Madeleine Vignier Peters was born in the little village of [Annotator's Note: town name not discernible] in France. She had three sisters and two brothers. She was the oldest of the siblings. The others are now gone. Her father worked in the garden of a castle. He was also a factory worker building automobiles and airplanes and a mason. He was working in the automobile factory when the family had to evacuate after the German invasion of France [Annotator's Note: Germany invaded France in May 1940]. The family fled to Rheims. As a child, her life was good until war came. It was not so good then. Before the conflict, she liked to play with other children and do some knitting. Before the Germans came, the family followed the events of the war closely. While living in Rheims, they were located adjacent to a French military airport. There was also an airplane factory, as well as a military troop barracks nearby. The Germans would often bomb those installations. The enemy bombed a boys' gathering spot. Many boys were killed during that incident, including some of Peters' friends. A neighbor's house was also bombed. The bombings happened almost every day. She was frightened. Children were issued gas masks in case of attack. Peters attended school for only one year before the Germans came. It was rough to transition to the wartime status.

Madeleine Peters and her family evacuated in front of the advancing Germans [Annotator's Note: the Germans invaded France in May 1940 and within weeks defeated the French and British forces]. People were killed as the French soldiers went in the opposite direction as the evacuees. The Germans bombed those on the road including soldiers and civilians who were intermingled. Her father stopped working for the automobile factory and took his family by truck to areas away from the oncoming enemy. The family went to the middle of France. The Germans had not yet occupied that area. It was bad. After a two month period, the Germans reached that location which forced the family to return to where they originally lived. During the first evacuation, a civilian car was struck by a German bomb. The passengers were all killed right in front of Peters' family. It was scary. The family fled through so many towns that Peters cannot remember them all. When they finally stopped at a small town, they were not received too well. As time passed, they helped provide supplies to the family that boarded them. Consequently, things improved even though there were three families under the same roof. A soldier was nearby, too. Peters and her family lived in those conditions for two months before being forced to return to their hometown. They decided to return because the Germans had reached both the family's evacuation point and their hometown. They took a train to return to their original home. The Germans were there for four years. Occupation restrictions were not very good. The family could not talk to Jewish people. The Jews were forced to wear stars [Annotator's Note: the Jewish Star of David] on their clothes. Peters would even avoid contact with her former Jewish friends. She was afraid to talk to them. People were discouraged from purchasing goods from Jewish stores. By nine at night, all lights had to be turned off so that everything was dark. Food supplies were restricted. Tickets were issued for the procurement of food. Clothes were in short supply. All this occurred during the four year German occupation. Peters and her family first encountered Germans while they were living in the Free French zone [Annotator's Note: part of France was controlled by, but not occupied by, the Germans after the French surrender. That part of the country was referred to as Vichy France since Vichy was the capital of the so-called free region. The Germans would ultimately occupy that area after the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942.]. Peters and her family were on a train when a German came and asked questions. Her father could speak some German so he communicated with him. The family was frightened and did not know where the situation would end. A person had to watch what they were saying and doing. When in line to acquire food, men would listen to conversations to see what the people had to say. Any negative comments about the Germans might result in people being taken into custody. Peters was 15 years old in 1940 when the war came to France. After the four year occupation, she was 19 years old. Her emotions ran between fear and anger. Radio communications were not acceptable to the Germans because the English would transmit messages to the French underground over the airwaves. The Germans would have vehicles on the street to try to detect radio transmissions. That was another form of intimidation. When Peters was 18 and 19, she was approached by Germans for a date. One man was her supervisor at an airplane factory. He called Peters and another girl to his office. He requested her attention. When she refused, he slapped her and threatened to send the girls to Germany. They were saved by good Germans who did not allow that to happen. There were few good experiences with Germans. When her American serviceman friend, then husband, wanted to take her to Germany, she refused. It took a long time to accept the Germans. Her friend who was Jewish was bitten by a dog while under German custody. A friend of her mother was taken to Germany. She was a nice girl. She was raped while in Germany. The girl's husband was taken to Germany where he died. Although Peters had no immediate family killed in the war, she had cousins who were taken to Germany as prisoners of war. They did return safely after the war. Peters had no contact with the resistance. She learned of them later. She had friends who participated, but they did not talk about it. She never considered joining the resistance.

Madeleine Peters remembers the Allies landing in France [Annotator's Note: The Normandy D-Day invasion began the liberation of France on 6 June 1944]. They fled the approaching conflict. The family had been living in Rheims where there was a factory for airplane manufacture as well as German troop facilities and a military airfield. It was potentially a dangerous area so they were warned to leave. It was nice to see the Americans liberate the area where she lived. Everyone was excited. Civilians were kissing the soldiers that had arrived. It was hard to believe they were being freed after four years [Annotator's Note: much of France was occupied by Germany between June 1940 and June 1944]. The citizens were really happy. She met her husband while she was working at a soldier's club. He was an American soldier who was in charge of the club. They dated seven or eight months before they were married in France. They were married in June 1946 and reached America in February [Annotator's Note: 1947].

Madeleine Peters experienced a lengthy paperwork process preparing to come to America. Her husband had a similar experience. The couple was to transit the ocean on separate boats. The French girls who married Americans had to travel in a special ship to their new country. Her husband was rightly concerned that Peters might change her mind about making the voyage. It was hard for her to leave her family. She ended up traveling with him. Communication with the language difference was not easy at first. When they first lived in France after the June [Annotator's Note: 1946] wedding, they stayed with her family. French was mainly spoken. Items would be pointed out and words spoken in French and then English to help each person understand. In February [Annotator's Note: 1947], when the couple was in the United States, they lived with his mother. They practiced the same method of learning the opposite language. It seemed to work. Peters has an accent but speaks English well. Besides the language differences, the weather was different. There was lots of snow when she arrived. That was not like her home in France. The first thing she had to do was go buy some boots [Annotator's Note: Peters chuckles]. She likes her new country. She left France after 21 years and has been in the United States for 72 years. She likes this country of immigrants. We are all immigrants. She would make that point with Trump [Annotator's Note: President Donald Trump]. Children learn languages fast. Peters' granddaughter has learned several languages.

Madeleine Peters discovered going to the store without having to stand in lines was one of the first noticeable changes following the Allied liberation of France after German occupation. There was no longer a fear to walk down the streets. It was good. While under the Germans, people had to constantly show the enemy soldiers the identification papers they carried. The end of the war came when Peters and her family were at the small village where they had fled [Annotator's Note: when Normandy was invaded in June 1940, the family left Rheims because of the military installations nearby and the likelihood of Allied bombing]. The Germans were fleeing and firing at civilians. At first, Peters and her family thought the Germans were firing toward them because they mistook them as members of the underground. They then discovered that the war was over. The people leapt up on American tanks and kissed the soldiers. They both enjoyed that. Peters' family did not feel happy about her getting married and leaving for America. Peters has had a good life and happiness in her new country. Some of her family came to America to see her. Peters traveled to France every year at her husband's insistence. He thought she should return to visit her family. Her siblings never visited her in America. Peters' son is now a Senator [Annotator's Note: Gary Charles Peters, Sr. of Michigan]. Peters has always been interested in politics even going back to when she was a girl in France. Her parents questioned why she would have such an interest. She loved it. It is very good to have a son who grew up to be a Senator. Her most memorable experience of World War 2 was when the Germans bombed a nearby building where boys were located. She was close by when they were killed. It has taken a long time to feel acceptance of the Germans. She would prefer to go to other foreign countries rather than Germany. She remembers her mother's friend being kidnapped to Germany to care for some children. She never returned. Peters has bad memories and has never completely forgiven the Germans for what they did. The memory of the Germans slapping her is still vivid [Annotator's Note: this incident occurred when her German supervisor at the factory where she worked asked her for a date. She refused him and he became physically abusive and verbally threatening to her.]. There are good Germans and bad ones. She feels somewhat better about them now. Freedom is good. A person can do what they want without having to look over their shoulder. Life in America is good. World War 2 changed her life because she married an American soldier and came to the United States. She did not have many years in France before she met her husband. She had only one boyfriend before him. She may have gone into politics if she had stayed in France. World War 2 is still important to the world today because countries are friendlier toward each other than they used to be. Examples are America, France, Germany and Italy.