmes was not amongst those listed as receiving the French Croix de Guerre.  It is assumed that the award he received was the French Fourragére on behalf of the 508th and other units of the 82nd Airborne Division.