The Legend of Bloody Mary
By the 1950s, Villefranche-sur-Mer had become the official home port of the US Sixth Fleet.
The presence of many sailors in this small town attracted many people.
Among them, a flower seller had become a legend that was told from ship to ship.
Nicknamed Bloody Mary or Mary the flower girl, she terrorized many sailors!
Read the memories of the Sixth Fleet veterans:
Interview Thomas G. Lilly, US Sixth Fleet Veteran
Moving video of Thomas G. Lilly, Rear Admiral US Navy Ret., filmed by Florent Plana on an original music of Baptiste Leblanc. At Villefranche-sur-Mer (France) in January 2017, on the occasion of the 50th [...]
The Poops Lady – by Alice Grainger Gasser
My father was Lt. Cdr. Inslee E. Grainger. Our family lived in Villefranche in 1959-61 when he served aboard the USS Des Moines and the USS Springfield. I was only two when we arrived, so [...]
Remembrances of Bloody Mary – by Jerry Manriquez
Remembrances of Bloody Mary By Jerry Manriquez, Fox Division, USS Des Moines Web Master I served aboard the USS Des Moines CA-134 from December 24, 1958 until September 1960. The Ship was home ported in [...]
Down Memory Lane – by Phil Roberts
Warmed by the morning sun, I sit on my deck overlooking a wooded canyon admiring the small deck garden my great granddaughter Iris and I finished yesterday. Splashes of red and white Cyclamens and purple [...]
Villefranche Remembered – by RADM Thomas G. Lilly
Recalling memories of times spent in Villefranche in the mid-1950s is not hard to do. Each of the five visits I made there during 1955-57 was an adventure worth remembering. Villefranche was the gem of [...]