Margot, Again: George Ciampa and the Fight for a WWII Cemetery

How does a newspaper ad man end up making documentaries at 81?

George Ciampa spent his working life selling newspaper advertising, first as a salesman and then for 18 years as special features manager at the Los Angeles Times. In 1963 he broke ground on one of the first condominiums in California, on the day the legislation allowing them was passed, and lost it two years later to a man who had promised to help with the financing. Then in 2005, friends in Belgium called him for help: people were riding bicycles and motorcycles through the American cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, where George's company had once buried 17,300 soldiers. He spent a year writing to everyone he could think of, from newspapers to senators, to get gates put on the cemetery. That fight, and a museum in Wheaton, Illinois, led him to start taking teachers to Europe, and at 81 he became a documentary filmmaker.

In Episode 120, the fourth of five conversations, host Josh Lindsay, Christian Taylor and Jason Rugg welcome George back on his 96th birthday. Before the career story, he finally answers the question Episode 117 left hanging: did he ever see Margot, the trapeze star he met in Germany, again? He did, in 1949, in Milwaukee, where she was performing with the Ringling Brothers circus after a fall from the trapeze in New York had broken her back. They kept in touch for a while, but by then, as George puts it, it was "a whole different ballgame."

The episode opens with Christian's update from June 2021: The Girl Who Wore Freedom won best veteran film at the Reedy Reels Film Festival on D-Day, screened at a Beaufort Film Society fundraiser, recorded a town hall for Delta employees ahead of its in-flight debut, and climbed to number 7 on the iTunes documentary chart.

George Ciampa died on January 3, 2024, at the age of 98. We are grateful he trusted us with his story.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Whether George ever saw Margot again, and what had happened to her
• How George built one of the first condominiums in California, and how he lost it
• What George did at the Los Angeles Times
• Why George spent a year fighting to put gates on the American cemetery at Henri-Chapelle
• How taking teachers to Europe turned George into a filmmaker at 81
• How The Girl Who Wore Freedom celebrated D-Day 2021

CHAPTERS

0:00 Film Update: Awards, Delta and D-Day 2021

8:06 Happy 96th Birthday, George

10:44 Did He Ever See Margot Again?

17:55 From Newspaper Ads to The Florentine

22:15 Selling Ads at the Los Angeles Times

25:26 Cemetery Gates and a New Career at 81

31:39 Let Freedom Ring and Thanks to Our Patrons

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Did George Ciampa ever see Margot again?

Yes. George Ciampa says he saw Margot again in 1949 in Milwaukee, about four years after the war, when they were both 24. She was with the Ringling Brothers circus. A fall from the trapeze in New York had broken her back, so she had moved to an act on the ropes. They stayed in touch for a while, but nothing came of it.

How did George Ciampa become a documentary filmmaker?

George Ciampa started making films at 81, in 2006. After a yearlong fight to get gates put on the American cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, and encouragement from a retired general and colonel who ran a museum in Wheaton, Illinois, he began taking teachers and combat veterans to Europe. His first film followed four teachers; his second, two.

Why did George Ciampa want gates on the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery?

In 2005, friends who ran a museum near Henri-Chapelle told George that people from the Netherlands were riding bicycles and motorcycles through the cemetery. George wrote to the press and to officials including John McCain and Elizabeth Dole. He was told gates would give the cemetery a "fortress-like appearance." Lights and hedges were added, but no gates.

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ABOUT THE GUEST

George Ciampa

World War II Veteran and Documentary Filmmaker

George Ciampa was born in Boston in 1925 and grew up in Southern California. He served in the 607th Graves Registration Company from Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge to the end of the war, then spent seven months in the army of occupation in Germany. He later worked for the Los Angeles Times. At 81 he began making documentaries about the price of freedom through his nonprofit, Let Freedom Ring, including Let Freedom Ring: The Lesson Is Priceless and Let Freedom Ring: Memories of France, and shared his stories with students in the United States, France and Belgium. He received the French Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. George Ciampa died on January 3, 2024, at the age of 98.

Website: http://www.letfreedomringforall.org

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

THE GEORGE CIAMPA SERIES

• Part 1, D-Day and burying the dead in Normandy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeBaBYOxWjg
• Part 2, the Battle of the Bulge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc5I8EbJd-A
• Part 3, the army of occupation and Margot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pg8DCBaIUI
• Part 5, his films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eokgDr_iAGA
• Episode 215, our tribute to George after his passing, which re-airs Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9kdCAStwcI

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• George Ciampa remembered (The Palm Springs Post, 2024): https://thepalmspringspost.com/life-of-wwii-veteran-and-filmmaker-george-ciampa-to-be-celebrated-in-private-ceremony-sunday-in-palm-springs/