Those Who Went Before . . .

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On this Hallow Eve which passes into the Day of All Saints, what better time to give thought to those who went before ? I often step into graveyards, and ponder a moment the stories told there, on stones, in sculpture, in photographs. I fear that to many of these tombs no visitor comes, to forgotten graves, yet what point a cemetery if no one comes to remember ? Thus I serve as a benevolent mourner, a recipient for memories, a holder of spiritual hands. And if I take a photograph away, it is only in hoping that these silent resting places will not be forgotten, as even graveyards disappear, stone crumbles, sculptures rust, photos fade, and dust returns to dust.
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World War One remains visible in graves and monuments all over France, even now, nearly 100 years later. On this first cross, it is marked 1914-1918, and at the base of the cross, "Pro Patria".
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Will anyone remember the name of Maurice Bourdon, aged 22, once this plaque has rusted away entirely ?
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A chapel and lines of white crosses mark the burials from a battle near here in the summer of 1918, in the last big German advance before they were pushed back and the war ended a few short months later.
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Two brothers remembered, but not buried, side by side.
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Antonin and Egalité Thiebaut. Antonin received a head wound at Mouilly in the Calonne Trench near Verdun on 27 October, 1914. He died from complications four years later on 31 October, 1918. Egalité was killed in February 1916 on the front at Verdun in the Bois des Caures, buried on hill 344 (another dreadful name from Verdun) his grave disappeared during the battles and heavy shelling of the entire area which followed throughout 1916.
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Marcellin Ducroq was killed in Germany in March 1945. That Second war ended not long after.
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Charles Prouillet fathered two children with Lucie Depuille, a girl, Marie-Jeanne who lived from 1925 to 1926, and a boy, Jean-Marie, who lived from 1926 to 1927. Charles died in 1931 at the age of 29, while Lucie lived on another 50 years. One can only wonder what they went through. Life is not easy for anyone, but some seem to get more than their fair share of tragedy.
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There was no name and no dates on this young woman's grave. Again one can only wonder in silence. Who was she ? Why did she have to leave so young ? What happened ?
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Soldiers, so many soldiers. When will we ever learn ?
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I have never before seen a crucifixion figure attached to a cross with a screw through the chest.
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And this one was rusting away patiently.
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