After class, it was time for lunch and we enjoyed a typical "picard" meal prepared by the high school's very talented chef. We ate a 'ficelle picarde' which is a crepe filled with cheese, ham, onions, and mushrooms and baked in the oven with more cheese on top. We also had duck with vegetables, cheeses from the region, and a very delicious dessert of berry and apricot 'bavarois' pastry. It was all very delicious and quite filling!After lunch, our group of Americans traveled with two of the French teachers to the nearby village of Cantigny. Our French partners had to stay in class, of course. Cantigny was the site of the first American battle of WWI and the combined American/French forces were victorious against the Germans, but at a very high cost for the village, which was completely destroyed.
We stopped at a rodside monument with an eagle on top that was erected by the US government. All the names of the Americans who died in the battle were listed there and each girl found the name of her adopted soldier on the monument. Since some poppies were growing nearby, we picked them and laid them at the base of the monument in remembrance.
We visited the barn of the current mayor of Cantigny where we we saw a German cannon and and French cannon. He told us that he regularly comes across shells from the battle and we saw exploded and unexploded French and German shells.
We also visited the American monument in Cantigny where they had a memorial ceremony just before we came to France on May 28th.
Getting the chance to see a trench, even if only a remnant, was very powerful; the thought that over 90 years ago some soldier, probably no older than I, was sitting in the same spot. But a huge difference, as I was smiling and taking pictures, whereas he was prbably scared out of his mind as gunfire and mustard gas flew over his head. It was sobering, and made the war a little more real. Reading about it in books and oberving photos can only do so much - standing where they stood, fighting to save themselves, their comrades, and surrounding villages was extremely powerful. It was a little easier to envision what they saw.
ReplyDeleteWe went to the memorial just down the road, dedicated to the first regiment of the US army and those who followed soon after. It was there that I finally found concrete evidence of my soldier - George E. Wall. There's something different about seeing a name in stone rather than on a computer screen. I left one red posy with a little rock on top (third picture up from the bottom) near his name. I am so glad I've gotten to do atleast that for him. I just hope that's not the only time I will be able to honor him - I hope to find his name at a cemetary soon!
Cate! This is so interesting!!! I am so excited for you to get to experience history in this way...it is a rare and great privilege!
ReplyDeleteKP
The first three hours of school, Melissa, Jeanne, and I all stayed with the same group of kids, first spending two hours in the qrt history class, which was studying realism, and then spending one hour in math, doing tables, percentages, and box and whiskers plots. Fourth hour we joined everybody else in history class, where we disected an American propoganda poster from World War I.
ReplyDeleteAs Cate said, it was very cool to go down into the remnants of a trench, though it seemed that I was constantly swatting away unidentified insects; I can't imagine what it was like to live in the trench.
I too found my soldier's name on the monument -- Joe R. West.
Not only did we see cannons at the mayor's house, but a large stone, part of a castle destroyed in the war. To go to see it, all of us had to either climb over or crawl over a fence -- I chose to climb over.
We then went to the garage of a 92 year-old man, the Museum of Cantigny; it was filled with items related to the war. We spent a while there, looking at his collection and his photo albums of different commemorations, and we all signed his guestbook.
I am looking forward to going to the Somme American Cemetery tomorrow.