Friday August 29, 1930

There would be two days of sightseeing in Paris before leaving for the cemeteries. Although the purpose of the pilgrimage was serious – to visit the graves of the pilgrims’ loved ones – the women were still permitted time to see and enjoy Paris. The Quartermaster Corps built these rest periods/sightseeing tours into the pilgrimages because they did not want the pilgrimages to be one long period of grief. Visits to Parisian landmarks provided moments of relief from grief. However, the government was always quick to affirm the sacred nature of the pilgrimage experience.

The pilgrims had a free morning today – they could stay at the hotel and rest or visit or they could go shopping at one of the large department stores of Paris. The shopping excursion was led by Lieut. Yarborough and Lieut. Biens. Lieut. Biens was in charge of the Gold Star pilgrims housed at the Commodore Hotel – 50 pilgrims who were to visit Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery were housed there. There were a total of 110 women who could have gone shopping Good luck, men!

The bus for the shopping excursion left the hotel at 9 am. Those who desired to go shopping were met by interpreter clerks of the store management who aided them in showing them the store and making any purchases they desired. With such a large group, it was impossible to provide transportation to take pilgrims to individual shops for individual purchases desired. The Army felt that the greatest demands of those desiring to shop could be met by giving pilgrims an opportunity to visit a large department store in which practicably everything the pilgrim might desire could be purchased at reasonable standard prices and of a quality such as could be purchased in the United States.

The store the shoppers went to may have been Bon Marche (1). The trip was scheduled from 9 am until 12 pm. However, the shoppers were warned if they were not at the bus at the announced departure time, they would have to return to the hotel by taxi-cab at their own expense.

To some of the mothers – perhaps most of them – the sights and shops of Paris were not really important. As one mother said, “I’m not here to buy clothes. I came here to see the grave of my boy.”

Assuming Josephine had a limited amount of her own money to spend, was she the type of person who would want to go along just to see what there was to see?

After the shopping trip, the shopping pilgrims returned to the hotel. They joined those pilgrims who had elected to stay at the hotel for a noon lunch. Lunch most days in Paris was scheduled from noon to 2 pm.

For each excursion to a Paris landmark, the pilgrims were given a detailed printed itinerary of what they would see from the bus and what they would see at the sites they were scheduled to enter and visit. The days before the cemetery visit had scheduled visits to Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and Napoleon’s Tomb. By studying the itineraries for the various trips, you can see that the pilgrims passed many of the same landmarks on several of the trips, each with a different destination.

At 2:15 pm, the busses were lined up, ready to take the ladies on an almost four-hour (from 2:30 pm to 6 pm) Paris sightseeing trip. All the pilgrims who were seeing Paris for the first time could do was marvel at the sights.

Many of the tourists found it comical to try to read the advertisements. They saw familiar advertisements for Ford cars. Then they saw “Coiffeur Salms of Coiffeur pour Messieurs, Salms of Coiffeurs pour Dames” and “Banko Credit de l’Interest, bi Junitive Tailleur, Fabuilant, Marchanta.”

Could Josephine read it? Can you? I certainly can’t!

It was hot that day. But none of the French men were in their shirt sleeves. The Americans wondered why the men did not shed their coats in order to be more comfortable.

Traveling down the fashionable shopping district of Paris, the tourists found that blues and greens were popular; but they also saw a lot of black and white.

The busses traveled down the left bank of the Seine, where the less wealthy lived. They passed a statue made from a cannon Napoleon had captured in one of his battles.

The busses crossed over one of the old bridges to reach Sacre Coeur (2), the church of the Sacred Heart. This church is located on a high elevation (423 feet above sea level), thus giving the pilgrims a view of the whole city of Paris. The church of the Sacred Heart was built by Catholics from all over the world. The pilgrims were allowed to exit the busses for about 15 minutes in order to see the “very fine view” of the City of Paris which “spreads out at their feet.”

I have (in another document) enumerated some of the many places the busses passed and which were explained to them either by an escort on the bus or by the detailed itinerary the passengers were given. I will list just a few here.

• Montmartre - famous in 1930 for its night clubs, which were more frequented by Americans than Parisians. They saw a number of “cafes,” which were filled at night with painters, architects, sculptors, etc. coming from all parts of the world frequently in the company of their girl models.
• Street stalls containing second-hand books where valuable manuscripts could be bought for a mere pittance if one knew what to look for.
• The facade of the Louvre (to be visited another day)
• The Pont Neuf (“New Bridge”), which, in spite of its name, is the oldest bridge in Paris and one of the most picturesque. The busses crossed this bridge.
• The Law Court (Palais de Justice), where, between the last two towers, the pilgrims saw the big entrance of the “Conciergerie,” one of the most famous prisons of the world. Part of it in 1930 was still being used for prisoners awaiting trial. The historical associations of the Conciergerie are innumerable. During the Revolution many people, famous and unknown, passed their last days before being beheaded, including Marie Antoinette (the Queen), Bailly (the Mayor of Paris), Mme. Elizabeth (sister of King Louis XVI), Mme. Roland, Mme. DuBarry, Roberspierre to name a few.
• Place Saint Gervais with the Church St Gervais-St Protais. At 3 pm on Good Friday, 1918, a shell from a German long range gun struck the North Side, and the consequent collapse of the roof and falling masonry caused the death of 75 of the crowded congregation and injuries to 90 others. Three of the 75 killed were Americans.
• Place de la Bastille Built originally as a tower to defend Paris, by the reign of Louis XIII (first half of the 17th century), the Bastille had become exclusively a state prison for political offenders, and a synonym for oppression and cruelty. In 1789 at the outbreak of the Revolution, the mob, aided by a few troops attacked the hated fortress, overwhelmed its handful of defenders, and beheaded the commandant in spite of his surrender upon terms. The prison was razed to the ground that same year. Its key was presented by Lafayette to George Washington and is now at Mount Vernon. The anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille (July 14) is kept by the French as the Fete Nationale. The square was the scene of much bloodshed in 1848 and 1871.
• July Column which commemorates the 615 people who are buried in vaults within the circular base of the column. Victims of the Revolution of February 1848 were subsequently interred here. The column is bronze with the names of the fallen in gold.
• Opera House (3), In 1930 it was considered the largest theater in the world. Its director was appointed by the government.

Had the pilgrims perhaps seen the movie, The Phantom of the Opera, on board ship or at an earlier time and place on their own? Those familiar with the movie would have noted that the subterranean vaults and passages shown in the movie were accurate reproductions of those in the Paris Opera House. I wonder what the pilgrims of 1930 would think of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.

Did Josephine marvel at the beauty of the Opera House (4), at the beauty of the church of the Sacred Heart, at the beauty of the other places they saw? I imagine she did – just as most of the other pilgrims did.

After the tour, the pilgrims returned to the hotel for the dinner hour, 7 pm to 9 pm. It must have been a pretty exhausting day.






Source: written by Carolyn Ourso