Le centenaire de l'armistice

My grandfather, Joe McConnell, (Joe Gup to me and my siblings) served in the US Army in France in WW1. On 11 November 1918 he was at Camp Meucon, eight miles north of Vannes in Brittany. The 139th Field Artillery Regiment, American Expeditionary Force (AEF), was training with the French artillery at Camp Meucon to learn how to use the French 155mm howitzers before moving to the front. Thus, the main reason for us being in Vannes was to be where my grandfather was 100 years ago when the armistice was signed ending the war to end all wars.

Today Camp Meucon is the training camp of the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment of the French Army (3e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine, 3e RIMa). Their headquarters and main barracks are in Vannes. When we were planning this trip I wrote to the French Embassy in Canberra explaining that my grandfather had been at Camp Meucon on 11 November 1918 with the American army and that Cath and I would like to attend the Armistice Day ceremony at the camp, if that was permitted. About a month before we left on our trip I received a telephone call at work from the French Embassy. A young woman who spoke impeccable English with the most gorgeous French accent stated that they had been in contact with the 3e RIMa and informed me that there was no Armistice Day ceremony at the camp, but we were welcome to attend the public ceremony in Vannes, at 11am at the Parc de la Garenne.

We stayed in a lovely flat in the oldest area of Vannes call St Patern. One morning we went looking for Camp Meucon. At first we found the village of Meucon but not the camp.

The camp is still in use and closed to the public but we thought we could get a sense of what it must have been like a hundred years ago. My navigational skills had us heading in the correct direction but we found the road we wanted was 'barre' closed for road works. So that took us on a meander through the lovely Breton autumn countryside until we found the back gate to the camp with lots of signs telling us we could go no further and it was dangerous and then we could the sounds of live fire!

So back to Meucon village where we stopped for a coffee for Cath and a beer for me (although the old guys coming in at 11.30am for a rose wine with sparkling water were all about my age or older and if I could speak French I'm sure they would have had stories to share.)

Fortified, we returned to the search and traveling down the other end of the closed road we were about to turn around when, Voila! There it was - the entrance to the camp.

The road into the camp is a private road which has public access so it was easy to drive slowly through the camp (twice) trying to surreptitiously film the buildings with Cath worrying about getting yelled at or worse for filming a military installation!!!

Some of the buildings were stone and looked old enough to have been there 100 years ago but clearly it has changed a lot. There is lots of flat land surrounding the camp for temporary barracks and tents so Joe Gup could have been anywhere.

On the very edge of the camp was the Restaurant & Bar Le Forban offering food but it looked a little dodgy until we noticed lots of farmers heading into it. And soldiers leaving it. When hefty young men eat somewhere it is a good sign. So we headed in and had a fabulous, filling and cheap meal with the farmers and soldiers!! Joe Gup would have been pleased I think.

On Sunday 11 November - Armistice Day in France - we walked to the Parc de la Garenne which has memorials to all the wars in which French from Vannes fought and died. There were 791 killed in WWI from Vannes, or about 61% of the young men 24 to 30 years old in 1914.

The ceremony was very official and included a lot of military from the local regiment. Children sang the national anthem and they included readings from letters from the soldiers at the front - 'diggers' in Australia are 'poilu' here - it means 'hairy ones' as they all let hair and beards grow during the war. American soldiers were called "doughboys."

We waited until everyone had left and the flags were taken down, the flag poles and electronics removed before we laid our little bunch of flowers with the American flag and Joe Gup's name on it and unit at Camp Meucon; plus a British flag (couldn't find an Australian one and forgot to bring one) with a big Australia written on it and Cath's three Great Uncles names, units, date and place of death or memorial.

The public doesn't seem to participate much in the ceremony and there were only the official wreaths all identical, and no small or individual wreaths, but we decided it was okay after everyone had gone to leave ours. The grave at the foot of the memorial is of an unknown resistance fighter (rather than an unknown soldier). We both thought that beautiful.

Not really understanding all the the words in the letters being read out or the speeches we weren't too emotional - although we got a sense of the poignancy of the letters. But when Cath said to me that we had to say the ode as we lay our 'wreath' I got choked up at the end. Cath bravely went on alone - Lest We Forget!

Afterwards we went back to the Bistro Gavroche for Sunday lunch where we had found a sympathetic English speaking owner who liked to help us - mainly me - discover traditional Breton foods. We asked her about Armistice Day and she said people wanted to forget the war after it was over so its not such a big celebration here now. However, we did attend an organ concert at 5pm in the cathedral in honour of the French who had died for France.

I'd like to think that a hundred years ago my grandfather walked these same streets when he visited Vannes, maybe the same street where we stayed (rue de la Fontaine) and perhaps he had a traditional Breton meal and some wine nearby. That's a nice thought.