05/24/2024
Celebrating the 105th (1919-2024) wedding anniversary of ma Grand-mère and my Grandpa Roberts.
Mai 24 1919 in the French village of Villiers en Lieu, Marie Louise (Simonne) Arnoud(20yrs) and 2nd Lieutenant Walter B Roberts (24yrs) were married.
They met in France during World War 1 while my Grandfather's US Expeditionary Force unit was stationed along the River Marne and strategic railroad yard nearby in Saint Dizier. My Grand-mère was working in an office making maps for the Army where they met. They left for the USA in the weeks after the wedding and settled in Chicago where his mother and brother James (Jay) Roberts lived and there was work available.
Sadly, ma Grand-mère never returned to France or saw her Mother and little sister René again.
Happily however, René had many children in France and we enjoy knowing a wonderful and wonderfully large family of French Cousins that i first re-connected with when I went to architecture school in France in 75-76.
As I watch yet another war in Europe and Middle East grind on, and see the faces of ordinary people so affected, I can't help but reflect on ma Grand-mére growing up in the middle of a raging world war 1914-1918.
She certainly saw, heard, and felt the effects of a war all around her.
Most of the men her age were gone.
She heard the cannons just a few miles away.
She saw the troops pass through on their way to the front.
She saw the wounded returning.
She knew so many that never returned.
My Father told me about the few times she spoke about the war with him. Her Father had died tragically just before the War while saving her little Sister from the Village well. They had often hid in the cellar as her Mother kept her girls as safe as she could. The front lines moved back and forth over the 4 years of war. The German army advanced to within a few miles of their Village. They lived in constant fear. She heard the shelling and experienced the smells of War.
Imagine how these experiences at a young age must have affected her and her sister for the rest of their lives.
During the next World War in the 1940's Ma Grand-mère mailed packages of clothes and goods via the Red Cross to her Mother, Sister, nieces and nephews. She did what she could to help them because she knew all too well the struggles they faced during ANOTHER World War. My wonderful French cousin's still remember receiving those packages arriving from their Aunt in the America. They fondly talk about a particular dress she mailed that they all shared.
I try to imagine the meeting of this lovely petite blued eyed young French woman and a tall American soldier from Texas. How their lives intersected in the middle of a tragic war seems so extraordinary, however, at the same time it feels so expected and timeless.
Consider the countless times over the centuries this same story been repeated during countless wars ? An ordinary young woman's and an ordinary young man's lives intersect in extraordinary circumstances, where otherwise they would never have met.
Alas they did,
and
Today we celebrate their 105th wedding anniversary.
Footnote:
Our American and French families rendezvoused in Ma Grand-mère’s village in June 2019 to celebrate their 100th wedding Anniversary. It was a joyful event attended by more than 50 French-American Cousin’s.
