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Meuse Argonne

WWI Travel in France

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Butte de Vauquois – destroyed French village

We visited so many WWI sites in France last week in the Meuse-Argonne and Verdun areas. So much devastation and so many stories. I recorded some of my thoughts. I’m still processing everything I saw – especially the destroyed villages.

Can I help you?

Are you ready to learn the bigger picture of your family member’s military service? We are a firm with not only hands-on document experience but also travel experience. We are taking new clients and can help you find the answers and tell a deeper story about your family member. Email us at info@wwiirwc.com to set up your free phone consultation today to discuss project options, fees, and time.

© 2019 World War II Research and Writing Center

Romagne ’14-’18 Museum

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Jean-Paul de Vries has created a museum like nothing I’ve ever seen or experienced elsewhere in Europe, in Romagne, France.

Jennifer Holik & Jean-Paul de Vries

I spent two days touring the Meuse-Argonne WWI battlefields of France with Bruce Malone last week. It was a fantastic surprise the morning Johan and I left our apartment in Stenay to go to the Meuse-Argonne ABMC cemetery to meet Bruce and we passed by the Romagne ’14-’18 Museum. I excitedly told Johan I was Facebook friends with the owner and this museum was on my wish list to visit. I said we had to make sure we visited!

Wishes do come true because after touring in the morning, Bruce took us to the museum for a quick lunch, to meet Jean-Paul, and see the museum for a little while before we headed back out into the rain to hunt for German trenches and bunkers.

Astonishingly, the museum is totally hands-on. All the artifacts look like they did when discovered on the battlefield. Nothing here has been polished, refurbished, cleaned of debris or anything. I have never been in a museum where you could touch everything! It was fantastic.

We did not have a lot of time there so I walked through taking photos of much of it and feeling the energy of certain areas. As I spent time journaling about my visit I wish I’d had a bit more time to really BE with the artifacts and hold some. I wonder what i would have picked up or who I would have seen emerge from the museum shadows.

The number of artifacts is a bit overwhelming (and not all are on display Jean-Paul told us) – a section of two walls meeting in the corner filled with entrenching tools (shovels). Barbed wire, hundreds of dog tags, canteens, cutlery, and more. It really is a place to spend a couple of hours at least exploring every nook and cranny of this building. The building is not just one level – you can climb the stairs to additional levels above you. Incredible.

My goal is to make people aware of the senseless brutality of war.

Jean-Paul de vries quoted in the book “the road to romagne”.

Would you like to learn more? Visit the Romagne 14-18 website. Add this museum to your travel itinerary and plan to spend at least two hours there. Enjoy lunch and explore their gift shop area – sales support the museum’s mission and survival. Pick up a copy of the book The Road to Romagne which is filled with beautiful photographs of the battlefields, history of the war and area, and the museum’s story. Enjoy the photos below which give a small glimpse into the majesty of this museum. The slideshow stars with war damaged painted red on the museum building.

Can I help you?

Are you ready to learn the bigger picture of your family member’s military service? We are a firm with not only hands-on document experience but also travel experience and can connect you with a guide or suggest places to stay and visit. We are taking new clients and can help you find the answers and tell a deeper story about your family member. Email us at info@wwiirwc.com to set up your free phone consultation today to discuss project options, fees, and time.

© 2019 World War II Research and Writing Center

Military Monday – Doughboy – MIA Website

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Meuse Argonne Cemetery
Meuse Argonne Cemetery

On my first trip to Europe in April 2015, I spent a lot of time at WWI cemeteries with my parents. My research is focused on WWII, although I do a little WWI when needed. As we visited the many American and British cemeteries and looked at the walls of the names of the missing, the one thing I kept hearing was, ‘It was such a waste.’

Many people know we still have soldiers, sailors, and Marines, Missing In Action from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. What we often forget is the thousands of soldiers missing from WWI. Soldiers who will never be recovered by U.S. personnel because it is not in their mission. Soldiers who were likely blown to bits and there is nothing to recover, and therefore, have been forgotten.

World War I was a different kind of war than World War II. It was a stagnant boundary war for much of the time where small acres of land were fought over again and again. Bodies were buried, only to be hit by artillery and lost again. These are things we forget.

The United States World War I Centennial Commission has an extensive website of resources on the U.S. participation in WWI. This morning, another component was added to that, the Doughboy-MIA project.

This project strives to remember the names of the lost. Attempts to locate remains where possible and answer research requests. The website has a lot of information and research tips for you to help locate your missing soldier. While WWI research is similar to WWII, and we have the 1973 Fire to contend with, much of what you know about WWII research can be applied in the other war.

To learn more about WWII research, please check out my books Stories from the World War II Battlefield. Also, consider attending one of my lectures in the U.S. or Europe this year.

© 2016 Jennifer Holik