Q: I've just discovered that when Mitt Romney was working in France, he was driving a car in which deaths occurred. Can you tell us who died and who was at fault?
—Don White, Atlanta
A: Romney was 21 years old at the time of the crash on June 16, 1968. He was driving five other people when a Mercedes, which was driven by a Catholic priest, passed a truck, missed a curve and smashed nearly head on into Romney's Citroen DS near the town of Bernos-Beaulac in southwestern France. Leola Anderson, 57, who was sitting in the middle of the front seat, between Romney and her husband Duane, the president of the Mormon mission in France, took the worst of the impact and died in an ambulance. Romney was so badly injured that a French policeman who saw him wrote "Il est mort" on his passport, French for "He is dead." Duane Anderson also was seriously injured. "It happened so quickly that, as I recall, there was no braking and no honking, it was like immediate," Romney told the Boston Globe in 2007. "I remember sort of being hood-to-hood. And then pretty much the next thing I recall was waking up in the hospital." Romney had completed his Mormon mission and was Duane Anderson's assistant at the time. He recovered from his fractured ribs, a concussion and a broken arm to help fill the church's leadership void in France during Anderson's recovery and time away to bury his wife.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We'll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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