WWI Photo captures Doughboys in France

                                               ( Click on photos for an enlarged view.)

The names:  1. Zwinge, 2. Shedd, 3. Day, 4. Burnham, 5. Kimball, 6. Seale, 7. Priebe

                      8. Apollonio

In an album of vintage photos I have collected through the years one of my favorites is the photograph I found at a yard sale featuring eight WWI soldiers. Two of the men are holding what appears to be grapes in their hats.  Two others are holding small boxes.  I've tried very hard to read what is written on the boxes, but the writing is too blurry. A previous owner of the photo taped a list of the men's names to the back.  He numbered each man and by the corresponding number wrote his name. The top of the list is dated, "France, Oct. 1917." 

I've always assumed the men are Americans.  They look American, their names seem to be American, and the uniforms based on other photos seem to be American.  America first went into France to aid in the war in June 1917.  This is four months before the date of the photo.  These men don't look as if they've seen much battle. They are possibly newly arrived at the front.  They are clean.  Their uniforms are not torn and they seem so cheerful, so unaware of the fate that awaits them.  I think it is the grapes that move me the most.  I can imagine the men, relatively untraveled, marveling at being in France, seeing the grape vines and then like children picking some.  

There's no way to know their ultimate fate short of studying war records based on the last names here.  Possibly it was not good.  WWI has been called one of the deadliest conflicts in history.  Ten million people, civilian and military, were killed as a result of the war.  Most died in combat, but disease, mainly influenza killed many.  The USA alone lost 116,708 soldiers.  Russia lost over one million.  

Now these men are frozen in time in a moment of relaxation and even happiness.  I don't think I want to know what came next.  

(See more  WWI photos)

Photos can reveal truth for a moment

Three sisters, about 1948

Growing up, I was the oldest of three girls.  Being the oldest has advantages and disadvantages just as being the only or the youngest or the in the middle.  A disadvantage for me was always feeling responsible for my sisters.  If I went anywhere, they had to

go. Mother would say, "Okay, you can go but your sisters have to go with you." They were always getting into my "stuff," and when I was a teen, wearing my clothes after I'd gone to school.  

The advantage was that I was "the boss."  I had a definite role in the family as a 

decider and setter of trends.  That lasted for a long time.  Now that we are adults with children and grandchildren, we don't see each other very often.  We've taken a few trips together, but the business of life has interferred with visiting since we live in different states.  

In the photo above, I'm the one with the bicycle.  It was a wonderful gift.  On it, I could 

ride down the street out of sight of my sisters and feel I was myself.  It was red and white

and my absolute best and favorite possession.  Riding it was close to the feeling I had of owning a car for the first time.  Freedom and independence came with its ownership.  

My middle sister eventually got her own bicycle and we rode together.  Once I had the bright idea of riding by the house of a boy in my class that I liked.  My sister agreed to accompany me.  When we got directly in front of his house, I was looking so hard, I ran into my sister and we and our bikes ended up in a heap on the neighborhood street.  I was mortified and sure he had seen us.  Even now, as I write this, I wonder if he would recognize the description and know I stalked him. My sister and I were unhurt except for my pride and we pedaled on home.

We don't have many childhood pictures showing the three of us together.  The one with the bicycle certainly shows our personalities-- Me, with the bike, full of pride and smugness with owning it; my middle sister, quiet and always the prettiest;  my youngest sister, exuberant and a bit of a show off.  Life has changed all of us, but this photo catches a revealing moment  from our youth. Photos do that.  They capture just a second, and later in life we can remember the moment, but that is not the whole of it.