#478 Day 16 Is-sur-Tille

During our visit to Dijon in 2004, Jean Louis thought we might be interested in visiting the memorial to World War I American soldiers who had died in the hospital in Is-sur-Tille. There were 238 "doughboys" who died there. The memorial was beginning to deteriorate due to environmental conditions. Later in the summer of 2004 work was done to refurbish the monument and replace the names of the Americans. The photos below were taken in late June 2004.

















This year JL asked if we would like to see the refurbished memorial. It was a must and I am glad we did. The following slides show the results of the refurbishing effort on the memorial.

When we got there we met the Deputy Mayor of the town. He, and some of the citizens were at the memorial to give a guided tour to a bus load of tourists from Germany. We were asked if we would like to tag along. Of course we agreed. We do not speak French and understand very few words in German.

Prior to the arrival of the tourists, we asked if we could go into the town hall to see the bust of Marianne. She is an historic representation of liberty and reason. Many women have been the model for the statue/bust. They include Brigette Bardot and Catherine Deneuve to name a couple.

JL thought it might be nice if we could see the one in the local town hall. We had been unable to see her in any of the other communities we visited on the trip from Normandy to Marsannay. We did try, but they were usually closed. It pays to talk to the right people.

Marianne

We were also invited to have a drink with the French hosts of the tour once the Germans went on their way. We couldn't because of another commitment. It was nice of them to ask. This was to be the last day of our visit to Marsannay. The next day we begin our adventure through Germany.

#478