The Night the Lancaster Bomber Crashed

In World War II, Graffigny-Chemin saw little action due to its relative isolation. However, on the night of July 22, 1944 an English Royal Air Force Lancaster Bomber crashed into the hills behind the village. Thirteen airmen died immediately, two were seriously wounded, and one, Canadian Paul Bell, was slightly wounded. Local villagers managed to secret Airman Bell to the French underground, and he was spirited out of France through Switzerland and then to England. However, because of the severity of the injuries of the other airmen, they were released to the German authorities, but then never heard from again.

Villagers had removed from the crashed plane its radio transmitter, weapons, ammunition, and explosives. When the German authorities learned of this, they took hostages from the village and threatened to burn it. Living in the village was the French widow of a German Colonel, who had died in 1913. She interceded with the authorities and obtained the release of the hostages and cancellation of the order to burn the village.



The Airmen who died in the plane crash are buried in the village cemetery of Graffigny-Chemin.

my great grandmother

I met my great grandmother for the first time today. Her name is Julie Laura Emma Chevallier. She was born in Graffigny-Chemin, France on March 16, 1862. Her parents were Paul Constant Chevallier and Anne Emma Aichier.

Julie married Charles Guillame Christian Meine at a date unknown. They had two children, my grandmother, Marguerite Tony Lilly Meine and her older sister, Marie Leunn Paula Meine. both birthdates unknown.

"Julie Laura Emma" - such English names for a proper French girl. The name "Emma" I can guess is the subject of Jane Austin's 1815 novel of the same name.

"Emma Woodhouse is a young, beautiful, witty, and privileged woman in Regency England. She lives on an estate in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones." Emma

Julie Chevallier would have been like the Emma of Jane Austin's novel. My great grandmother was the daughter of a comparatively wealthy landholder in Graffigny; not that Graffigny was itself large or wealthy by any means, but her family was wealthy enough to own a second home in Switzerland and to properly educate the daughter so that she spoke several European languages.

The names "Julie" and "Laura" I will have to leave for later.

How to dress fashionably

Pictures can often be dated by both the subject's fashion and stance. Compare the photograph of my grandmother Marguerite Chevalier Meine with John Singer Sergeant's 1897 painting of a fashionable couple.




"Women's dress in the 1890's continued to be built in a sturdy, heavy, upholstered style, but the silhouette changed to that of an hour glass. Female bodies were corseted to a small waist, and then padded in the buttocks, hips, bosom and sleeves to exaggerate the apparent wasp-waisted effect."

Tara McGuiness, The History of Fashion and Dress

James Madison Pearson

My family history relates that my grandfather James Madison Pearson saw action in World War I with the 2rd Infantry Division and with the 3nd Infantry Division.

In the spring of 1918, with close to 50 divisions freed by Russia's withdrawal from the war, the German Army launched successive attacks on the Western Front, hoping to defeat the Allies before United States forces could be deployed.

The 2nd Infantry Division was organized in October 1917 and headquartered at Bourmont, Haute Marne, France. In June of 1918, the 2nd Infantry Division stopped a German advance at Belleau Wood. At Belleau Woods, the 2nd Infantry Division was three times awarded the French Croix de Guerre for gallantry under fire. The 2nd Infantry Division was next committed to a German advance on Paris and the battle at Chateau-Thierry.

The 3rd Infantry Division was posted to a position protecting Paris on the banks of the Marne River. In July of 1918, the 7th Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd Division rushed to Chateau-Thierry amid retreating French troops and held back the Germans. While other units retreated, the 3rd Infantry Division remained rock solid and earned its reputation as the "Rock of the Marne".

My grandfather received numerous medals, including the Silver Star, Croix de Guerre, and Purple Heart during his service with the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions. He was wounded in action and treated at a hospital in Graffigny-Chemin, near Bourmont. It was here that he met and wed my grandmother, Marguerite Chevalier (Chevallier) Meine.

Madame de Graffigny

'You will jump with joy at the date of this letter, and you will say, 'Ah! mon Dieu! she is finally at Cirey.'
- letter Mme de Graffigny to a young friend, on her arrival at Cirey, December 1738

Madame de Graffigny was a middle-aged woman who lived at Luneville, the provincial court of Stanislas, the last Duke of Lorraine. She was a real-life Madame Bovary who long dreamed of a more elegant way of life, divorced her husband and, penniless, managed to get herself invited to Cirey where she joined Voltaire and Emile du Chatelet.

She is remembered for her letters recounting her stay collected in Besterman's edition of Voltaire's correspondence and paraphrases in Frank Hamel's, An Eighteenth-Century Marquise: A Study of Emilie du Châtelet and Her Times (London, 1910).

Read David Bodanis's review.

Read The Life of Voltaire by Stephen G. Tallentyre.

Madame de Graffigny wrote Letters from a Peruvian Woman, a satirical description of the conditions of French women seen through the eyes of an outsider Zilia, an Incan princess - captured, rescued, and then educated in French culture, who talks about language, literature, philosophy, education, and child rearing.

pieces of a puzzle

At the end of the First World War, my grandmother Marguerite Chevallier Meine left her village of Graffigny-Chemin, France to marry my grandfather James Madison Pearson.

Here is a picture of Maruerite with her older sister.

My grandfather was serving with the 2nd Infantry Division under General Black Jack Pershing. My grandfather received the Purple Heart, Silver Star, and Legion of Merit among his many decorations. He was wounded in battle and treated at the hospital in Graffigny where he and my grandmother most likely met.

Here is a photograph of the house in Graffigny where my grandmother was raised.

electric cars

Along the Champs d'Elycees in Paris, France, Toyota has a showroom for its newest and sportiest cars. Here it is, the 2004 fuel cell concept Toyota Triathalon Race Car.



"The MTRC was conceived to compete in three different environments: an off-road course, a smooth and high-grip racetrack and a narrow city street circuit, as if in a 'triathlon.'"

Top Speed.

guard dog

Arles was a key city in Roman times. A Roman arena still stands guard along with this dog.

Arles was a depressed town that Vincent Van Gogh came to in the 1880's. Painters can still find inspiration in the colors of the town's window shutters and doors, as well as the cafe at Arles which was the subject of one of his most famous paintings. (You can compare the real cafe with the artist's version by clicking above.)





Today it's a conservative place, the stores shut up shop when the tourist buses go home at six, but the town comes to life for the Saturday market, which brings in farmers from thecountryside, and during festivals of tauromachie between Easter and All Saints, when the town's frenzy for bulls rivals that of Spain.

Travel Info.

the history of graffigny-chemin

War touches us all in one way or another.

For the village of Graffigny-Chemin, war was a frequent visitor. Joan of Arc, the patron saint oif France, was from Doremy, a village not too distant. The Thirty Years War, the Franco-Prussian War, World War I and II, all came to its doorsteps, and sometimes to the village itself.

During the First World War, the 2nd American Infantry Division headquartered in Bourmont, a village that commands the valley below and three kilometers from the village of Graffign-Chemin. A hospital in the village treated wounded American soldiers. Here my grandfather, James Madison Pearson was treated for wounds and met my grandmother Margherite Chevalier Meine.

For another history see this site.

The House

This is the front view of my grandmother's house in Graffigny-Chemin. The house is not visible from the street because of a high wall that surrounds the property.

The house faces the village and the main street leading up to the church. The right side of the house faces the church. Visitors were received by horse and carriage in the front. Then, horse and carriage would then be kept in a separate building in the back, or in other farm buildings up the street adjoining the farmland.




To the left of the house is the garden which is fairly large, taking up perhaps half an acre or more.

The garden consists of flowering beds set off by boxwoods. There are two pergolas, one is overgrown with an ancient tree , the other pergola fallen down and only the base remains. Along the wall separating the garden from the house is a water well which collects runoff from the rain.

For a good history of the village see this site.

random thoughts

We arrived in Reims after a grueling trip though back roads from Graffigny. If you imagine the road system in France as a giant wheel with Paris as the hub and spokes stretching out to the major regions, you will get a bit of an idea of how the traffic system works. So long as you are travelling along one of the spokes, the trip is fast and quick. But, when the trip requires going from one spoke to another, it can get a little tricky. Traffic, trucks, narrow roads, rain, and confusing signs all add to the experience. Still, there can be unexpected surprises, such as our happening on Doremy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc. Then, there are the hundreds and thousands of little villages that never made it into the tour books, but possess their own charm.

Arrived in Reims tired and ready for rest. Will and I are straying at the Hotel Mercore, just off the canal and a quarter mile from the cathedral. The hotel is like a Sheraton and if you like that kind of hotel, then this is the place. One thing to keep in mind is the super highway that runs along the other side of the canal. It makes for a lot of traffic noise.

Dan and Chris -Will and I thought of you while we dined at the Cafe du Palais. It is a kitchy (is that spelled right?) place that has good local food - the Reims ham is popular - and, of course, champagne. I took some pictures and will try and upload them later.

michael jackson

Michael Jackson adulation is a world-wide phenomenon.

Everyday, the newspapers and magazines picture his face and report the latest. The television at the restaurant where we ate last night played the tribute to Michael at the Staples Center. In the tiniest French village of Graffigny, a kindly Dutch couple, who showed me my grandmother's house, had Michael news on the TV while we spoke. And, while two instances of Michael curiosity do not make for a ground swell of European interest in the King of Pop, it does suggest that the world could not get enough of someone who was immensely talented, but flawed.

If loneliness, self-mutilation, and eventually death from an overdose are the price that one pays for celebrity, then for Michael Jackson the price was too high.

my grandmother's house

My grandmother's house isn't the same - how could it be? She is dead and gone these thirty years, but her memories live on. The house she lived in is now owned by someone strange; Aria and Pim, the present owners, showed me around, but still, it isn't the same.



Time marches on and all we have are the memories. Sometimes, I think it is better to let it be - to remember as we wish to remember, rather than trying to go back and see it as it is now. Graffigny-Chemin is a beautiful little village on the edge of the Vosges Mountains. The pace of life is quiet, the way of living hasn't changed much in hundreds of years - villagers farm and raise what they need. The population for years was declining as the young went to the big cities where there was employment. Only recently have new people come to the village, people escaping the clamor of the big city life and people seeking something simpler.



Once my grandmother's family had pasturage to the south of the village and it was sold. Once there were three gables on the roof, now they are no more. The family had their own chickens and horses, but the garden is overgrown. I think it my grandmother would prefer the past to the present.

to grandmother's house we go

The distance from Colmar to Graffigny-Chemin, France, where my French grandmother was born and raised, is not far, perhaps 120 miles as the crow flies. But, crows fly straight while the road from Colmar to Graffigny goes north then west. Even when going west through the Vosges Mountains, the road twists and turns - the result is a longer than expected trip.

This is an area that raises mostly hay and cattle.The villages are sparse as is the population - a result not only of the limited agriculture, but also of the two world wars that used this area as a battleground. In the town of Epinal, along the way is an American war cemetery. In the smaller village of Graffigny is a cemetary that contains the remains of British pilots shot down near the town in the Second World War. During the First World War, Graffigny had a small hospital that treated wounded American soldiers, one of them my grandfather, James Madison Pearson.

colmar, france

On a recommendation of Gary and Barb Scott of Wichita, Kansas, Will and Art are staying in Colmar, France.

The half timbered houses were built in the 14th and 15th centuries. The second stories almost always stretch out over the bottom floor, and with time many of the buildings take on a warped shape.

For more photos, click here.

To see more images, click here.







The Head House, named after the many heads built into its facade, is both a hotel and restaurant.

the nasty bits

Anthony Bourdain is chef, raconteur, tv host, and author of the book The Nasty Bits, a wonderful collection of odds and ends about the restaurant business.The nasty bits in the restaurant trade are the left overs, the odd bits that you don't serve your best guest, but sometimes, contain great flavor and taste.

I am tired of hearing that the French are the nasty bits of European culture. They are not the left overs and remnants of the finer cuts of meat. If they are a little aloof and distant from Americans, perhaps it is because we, in turn, are aloof and distant. Try a little culture, speak the language, even if in trying to speak French, one commits cultural linguistic genocide.

I am in Saint Emilion, near Bordeaux, and trying to order mussels, so I ask the pretty young waitress for "moule." She is embarassed and runs to get another pretty young waitress who speaks English, and when I repeat myself saying, "Moule, you know mussels," she smiles and informs me that in French I am asking for "ass."

Try a little kindness. A smile and a little self-deprecating humor goes a long way.

doors and windows

Doors and windows are among the most photographed images in France and Italy. Red, blue, green, they are weathered and stained. Usually, doors and windows are set off by pots filled with colorful flowers or by vines arching above and over the entrance.


















A door, a window and a cheese shop - even when the paint is not kept up, the look of the building is other-worldly as if time has frozen and we are transported in time and place to a simpler life.












Finally, add a bicycle to a door and a window and you have a perfect setting. Who needs a car?

arles, france - the cafe

The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum as painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1888. (Picture from wikipedia.)


Compare it with the modern image taken at ten p.m..

arles, france

What should have been a three hour drive took five hours, then six. it was partly my fault, wanting to stop in Montpellier, France, to see the city from which James Madison named his home and the place where Nostrodamus went to school to learn his magical arts. The stop was not worth the time.



Driving into Arles itself was a challenge. The city is small, about 50,000 people, but no changes have been made to the roads since the days of Van Gogh, and then not many since the time the Romans ruled this area. Then, imagine a stream of cars, taxis, and tour buses all conbverging on the city center from all directions. The lines getting into town were a mile long, and then imagine my frustration when I made a wrong turn and had to get back in line. No fun, but I took a couple detours that shortened the return trips.




Checked into the Hothttp://www.hotelatrium.com/el Atrium, a Best Western that lives up to all my expectations of what a Best Western would be - outdated, musty, but convenient and passable. Moreover, the sitting room where I am doing my computing has all those garish Van Gogh colors of orange, lime green, brown, and chairs that look as if they have come out of one of Van Gogh's paintings. There is even a vase with red poppies.

The hotel has a parking garage and it is air conditioned. The clerk at the front desk spoke English and we laughed about the driving in France. After i told him how bad I thought the traffic was in Arles, he asked me if I was going to Marsailles. "If you go, don't stop at a red light, nobody does," he laughed.

general james madison pearson

He will always be Daddy Matt to his grandchildren, but to his friends, formally, he was General James Madison Pearson. He was born in 1888 in Birmingham, Alabama, enlisted at 17 in the army and went to fight in the Philippine Insurrection with Black Jack Pershing. During World War I, he fought in France in the Haute Marne (near Metz and Verdun, west of Strasburg, near the Vosges Mountains). He was wounded in action, met a French girl by the name of Marguerite Chevalier, fell in love, and married her. My mother, Elmire, was their first child.

These are his campaign ribbons.