Raon l'Etape

We arrived early for the ceremony, which gave us the welcome time to run around and look for post cards (I was hoping for batteries for my camera too, but it was Sunday and all but the Tabac and the flea market were closed).

I was startled to see the large statue in the center of town. I assumed it was to the WWII battle, but found out later that it's dedicated to the World War I soldiers from the town. So, there the bronze soldiers stood during the fighting. The town, like all these towns, preserved the original look of the streets. How unlike the U.S. where a street can't look the same for ten years.

Next November the town is going to have a big event on the 60th anniversary of the battle, including some kind of recreations.

As Nat Gattinella walked around the building in the center of town, which is now a movie theatre, he remembered being right at the corner of the building, machine guns, and heading up this street to clear the buildings.

Nat on the right

Up above where he stood, the marks of battle were still there.

Virginia, Wendy, and Dave

This is a postcard view of the center square, standing in front of the movie house and looking back over to the town hall on the left, where the ceremony was and the church in the background where the repairs are.

The wreath-laying ceremony was small but moving. Mike Escalera and Bill Moseley held the flags, while Bill McNutt, the mayor, and Nat Gattinella laid the wreathe beneath the plaque. A trumpet, drum, and clarinet played the Marsellaise and the clarinet played a lovely rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.

After the ceremony, we went up to the Salle de l'Horloge for a champagne reception and some speeches. Bill explained that the plaques were on that wall outside because that's where the Germans had killed the mayor. I think I taped it, but off the top of my memory--a double agent had come into town pretending to be looking for the resistance against the Nazis, when the mayor assisted him, the Germans took the mayor out and immediately shot him against that wall. As the speeches were made it became clear why it was the Room of the Clock--there was this amazing mechanical construction on the wall--with a chime like the bell in a boxing match.

The mayor had invited a woman who had met Bob Heller during the battle. He was the medic for his platoon, so was separated from them when a young French woman came by and talked with him for perhaps half an hour. She'd had an unusual name, which he'd remembered. A few years before our tour, he'd asked the mayor if he happened to know her and he did and put them in touch. So this year, she came to the ceremony, along with the Mayor and the city council, and their invited guests.

Here she is between the mayor and Bob Heller.

Lunch was at Le Kaliste, a ways out of town. We had quiche, veal, and raspberry pudding. One of the best of our three hour lunches--but I thought the quiche was all there was and plenty for me!

It took me some time before it dawned on me that we were having Quiche Lorraine in Lorraine. D'oh!

On the way back from the restaurant, Lise and John Day tried to figure out where the battle of Tete a Reclos occurred. He started to have a feeling that this was the spot, so we stopped the bus. After a moment he became sure that the new road we were on was throwing him off but that this was the hill.

Later he told me that one thing that was confusing him was that we were looking at it from the German side, from the southwest. The river ran between them. He really wanted to hike up, but they said the trail was overgrown and it would take 2 hours and of course there was no time because we never had time enough for the guys.

Our last stop of the day was Baccarat, crystal stores everywhere and of course the Baccarat store. I wanted to get some for Mom for Mother's Day, but also because we'd heard the story of how Lt. Bell and T.C. Moore of Company C had been there during the war. When I saw the prices I thought well, so much for that idea--500 Euros for a wine glass is a bit out of my range. But then I found this odd sparkly rounded rectangle that was the cheapest thing in the store (27 Euros). Mom has paper weights and it was paper weightish, but when I took it to the register, she said--"how many do you want"? Whatever it was, I was supposed to order a set! But she let me buy just one. Lorraine McNutt solved the mystery--it's a knife rest.

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