One pleasure of incessant blogging is occasional feedback from interesting people about interesting things --- and that's what today's installment is about.
The feedback this time was from Jean-Luc Toulousain, who lives near Clermont-Ferrand, a university city of some 140,000 souls and the prefecture (capital) of the Puy-de-Dome department about 215 miles south of Paris.
The connection between Lucas County and Clermont-Ferrand is a solemn one. Roy B. Tickel, native to the Newbern neighborhood and a private in Co. C, 59th Infantry, died of pneumonia in a U.S. Army hospital there on Nov. 26, 1918. His remains were buried for the duration of World War I and two or three years thereafter in what became known as American Cemetery No. 519.
I wrote about Roy back in 2017 in a post headlined, "Pvt. Roy B. Tickel's homecoming," the "homecoming" a reference to the fact that his remains had been repatriated to Lucas County during December of 1921 and reinterred on the family lot in the Newbern Cemetery.
After World War I ended, the U.S. Graves Registration Service removed the remains of the 264 men who had been buried at Clermont-Ferrand, including Roy's, repatriating those whose families requested it to the United States and transferring the remainder for reburial to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery northeast of Paris.
But Clermont-Ferrand has not forgotten these men and a monument to them as well as an informational panel about the temporary cemetery remain. Jean-Luc shared images of these as well as a copy of Roy's original interment card.
+++
Thanks to Google "Translate," I was able to understand the inscriptions on both the monument and the explanatory panel.
The inscription on the monument (top) reads, "Here rested citizens of the United States of America who died for liberty and justice. Erected by the city of Clermont-Ferrand."
The panel is headed, "Former American Cemetery of Clermont-Ferrand, 1918-1921," and under the subhead, "A significant presence of the American army," the first paragraph reads as follows: "Between 1917 and 1919 more than 30,000 American soldiers were deployed in the department of Puy-de-Dome. During this period, 341 soldiers died as a result of accidents, illnesses or injuries received on the front."
Under the subhead "The American Cemetery of Clermont-Ferrand," the text reads, "The soldiers who died in Puy-de-Dome were buried in four cemeteries or military squares (Clermont-Ferrand, Chatel-Guyon, Le Bourboule, Le Mont-Dore). Established in this place, that of Clermont-Ferrand, was the largest and accommodated 264 bodies. Between 1920 and 1921, they were repatriated to the United States according to the wishes of the families or gathered in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery located in the Aisne."
Finally, under the subhead "A monument to remember," the text reads, "In 1923, the municipality of Clermont-Ferrand decided to erect a commemorative monument in order to pay homage and to transmit the memory of the 'Citizens of the United States of America who died for Freedom and the Justice' and were buried on the site of this old military cemetery."
I've also incorporated here a photograph of that original grave at Clermont-Ferrand, sent to the Tickel family, and a badly faded image of Roy himself, both from the Lucas County Historical Society collection. And, at the end, a Doris Christensen photograph of his tombstone in the Newbern Cemetery, thanks to Find A Grave.
+++
Roy's obituary was published in The Herald-Patriot of Dec. 22, 1921, under the headline, "Body from France: Remains of Roy B. Tickel Buried With Military Honors."
The remains of Roy B. Tickel, who lost his life in France, arrived here from overseas on Monday night and yesterday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock, the body was laid to rest in the cemetery at Newbern, near which place he was born and grew to young manhood. The American Legion had charge of the last sad rites, and the deceased was accorded full military honors. Taps were sounded, and all that was mortal of Roy Tickel was consigned to mother earth in his native land.
Roy Benjamin Tickel, son of John and Louella Tickel, was born in Liberty township, Lucas county, Iowa, on September 19, 1890, where he resided all his life until he enlisted in the service of his country in the great world war on his 27th birthday, September 19, 1917. He went with the first contingent from Lucas county and was in camp at Des Moines, Iowa, and Camp Cody, New Mexico, until July 1st, 1918, when he sailed for overseas service and was a member of Company E, 59th Infantry. He died in the base hospital in France on November 26, 1918, after a brief illness with pneumonia. Roy was a young man of splendid habits and character, and was highly regarded by all who knew him. He has made the supreme sacrifice.
The Tickel family has been sadly bereaved in the past few years, having lost four members of the family in about twenty months. The death of Roy in 1918 was followed by the deaths of his brothers, Theodore, on February 10, 1920, and Charles on February 22, 1920, just twelve days after his brother, Theodore, had passed away. Both were victims of the flu. The father, Mr. John Tickel, entered into rest about six months later, on August 9, 1920.
Those surviving are the mother, Mrs. John Tickel, and her two sons and six daughters, Ray Tickel, Mrs. Lizzie Williams and Mrs. Gladys Elwood of Newbern; Mrs. Stella Frazee, of Centerville; Mrs. Laura Johnson, of North Dakota; Mrs. Elsie Jennings, of Oakland, Calif.; Samuel Tickel, of Chariton; and Miss Etta, who is at home here with her mother.
Roy Tickel had many warm friends here who deplore his demise, and who extend sincere sympathy to the grief stricken mother, brothers and sisters.
No comments:
Post a Comment