Private Jones

I’d like to pause here for a bit from the account of our tour.

My grandfather, Nicholas Jones, served in the U.S. Army during WWI. It didn’t occur to me to look up where he had been in France, either now or when I last rode through the northern France battlefields in the 1980s. One of my family members sent me this 1919 article from the New York Times after we got back to Metz:

1919 New York Times article about my grandfather’s regiment

I had seen this before but had completely forgotten about it, and all the other information we have about where my grandfather had been. I’m regretting that I didn’t, of course, because I would have created a very different tour. The war memorials in every village are very meaningful to me, but visiting the locations where my grandfather had been would have been even more meaningful. Well, perhaps I have a tour for next year.

What jumped out at me on the map, though, was Saint-Mihiel. We ate dinner there. And then Pannes - we stopped at the old lavoir there and rode through the surrounding countryside.

The straight red lines mimic the map in the NYT article, showing the places my grandfather was stationed near our route. We dined in Saint-Mihiel, and rode through Pannes. Hit the Show All button on the lower right to see the overlaps.

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The only story I remember him telling us about his time in the war was when something landed in a pot of beans he was cooking and the beans went all over the place. One funny story was all he would tell us children.

I adored him. He smoked cigars (still love the smell), made the best mashed buhdayduhs (potatoes in Brooklynese), told dad jokes that even little me thought were awful, and loved the heck out of us. I learned later that he was really hard on my father when he was growing up.

Must be in some godforsaken mud field, with that reflection of the tent in a big puddle on the left. 1917

1917, somewhere in his Brooklyn neighborhood. He was 19. No idea who the child is but don’t think it’s related.

Company M, 69th Infantry. Grandpa is eighth from the right in the second row down. New Yorkers, what an insouciant bunch.

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Suzanne GibsonSo interesting! Too bad you didn't know while you were here. Yes, you must come back!
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4 months ago

Susan CarpenterWhat a wonderful post, not only for the personal story of your grandfather but also as a reminder that so many of us are connected to Europe in ways we might never know.
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4 months ago

Kathleen JonesTo Susan CarpenterThanks, Susan. Yes, WWI is personal, because I knew and loved someone who fought in it. The history is real. And being there where that history is still so alive means a lot.
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4 months ago

Kathleen JonesTo Suzanne GibsonThat’s the plan, Suzanne!
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4 months ago

Karen PoretTo Kathleen JonesThat is how I feel about Margraten !
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4 months ago