All those episodes of Downton Abbey Season II have me thinking about World War One.
My great-grandpa Samuel T. Roberts fought in France during the Great War. After a few days in Paris with my family this May I'm going to rent a car and drag them all on a WWI road trip.
I'm interested in seeing the battlefields and associated cemeteries where my grandpa Sam fought. I also want to see the monuments built by the U.S. and French to commemorate him and his fellow soldiers. I can't imagine that any of his children, grandchildren etc. have seen any of these.
In a way I'd also like to be a proxy tourist for Lena Bartholomew, Sam's daughter and my grandmother and close friend. She died last February without ever stepping foot in France. I never asked her if she even wanted to see where her dad fought; but I know she thought the world of him, and that's enough to make me want to make the pilgrimage for/with her.
I've been wrestling to finesse the French place names out of a transcription of an oral history he gave grandma Lena. I think I've finally figured out the three battles where he was engaged: the Aisne-Marne Front, the St Mihiel Salient, and the Meuse-Argonne Front.
The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains cemeteries and memorials at all three of these sites. An attendent is on site everyday from 9 am to 6 pm to answer questions and to locate graves. Finding out that these battlefields and cemeteries are so well maintained makes me proud to be an American tax payer.
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