Les Jardins du Mess
Verdun, France
72 F, sunny
We
have two more days of our American Expeditionary World War I Centennial Tour
and today was most special for me as we covered the area of the final days of
the war before the Armistice / Meuse Argonne Offensive, Phase III.
The
rolling hills carried us along in the direction of the divisions as they
marched toward the Meuse River.
The Meuse River looks so peaceful here
We
stopped at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery as one of our tour mates, Jim C,
was honoring his grandfather. James Campbell (29th Division) survived
the war and went home to a job as a trolley driver, but the effects of mustard
gas followed him, and he died at 37 years old. A daughter died of leukemia and
now it is known leukemia was found in the children of victims of mustard
gas. The use of mustard gas was
prevalent in the area of the Meuse.
Honoring John Campbell, 29th Division.
Jim was honoring this man who was in the same division as his grandfather and same last name.
While
traveling along, tour mate Bill spoke about the American Battlefield Trust
where he is on the Board of Trustees. The Trust purchases land to
preserve it where battles were fought during the Civil War. Now they have expanded
their mission to include Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites. So far, the
Trust has saved 50,000 acres of battle fields in 22 states, the size of three
Manhattans. We will be checking this out- https://www.battlefields.org/
The
bus passed through an area where the 80th Division (Lynn Price) had
its toughest fight of the war, near Buzancy.
Mike
also mentioned that this area has seen battles in 1870, 1918, and 1940. Most
every French home has metal shutters on the outside of all the windows. The
fenced in, walled in stone houses and metal window shutters are a means of survival,
a way for the French to close themselves off, to shield their homes, from any
future military attacks. When I lived in southern France in the 1960s, every
apartment, and the few individual homes in the city had these same metal shutters.
The ladies I lived with closed the shutters faithfully every single night-they
had lived the Second World War and the French/Algerian War.
Near
an overlook on the valuable city (industry, transportation hub) of Sedan, France,
very near the German border, we visited a massive German cemetery. The Meuse Heights.
The 1st and 42nd Divisions were at this point.
German Cemetery near Sedan overlook
We
were scheduled for a champagne lunch at Chateau
Fort de Sedan, a medieval castle, one of the largest in Europe. Plates of
pate, fresh bread, and more in a dining room with great stone walls, but my
mind was on where we were headed next. I have waited
for many years to walk where my Great Uncle Archie walked, marched, braved the
barrage of artillery, the horror of war, the mud, the cold.
AEF World War I Tour companions
AEF World War I Tour companions with Tim
Today, I saw the terrain, the hill, I saw the days of November 9-10,
1918, and Archie was with me. As the bus rolled along, I read the letters of
Archie's officers, as they described the last hours of the war. These officers
were asking for a report from my Uncle Archie about a certain incident. While our bus traveled this area, I read the
letters from officers to Archie asking him to confirm that incident. I also have
two other documented sources that describe this incident, in The 357th
Infantry Regiment, Its History From Organization until Part of the Army of
Occupation, 1917-1919, and in the book, The 90th Division in
World War I written by Lonnie White.
Archie’s captain was severely wounded, thought fatally, on
November 10, 1918, during an assault wave. Archie and another man carried him
to safety.
The Captain wrote to Archie, “To
Russell Harvey who with William Wild carried me to 1st Aid Station,
Baalon, France on Nov 10 1918 at the risk of his own life and through a shell
swept area and machine gun hail.” My uncle was a very brave and humble man. He never mentioned this in his letters home. Is this what Archie was thinking?
Sharp rifle cracks, smoke, mud…
confusion… following orders…captain badly wounded… get the stretcher… must get
to him…dodge the artillery…eyes burning…deafening noise…war almost over…most of
my company dead…shouting…swirling… running for my life….the body is heavy…where can we go that is safe?
Road signs we were passing indicated Baalon, Mouzay, Stenay,
Montmedy—towns I have read about for years. Mike asked the bus to stop at Bois
de Chenois, the main defensive line of the Germans, here along the Meuse River.
I was here, where Archie was. I was actually here.
Signs while we pass through Stenay. Because I was speaking, I got to sit in the front seat.
The Bois de Chenois is in the background
Great Uncle Russell Archie Harvey was here, November 9-10, 1918
Area of the action of R. Archie Harvey was involved in on November 10, 1918
The Ossuary at Douaumont
This
site was one of our most emotional stops in 2015 and this year was no different. The ossuary is a memorial containing the
remains of both French and German soldiers who died on the Verdun battlefield in 1916. Through small outside windows, the skeletal remains of at least 130,000
unidentified combatants of both nations can be seen filling up alcoves at the
lower edge of the building. On the inside of the ossuary building, the ceiling
and walls are partly covered by plaques bearing names of French soldiers who
died during the Battle of Verdun which lasted over 300 days.
Ossuary at Douaumont
From my entry in 2015:
The tower is shaped
like an artillery shell but is cathedral-like with Christian images. When we
stepped inside the building, the silence was remarkable. It was cool inside on
a hot day. Thousands of names are engraved on the walls. Inside the chapel the
stained glass windows depicted stunning images of battlefields with crosses.
One window depicts two angels holding a nurse (red cross on her veil) who was
wounded in the war when a hospital was bombarded. Another image is of Christ
cradling a soldier. The Crucifix at the Altar is Mary holding Christ upright,
both have arms outstretched to form a cross, an image I have never seen.
We walked along the
exterior of the memorial and did not realize that the skeletal remains of
at least 130,000 unidentified combatants of both nations could be
seen through small outside windows at the lower edge of the building.
The largest single French military cemetery of the First World War with 16,142
graves is nearby.
We were able to see a film in English and I tried to write in the dark as we viewed it--the film was so very expressive. These are the words that I captured:
"Mud, gas, shells, death comes.
It is our duty to survive and hold on.
Burnt tree stumps, wire, blood, powder,
gas, corpses, shells rain down.
Death mixes with life. The bourgeois and the
worker, the chaplain and the free thinker.
Images, not words tell the stories.
Nine villages gone, others ravaged.
Whispers, carnage, man destroyed by machines.
Look! Look at us!
We are 20, we are 30, we represented
France.
We represented Germany.
We represented life."
This memorial, L'Ossuaire
de Douaumont, truly expresses the carnage of war. An emotional day.
To leave no doubt about remembrance, a poppy popped up!
Tim and I had dinner by ourselves tonight at La Cloche d'Or, where we enjoyed our anniversary dinner in 2015. Quiche Lorraine in Lorraine was a must AGAIN, salad, lasagna (me), tagliatelle Italian (Tim), strawberry ice cream and tarte rhubarb. Superbe.
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