Golden Tulip
Hotel
Paris,
France (Roissy)
80ish F, sunny
Our bags were packed an we left Verdun for the trip back to Paris/Roissy and the Golden Tulip, our last day of the tour. Our bus traveled along the "Voie Sacre," the Sacred Road and our first stop was the Verdun fortress, Douaumont.
Before America entered the war, this fort was taken by the Germans in 1916--the Battle of Verdun lasted 303 days and resulted in 700,000 casualties, with 200,000 lives lost. The Germans never reached the walled city of Verdun. Tour mates Frank and Carol's grandfather had his photo taken by the gate in 1918, and they wanted a photo there, too.
As we rode along, another tour mate, Dan H, spoke of his grandfather who fought in World War I for the Irish/British army at Sommes and Lille, part of the Royal Irish Fusilliers. He spent ten weeks in the trenches, was hit by shrapnel, leg wounded, and gassed. After his long recovery, he entered the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to Egypt as an aircraft handler. Dan mentioned that British military records have been accidentally destroyed by fire, just as American military records. However, the British are making a great effort to restore those records.
Our last tour mate to speak, Andy, a veteran, spoke very wisely about war. He said when there is a loss, on a squad or platoon level, you know the story, the family of that man. He said one asks, "Could we do anything differently? What could we have done?", when one loses a squad or company member. As he spoke, I could tell that he had experienced the horror of war.
We stopped at Souilly to see General Pershing's headquarters during the Meuse Argonne Offensive. Pershing would not have been able to see the battle, but he could hear it. Soldiers marched by on their way to the front.
Our bags were packed an we left Verdun for the trip back to Paris/Roissy and the Golden Tulip, our last day of the tour. Our bus traveled along the "Voie Sacre," the Sacred Road and our first stop was the Verdun fortress, Douaumont.
Voie Sacre
Gate at Fort Douaumont
As we rode along, another tour mate, Dan H, spoke of his grandfather who fought in World War I for the Irish/British army at Sommes and Lille, part of the Royal Irish Fusilliers. He spent ten weeks in the trenches, was hit by shrapnel, leg wounded, and gassed. After his long recovery, he entered the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to Egypt as an aircraft handler. Dan mentioned that British military records have been accidentally destroyed by fire, just as American military records. However, the British are making a great effort to restore those records.
Our last tour mate to speak, Andy, a veteran, spoke very wisely about war. He said when there is a loss, on a squad or platoon level, you know the story, the family of that man. He said one asks, "Could we do anything differently? What could we have done?", when one loses a squad or company member. As he spoke, I could tell that he had experienced the horror of war.
Site of General Pershing's Headquarters, Meuse Argonne Offensive
Souilly, France
Headquarters on 2nd floor
Pershing's desk at his headquarters in Souilly, near Verdun, during the Meuse Argonne Offensive
Rosier Polyanthana
A rose created following the Great War in honor of the French Soldiers (Poilus)
Our next stop was to speak with a mayor in a small village. He was not in his office, but a pleasant painter looked out the window of the second floor and told us he would go get the mayor. Soon the mayor arrived, driving a road grader. We soon discovered we were in the wrong town, wrong mayor. The stop was worth seeing the painter's mustache-incroyable!
Incroyable!
At the correct town, Remicourt, we went into the mayor's office and saw artwork of a World War I airplane. Remicourt was the site of the American 50th Aero Squadron Operations during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
Our final stop before our hotel in Roissy was La Musee de la Grande Guerre in Meaux, France, a very special museum. Life sized soldiers in uniforms of French, British, American, German, horses, artillery, planes, tanks, unknown soldier grave markers for France, Britain, Germany, and the United States. Posters, films, life size vignettes, trenches, a camp set up.
French Colonial Forces
Taxi Renault/1909
The story is told that Parisian taxis took many troops to the front in the beginning of the war
Alsatians and Lorraines are French!
The Great War left its mark on bodies, souls, and minds alike...
But the most moving part was the film Terre Rouge--shown in a room about 6 x 10 feet, mirrored, with stark images before me. The sounds and sights of war, of battles, rifles, explosions, shell barrage, bounced off the walls. Images of flashbacks-soldiers remembering home, mothers, sweethearts, then fallen soldiers, others digging graves, burials,finally thousands of faces fading. The End.
This short film summed up the absolute horror of war.
My great uncle, Archie Harvey, was 29 years old when he was drafted, at 30 when he went to France, and 34 years old when he died. A humble man, a farmer at heart, a man who dried a fern and brought it home from war, a man who saw the worst of human conflict, yet wrote loving letters home, "...where I do want to be."
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After our farewell dinner, I reflected that we had shared a great deal on this trip with our tour mates and learned even more. So many shared stories of family members who lived the Great War. Everyone wanted to remember and honor those who served. There is no doubt this trip was intense, but it took me closer to Archie's experience.
TK's Takes:
And on a more humorous note, Tim finds other things to do while I am studying, observing, note taking, and capturing images. I wonder who took this photo. So, Tim as a "poilu," a French soldier. Go figure.
What a memorable, moving trip for you, as you fulfilled your goal to honor Archie and so many others. Thank you for taking us along with you on your journey.
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