Rhone American Cemetery

Today was an important one for all of us. Being a History Teacher it was especially important to me professionally and personally. My Grandfather fought in the Pacific during World War Two, and he had a brother in France and other parts of Europe as well as a Brother-in-law in France. In some ways it felt like I was making a connection to them as well all the men and women of that generation who were a part of the war. Perhaps some of the students also had a personal connection? (They have not said so, thought we haven't had much of a chance to discuss it yet).

As I'm sure you know, we started this project over a year ago. Thanks to Alison Libersa who works at the Rhone American Cemetery, we had several names from all over New England presented to Mr. Hirsch. These are the names of soldiers who died during the invasion of Southern France in late 1944 during World War Two. She was looking for information about these soldiers in order to tell their story at the Cemetery. With some guidance from myself, the students began the difficult task of looking online for information about these names. Some names revealed some detail but ended in a dead end. Other names also presented dead ends. Our hope was to find a living relative, perhaps a sibling, or even a niece or nephew who might have information about the soldier buried in the Rhone American Cemetery. Through some luck, some hard work from Sydney Green, and some determination we finally traced an obituary of Rose Arsenault (it included her maiden name!). Looking at the 1940 census and this obituary we determined she might be the brother of one of the soldiers, a George C. Arsenault of Rumford, Maine. Miraculously her obituary included the names of many distant relatives, including the Arsenaults of Winthrop, Maine. Through a facebook message we received a phone number for George's youngest brother, a Mr. Leo Arsenault of Rumford, Maine. Sydney called Mr. Arsenault and he confirmed that it is indeed his brother buried in the Rhone American Cemetery. Mr. Arsenault came to Maranacook to meet with Sydney and myself. He shared letters with us George had written home, and some photographs of George. Sydney talked with Mr. Arsenault a few other times in order to understand the story of George. Mr. Stephen Rankin, ex-diplomat and supporter of our project, graciously transcribed the letters and helped us to create excerpts to be read at the Cemetery in George's honor. Mr. Rankin also invited 2 dignitaries from the U.S. Navy League and the US Consul General Ms. Diane Kelly to attend the ceremony and they allattended.

Though located in the city of Draguinan in France, the Cemetery is considered American soil, it is maintained and funded by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The Rhone American Cemetery is one of about a dozen World War Two era Cemeteries maintained by the Commission. There is a second one in France at Normandy. The photo above is of inside the Chapel at the Cemetery.

Along the back wall of the chapel is this dedication to the United States seen above. In the photo below the students are listening to the introduction from Mr. Stephen Rankin. Zach Greenham was gracious enough to take extensive video of the entire ceremony and proceedings today that will be made available to everyone when we return!

This photograph above is from Sydney Green's presentation on the life of George Arsenault and what she learned from her research and interviews with his brother, Leo Arsenault.

In this photo above, Ms. Alison Libersa who works at the Cemetery is talking to the students about one of the soldiers buried at the Cemetery. Ms. Libersa gave a powerful presentation about 2 soldiers buried there. Her presentation was on the theme of one day, and it really hit home for the students who seemed visibly moved by the stories of these soldiers.

Above you can see the final resting place of George C. Arsenault. In Sydney's presentation, she mentioned that Leo had told her that his Mother had received a letter in 1947 asking if she wanted George's remains returned home or to be buried there. Against the wishes of the rest of the family, Mrs. Arsenault decided to have him buried at the Rhone American Cemetery. Apparently her rationale was that the Cemetery would be well maintained and George would be more likely to be visited by others long after she was gone if he was buried in France. How little did she know how right she was.

In the photo above you can see how the writing on the grave appears almost golden. Standard policy whenever family (or interested parties) visit a specific grave is to take sand from the beaches at Normandy (where the original D-Day invasion occurred) and rub them into the grooves so it can be more easily seen and to give it some higher quality. Also in front of the grave they plant 2 flags, one American and the other French. Both of these flags were removed after the ceremony and given to Sydney to present to Leo Arsenault and his family. The Flag posts retain the earth where George is buried.

In the photo above, Ms. Diane Kelly (U.S. Consul General) reads a short speech she prepared in honor of George and the sacrifice he made. In addition, 12 of our students were given excerpts from the letters George had written home and read them aloud. This was followed by a brief moment of silence and prayer in George's honor and on behalf of Mr. Leo Arsenault and his family.

In this photograph you can see the rest of the Cemetery. The statue in the back is of an Angel holding a baby. It is meant to represent the ultimate sacrifice made by the soldiers buried in the Cemetery so that future generations may live free and in peace. As it turns out, the Arsenaults of Rumford, Maine had emigrated to the United Stated from Quebec at some point in the past, meaning they had ancestors who at one time had emigrated to Quebec from France. In an abstract way, George had "returned" to his ancestral home. Ms. Libersa charged the students with getting other students to take on the challenge of trying to find the families of the 7 other Maine soldiers buried in that Cemetery. Perhaps this project is just beginning? Our little project has drawn some attention... when we return the Kennebec Journal wants to do an article about this project. We are planning to invite Mr. Arsenault to a School Board meeting to present our project, and present Mr. Arsenault with some items from our visit. WCSH 6 has expressed an interest in being there and doing some sort of feature or interviews for the Morning Report, so there may be more on this topic to come! As I said in the beginning, it was an important day and one of the most important and moving experiences I have ever been a part of personally, and I hope and think these students will say the same. I am so thankful I was able to be connected to it in some way and I want to thank all the students for trying to find the relatives of these soldiers (trust me, this type of research is not easy!), but especially I want to credit Sydney Green for having just enough tenacity and determination to make a breakthrough! What an incredible day for all of us!