Our grandfather was always calm... in our presence! When asked what he wanted, he invariably answered, "Peace!"
Alexandre Francisse MENOT married, on Saturday, August 16, 1890, in Vailly-sur-Aisne (02), Marie Victoire Georgina DAVID. He was twenty-two years old, a labourer, and the son of Alexandre Bélisaire and Augustine Alexandrine MOUZIN. She was eighteen years old, a labourer, and the daughter of Suzanne Augustine Hortense DAVID.
Charles Auguste was born on Saturday, May 9, 1899 in Vailly-sur-Aisne, the fifth child of Alexandre and Marie Victoire. His older brothers and older sister already have :
- Victor Alexandre, born on Saturday, May 9, 1891,
- Georgette Mathilde, born on Thursday, March 15, 1894 and died on Tuesday, April 30, 1895,
- Georges Henri, born on Sunday, December 8, 1895,
- Charles Marcel, born on Monday, March 1, 1897 and died on Monday, November 1 of the same year.
After him, two brothers and a sister were born :
- Louis Marcel, born on Wednesday, September 25, 1901,
- Madeleine Georgette, born on Tuesday, May 9, 1905,
- Henri Bélisaire, born on Thursday, March 28, 1907.

Victor Alexandre is listed for military service. His departure was postponed for a year for health reasons. He was finally incorporated on 10 October 1913 and joined the 150th Infantry Regiment, then the 67th Infantry Regiment. He was taken prisoner at the beginning of the First World War, on Saturday, August 22, 1914, in Mercy-le-Haut, in Meurthe-et-Moselle. In that day’s battles, the regiment lost 27 men, 268 were wounded, and 101 are missing.
Victor Alexandre was interned in Grafenwöhr, Germany. He was released on Friday, December 20, 1918 and placed on indefinite demobilization leave on Friday, August 1, 1919 and retired to Chierry, in the Aisne.
It was in this town that he met his future wife, Reine Rose MONNIER. They were married on Saturday, March 27, 1920. She is nineteen years old, a servant, and orphaned of both father and mother. His father, Athanase Jules died on Monday, March 6, 1916, his mother, Eugénie DUMONT, died on Friday, February 9, 1917, both in Château-Thierry, Aisne.
During the Second World War, he was part of the Infantry Mobilization Center No. 64 but remained without assignment and was definitively released from military obligations on Sunday, October 13, 1940.
Victor Alexandre died on Tuesday, November 19, 1968, in Vailly-sur-Aisne (02).
In 1915, Georges Henri could not be listed for « force majeure » as written on his registration card. Indeed, he was a civilian prisoner and was not released until Saturday, November 13, 1915. He is kept in his homes by ministerial decision. On Tuesday, February 4, 1919, he was recalled and joined the 106th Infantry Regiment and then the 134th Infantry Regiment. He was demobilized on Friday, August 29, 1919, and remained in Chierry (02). He married, on Thursday, October 14, 1926, in Vailly-sur-Aisne, Marie Odylle Pauline PAINVIN. She is thirty-nine years old, widow Désiré Charles Georges HARANT, daughter of Louis Paul Bénoni and Marie Eugénie Adelina LADEUILLE.
He was recalled during the Second World War and rejoined his regiment on Saturday, March 23, 1940. He was taken prisoner on Monday, June 17, 1940 in Coulmier-le-Sec (21) and was interned in Stalag XB, repatriated on June 14, 1941 and then demobilized by the Demobilization Center of Amiens (80) on Saturday, July 12, 1941. He was released from military obligations on Sunday, July 13, 1941.
Georges Henri died on Monday, January 22, 1973 in Soissons (02).

In 1915, Charles Auguste had to be enumerated for reasons of war. But having two brothers at war, he was not worried. He was called up « immediately and without delay » on Tuesday, February 4, 1919 and joined the 106th Infantry Regiment. He joined the 134th Infantry Regiment on Tuesday, May 13, 1919, the 54th Infantry Regiment on Saturday, September 6, 1919, and the 109th Infantry Regiment again on Monday, March 15, 1920. From 7 April to 15 May 1920, he and his regiment were in the Rhineland… He was sent home on Friday, March 25, 1921 with a certificate of « good conduct ».
On Saturday, September 1, 1923, in Vailly-sur-Aisne, he married his sister-in-law, Marguerite Juliette MONNIER. She is eighteen years old and a labourer.
On Thursday, August 24, 1939, then father of two children, Christian, eleven years old, and Claudine, four months old, Charles Auguste was recalled to the Army to take part in the Second World War. He was assigned to the 1st company of GART 21, arm of the Train. He was released from military obligations on Monday, March 17, 1941.
Charles Auguste died on Monday, December 7, 1987 in Compiègne (60).
From the class of 1921, Louis Marcel joined the 33rd Aviation Regiment on Monday, April 11, 1921. He was sent home on Saturday, April 14, 1923. He married, on Saturday, August 21, 1927, Lucienne Marcelle PILLET. She was twenty years old, without a profession, and the daughter of Emile Théophile and Amélia Lucie MOREL.
As the Second World War approached, Louis Marcel was placed on special assignment at the Cygne d’Enghien factory on Thursday, January 14, 1937. He did not take part in this war because he died on Sunday, April 16, 1939 in Epinay-sur-Seine (93). He leaves a widow and four young children: twelve, ten, nine and five.
The last son, Henri Bélisaire, did not take part in the First World War, too young, and not in the Second World War because he died in Vailly-sur-Aisne on Monday, April 27, 1925.
This article would not be complete if I did not refer to our father, Christian. Born in 1928, he lived through the Second World War. Did his uncles talk about the First one ??? The fact remains that he followed the facts well during the Second. He was eleven years old at the beginning of the war; so he saw his father leave, his uncle taken prisoner and return, and, again, his other uncle dies. He must have known the sadness of his three aunts and his mother, the worry that must have accompanied them daily, etc.
Is the reason why he enlisted in 1945 to go to war in Indochina? Wounded during his second stay in this country, he persisted and made a career...
La version française de cet article a été publié la première fois sur le blog Antequam – Canalblog – le 7 septembre 2016
Cet article en français, c’est ici !