Once separated by thousands of miles, two towns became intertwined when 2nd Lt. Norbert Herriges from Whitefish was killed saving a small village in Southern France from German bombardment during World War II.  

Mary Bullman was not yet 2 years old when her older brother died in the air battle against German planes over the Arc River Valley on Aug. 12, 1944. While she wouldn’t know what happened on that fateful day for decades, the people of Pourrières never forgot.  

Some details were pieced together in 1973 when one of Bullman’s 12 siblings, Dan Herriges, visited the town tucked in the foothills by Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Dan is the family’s youngest son and was 4 years old when his brother died.  

Bullman recalled running into a former classmate from Whitefish High School who asked Bullman why she never told anyone about what happened. 

Bullman recalled replying, “You know, I probably never did tell you that story, but until my brother went to that farm, I didn’t know a lot about it, except that he had been shot down.”   

WHILE SHE now lives in Helena, Bullman and other relatives of Norbert reunited at the Northwest Montana History Museum on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11 to celebrate the museum’s newest exhibit, “The Airman They Never Forgot.” 

The display details Norbert’s early life, recounts his heroic tale and describes the impact his actions continue to have on the French village.  

Norbert was born on Dec. 3, 1919, in Watson, a town in Saskatchewan, Canada. He was the second oldest of 12 children. 

The family eventually moved to Whitefish, where Norbert graduated from high school in 1938 before working for the Great Northern Railway as an office clerk. In 1941, he married Jean E. Harrison and they had a son named John Nicholas.   

A year later, Norbert was granted U.S. citizenship by a Kalispell judge and joined the U.S. Army Corps. After completing his advanced flight training, he was stationed at the since-abandoned Serragia Airfield on the island of Corsica, France to serve as a fighter pilot of a P-47 Thunderbolt bomber with the 12th Airforce in the 522nd Fighter Squadron.  

Their mission: destroy enemy supply lines in Southern France as the Allied Force prepare to invade.  

Aug. 12, 1944, was Norbert’s 35th and what would be his final mission just three days before the invasion of Southern France. Norbert was flying a bomber to destroy a railroad supply line when he encountered two German Messerscmitt Bf 109 fighter planes headed toward Pourrières. 

Other towns in Southern France had already been leveled by German forces, who were frustrated with the upcoming invasion, according to the museum.  

Herriges shot down both planes, but his own aircraft was hit and crashed in a nearby field, according to fellow squadron pilot 2nd Lt. William Hay.  

A local farmer found Norbert's body with a bullet in his head and an unopened parachute. The villagers hid his body from the Germans. 

Norbert was reportedly considered missing in action at first, according to the Daily Inter Lake’s Aug. 30, 1944, publication.  

“Wires received from the War Department Monday morning by Jean H. Herriges, his wife, and also by his parents, that Lt. Norbert Herriges was missing in action over France since August 12,” the article read.  

Two days after the air battle, a funeral was conducted, drawing 3,000 people in a town of about 1,000. Norbert’s body was eventually returned to the U.S. in 1949 and buried in Whitefish by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 276. 

WHILE DAN’S trip to the village helped piece together details about Norbert’s death, the full story wasn't told until French filmmaker, Lionel Kabac, contacted Norbert’s relatives in 2020 looking for help telling Norbert’s story for his film, “Un Été en Provence,” which translates to “A Summer in Provence.” 

The film brought Norbert’s family together in a way they had never been before.  

“Family members that really didn’t have a whole lot of contact with us came back together,” said Aaron Herriges, Norbert’s nephew and organizer behind the exhibit.   

“I felt like I wanted to honor [Norbert’s] sacrifice because he gave his life for us as a nation, and probably that’s the reason why the village honors him so much, because they felt like he gave his life too for France,” Aaron said.  

Every year since 1944, Pourrières residents have commemorated France’s liberation and Norbert’s personal sacrifice in saving their village from destruction, according to the museum’s exhibit. 

Thousands of miles across the Atlantic, Norbert’s family and fellow Whitefish veterans gathered last week on the museum’s second floor to continue honoring Norbert’s sacrifice. Post members from Whitefish’s VFW chapter saluted a black-and-white photo of Norbert beaming in his airman cap while “Taps” sounded throughout the room, played by Flathead High School trumpeter Jack Provo.   

The exhibit will remain at the museum until Memorial Day on May 25.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and [email protected].  

    Aaron Herriges at the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell on Tuesday, Nov. 11. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A model P-47D-25 Thunderbolt "Bubbletop" like the plane flown by 2nd Lt. Norbert William Herriges, a World War II fighter pilot from Whitefish, at “The Airman They Never Forgot” exhibit at the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell on Tuesday, Nov. 11. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    “The Airman They Never Forgot” exhibit at the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell on Tuesday, Nov. 11. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Air Force pilot, 2nd Lt. Norbert Herriges, from Whitefish, defended a French village and died in combat during World War II. A new exhibit commemorates his act of courage and the family's ongoing ties to the people of Pourrières. (Courtesy photo)
  

    An obelisk in Pourrières, France, is dedicated to Air Force 2nd Lt. Norbert Herriges who was flying a mission over the village on Aug. 12, 1944, when he was shot down by a German fighter pilot. (Courtesy photo)