Jim Nolan's Blog

Veterans Day, Part II

Two years ago my son Edward and I visited Sara Curry's grave in Plains, PA and put a metal Gold Star Mother gravemarker next to the headstone. Sara lost her son Lt. John V. Curry in WWI (and her husband Gilbert to lighting in 1899) and is an incredible example of courage and strength in the face of adversity. I know the members of the Plains American Legion, including my friends Bob and Bobby Corcoran, will once again honor our vets and Sarah as they do every year. 

Latin Crosses, Stars of David Mark WWI Heroes

 
Somme American Cemetery, outside Bony, France. Photo by Jim Nolan. Click to enlarge.

My great uncle Lt. John Curry lies buried here along with 1,843 other fallen soldiers. He died on May 28, 1918 during the Battle of Cantigny, America's first big engagement in WWI. My great-grandmother, Sara, visited his grave here twice, the second time as part of a Gold Star Mother's Pilgrimage. You can hear John's story below.

Sara Curry, Gold Star Mother

An ID photo from my great-grandmother's trip to France to visit her son's grave at the Somme American Cemetery. Sara, and the other mothers and widows of fallen WWI soldiers, were treated as heroes by the French. You can listen to my account of her trip below, based on her son's military burial file. 

Listen to Sara Curry Is Grateful

David McCullough on Bastille Day

Illustration by Ross MacDonald for NY Times.

Great salute to France by two-time winner of Pulitzer Prize McCullough (Truman, John Adams, 1776) in today's NY Times. He mentions that two million Americans served in France in WWI and 800,000 in WWII. Sixty-thousand of them remain behind, buried in French cemeteries, including my great uncle Lt. John V. Curry, First Army 28th Infantry. When my great grandmother, Sara Curry, went on a Gold Star Mother Pilgrimage to visit his grave, she and the other mothers and widows were treated like royalty by the French. In a book about the Pilgrimage, the author writes that our unfriendliness with France today would have been inconceivable to that generation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/opinion/14mccullough.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

 

Memorial Day

My father's uncle, Lt. John Curry. He's buried in the Somme American Cemetery outside Bony, France. John was 22 when he was killed in action.

Sara F. Curry Is Grateful

This Listener Commentary will run Tuesday, May 25 on WBFO 88.7 in Buffalo, NY. Here's a preview.

Click here to hear Sara F. Curry Is Grateful

Our own pilgrimage

 Sara Curry's great great grand children visit the Somme American Cemetery in 2007. The cemetery is about a three hour train ride from Gare du Nord to Saint Quentin and then another 20 minutes or so by taxi to Bony. This is the same route traveled by Sara in 1923 and 1930, only the directions back then recommended traveling from St. Quentin "by motorcar." Lt. Curry is one of 33,000 Americans buried in Europe who died in WWI. Over 100,000 American troops were lost in the war.

"I have returned to my home safely"

From Graham's excellent Pilgrimage of Remembrance: "Most of the pilgrimage activities took place in France. At the time, France and America were common allies, bound together by the losses and sacrifice both had experienced in the war. The French were grateful for America's support during the war, and the French eagerly welcomed the Gold Star Mothers to France. Today's ruptured relationship between France and America would be impossible for the Gold Star Mothers and their hosts to understand." Sara adds "and gratefully" to her sign-off. But 80 years later, we're the ones who are grateful to her, still.

Plot A, Row 26, Grave 6

Sara Curry's son's headstone in the Somme American Cemetery in France. Lt. Curry was originally buried in the American Military Cemetery in Cantigny, then disinterred and reburied here near Bony. From Gold Star Mother's Pilgrimage of Remembrance by John W. Graham: "Each woman visited the grave over three or four successive days. The Army provided each woman a wreath of flowers, a photograph of the mother at the grave, and plenty of time alone. Cemetery visits were viewed as a time for private mourning and reflection, not for ceremonies and empty speeches."

Av. Des Champs-Élysees

Again, from "The War Mother Goes 'Over There'": "Mrs. Brown and the other members of her unit will travel by rail to Paris where they will find that all arrangements have been made, prior to their arrival, for their first class hotel accommodations. After a day of rest, they will attend the placing of a wreath, by them, on the tomb of the French unknown soldier, and in the afternoon, a reception will be held in honor of these American mothers and widows, and French government officials and prominent civilians will participate." Almost 1,400,000 French soldiers died in WW1, 4.29% of the French population. Germany lost over 2 million.