
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.

