World War I interrupted Elmore’s life as it did for millions of other men and women. Transcribing his diary, reading his war letters, and researching his unit in World War I made his interrupted life more real. The author and his wife, Jan, took a trip to Europe to retrace a portion of Elmore’s journey.
The purpose of the trip expanded to include sites that other relatives visited beginning in 1898. Rev. George Stone arrived in Paris in September 1898 on his way to the Persian Gulf. He and his companions traveled south through France to Marseilles to board a ship.[1] Elmore’s cousin, Donald E. Stone, served in World War I with the French ambulance corps before joining the Lafayette Escadrille aviation unit. He died in action on April 21, 1918, the same day Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, died. Jan’s grandfather, PFC George B. Brown, served with the medical corps in Toul at the same time as Elmore. George worked at Base Hospital 51. Finally, Elmore visited Paris in the Spring of 1919 and, like his uncle George Stone, boarded a ship in June in Marseilles to return to the United States.
Jan’s father, Sergeant. William S. Wylie, arrived in Le Havre, France with the 20th Armored Infantry Division in February 1945. He served as a mechanic with the Division as it made its way southeast into Germany. The fog prevented us from seeing the seaport from the southern shore of the Bay of Seine in Villerville. By the time we drove across the Seine River bridge south of Le Havre, the fog had lifted, and we saw giant cranes and numerous warehouses lining the harbor.
The author’s father, Captain Frederic A. Stone, flew to Paris four times in the summer and fall of 1945. The war in Europe had ended in May. His four Crescent Caravan flights brought high-level personnel back to the United States. On one such flight, he circled St. Michel Island. He visited the Arc of Triumph in Paris and was in the city when the second atomic bomb, Fat Boy, destroyed Nagasaki.[2]
We arrived in Paris in late September–the author’s first visit and Jan’s second. We walked, used Uber, taxis, and the subway to get around the city. We visited the Arc of Triumph, Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame, and Montmartre and its Sacre-Coeur Basilica. The royal jewels in the Louvre made our eyes pop out three weeks before they were stolen. While at the Arc, we photographed the bronze memorial plaques dedicated to World War I.
We rented a car in Paris for the rest of our trip in France, Luxembourg, and Germany. First, we went northwest to visit the Omaha Beach Memorial and the American Cemetery at Normandy. These World War II sites are dedicated to the memory of the Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. The Cemetery was especially solemn and stunning
While American Expeditionary Force didn’t invade France in 1917 and 1918, two million soldiers arrived in France to join the Allied forces. The 51st Pioneer Infantry Regiment landed at Brest, France, one of the ports of entry, in August 1918. After organizing outside of Brest, the Regiment travelled east, south of Paris. We joined Elmore’s journey in eastern France.
Eastern France is a gorgeous region of rolling hills and groomed agricultural fields. Some trees had started to show their fall colors. The mornings were cool, but by afternoon the sunshine warmed the air. On the tops of many hills stood numerous wind turbines. The beauty we contrasted sharply with the destruction and ruins Elmore and George saw in 1918.
We entered the Toul region in late September. We passed highway signs with the names of towns Elmore mentioned in his diary and letters. Seeing the names on the road signs excited us, and we told each other, “We’re getting closer.” We crossed the Meuse River at Pagny-sur-Meuse. Several miles north of this river town, St. Mihiel, site of the first AEF solo offensive campaign, straddles the Meuse River. We imagined our uncle and grandfather dressed in army fatigues, doing their respective duties. We visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Toul, saw the ancient walls, and crossed over the moot when we left the old city. Elmore wrote of these things. We spent the night in Nancy, east of Toul.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
We headed south from Nancy for our next stop. Beaune, pronounced Bone, is twenty-five miles south of Dijon. The AEF converted a large hospital into a university for the soldiers in the Army of Occupation. Elmore arrived in Beaune on March 14, checked in, and learned about his responsibilities, such as outlining lesson plans. His teaching experience, however, began while billeted in Hatzenport (see below). He instructed soldiers on topics pertaining to United States citizenship. Many American soldiers became citizens after the war. The university opened on March 17.
Elmore taught in the Agriculture Department until June 1919, when the university closed. The campus was divided into Areas, and his boarded in Area 4. The American Commander in Chief, General John J. Pershing, visited the campus, addressed the school’s students, faculty, and administrators, and walked through Elmore’s building.
Today, a small Historical Museum of the American Camp WWI and WWII is located on the site of AEF University in Beaune. An original building from the school is located inside the museum. Artifacts from the university and both world wars are displayed. We spoke with the museum president and showed him photographs of Elmore. Learning about Elmore’s short career at the university pleased the president.
Retracing Elmore’s journey also took us through Luxembourg and into western Germany. We were most interested in visiting Hatzenport and Coblenz. Elmore lived with Peter Pies (pronounced Peas) family in Hatzenport. The town is situated on the west bank of the winding Moselle River southwest of Coblenz. The hills slope down to the river and are covered with vineyards. The proximity of the hills to the river limits living space, making towns long and narrow.
Hatzenport and Moselle River
We toured Burg Eltz, a castle about three miles south of Hatzenport. It is nestled next to a stream in a verdant valley. The romantic location is hidden from one’s eyes until the sharp turn on the road that descends to the castle entrance. Elmore and his buddies hiked to the castle and were as impressed with it as we were.
In Hatzenport, we failed to find any of Peter Pies’ descendants. Two residents helped us in our effort. They knew the family name. One of these residents knew Mr. Pies, who lived in another town. He called this man and learned he was not a descendant, but he urged us to visit the Museum Archiv Bibliothek in Dommershausen. This town situated in the hills on the other side of the Moselle River.
The Archive is located in an old gray stone building. We knocked on the front door and waited. Finally, a tall, white-haired man opened the door, who claimed he didn’t know much English when he heard us talk. He invited us in and led us up the stairs to a large room whose walls were covered with bookshelves, and the shelves were crowded with genealogy books. We sat at a large wooden table while our helper searched several shelves for the book he wanted. Finding the book and opening it to the Peter Pies family page, he gave the book to us to examine. For the first time, we saw all the family members listed together. Each name, with its birth, marriage, and death dates, confirmed the little information we gleaned from Elmore’s writings. The gentleman informed us as best as he could that his wife’s ancestor, four generations removed, was a Pies.
We stared in disbelief, mixed with joy, at the genealogy page. I took a picture of the page. Mrs. Pies died in 1904. She and Mr. Pies had seven children. A son died in 1895. At least one son served with the German Army in World War I. The daughter Elmore interacted with the most never married. She served at a Catholic parish in another town until her death in March 1978, eight months before Elmore died. The father died in March 1939, six months before the Germans invaded Poland.
Though we didn’t meet a direct descendant, we possessed more information about the Pies family than when we arrived. We delighted in our discovery and the archivist’s help as we returned to Hatzenport.
On our last full day in Germany, we drove to Coblenz. The AEF Third Army made the city its headquarters during the Occupation following the Armistice. The Moselle River converges with the Rhine River at a point of land called the German Corner. The Corner is pointed like the bow of a ship, which reminded us of the movie The Titanic. Elmore inspected the Corner on a visit and toured the Stolzenfels Castle, located south of the Corner on the Rhine River. The castle had belonged to the exiled Kaiser. We departed from Europe with the satisfaction we walked there some of our ancestors had walked.
[1] See the author’s book A Modest But Crucial Hero.
[2] See the author’s A Last Chapter of the Greatest Generation, p.124.