As Grant Willard glanced at the papers 100 years ago, he would have read much about the huge German offensive that had begun on March 21, and the continued German bombardment of Paris. And then he got the shock of his young life: his eyes fell on an article about the Good Friday tragedy and the death of Emma Mullen. Suddenly he was filled with rage and sorrow and desire for vengeance. He poured out his feelings in his journal:
Friday, April 5, 1918:
Last night’s Herald contained the following article:
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| Emma Mullen |
“Miss Mullen was from Fox Lake, Wisconsin, but for a number of years had lived in Paris, where she had been engaged in business as a buyer of French models for some of the American department stores. She was the representative of the firm of Stockbridge and Clothier, of Philadelphia, and also did the buying for another American firm. She was an authority on French fashions, never failing to be present at the big fashion openings each season.
“Before the war she was greatly interested in the artists of the Latin Quarter, where she had many friends.
“She had recently been made one of the secretaries of the Lyceum Club, and was actively engaged in the work of the American Group. She took also a keen interest in war relief work.
“Until recently she resided in her own apartment in the rue de Rivoli, but had taken rooms at the Hotel Brighton about three months ago.”
My feelings are too deep and hard to express. It gives me a sick-all-in feeling. May God help the Allies to crush German autocracy if it takes a world of men to turn the trick and if the German race has to be completely obliterated. I would have given up my own life a hundred times in preference to seeing such a dear good woman so killed.
Strong words from a patriarch. How old was Grant at this point? It sounds like war had embittered him a bit to want the whole German race obliterated. Perhaps such sentiments stretched to all the troops. I have been watching WWI and WWII documentaries that show troops as undergoing a transformation in thought and speech during their tours of duty. Perhaps this is an example of Grant's transformation.?.? Thank you for writing this blog Peter. Grant
ReplyDeleteDear Grant:
DeleteYour great-grandfather, Grant, was 25 years old when Emma Mullen was killed. Her death was a blow to him. Hers was probably one of the first "close" deaths in his life. And it followed the death of his grandmother by only a few months.
He was definitely transformed by his first year of warfare. When he got to France in 1917 he had preconceived ideas about the French--even distain, one could argue. He felt some of the French were lazy and could learn something from American organizational skills. You might recall that he also wrote about his liking the German prisoners he met over the French he was serving alongside!
But after the bloody horrors he witnessed at Verdun in the summer/fall of 1917, he changed his tune. He saw the bravery, determination and sacrifice of the French soldiers. And that fall and winter, after he'd joined the U.S. Army and was stuck at Sandricourt with a lot of time on his hands, he probably thought a lot of about the course of the war.