Places of memory if ever there was one, the war memorials recall the names of those who gave their lives for the Fatherland. Not in Chalmessin until recently!
The coincidences of History meant that the villages of Musseau, Villemervry and Chalmessin, then independent, never opted for the construction of war memorials. And yet several of their fellow citizens lost their lives on the battlefields, notably during the terrible First World War. Today these three towns are grouped (with Lamargelle-aux-Bois and Villemoron) under the name of Vals-des-Tilles.
Fix an oversight
For several years, an association, Vals-des-Tilles Patrimoine, has been working for the preservation and restoration of local heritage. Attached, certainly to the buildings, but also and above all to those who brought the villages to life, the association wanted to ” fix “ this forgetfulness and thus see the names of brave soldiers engraved forever on monuments.
“We started, in 2012, by erecting a monument in the village of Musseau, before doing the same thing, in 2014, in Villemervry. Today, with the agreement of the municipality, we have built a pedestal right in front of the church, leaning against the wall of the cemetery, and above which a plaque has been placed.explain Jacky Vincenotpresident of the said association.
A work made possible thanks to the financial support of theONaC VG (National Office for Combatants and War Widows), French Remembrance, the commune and Vals-des-Tilles Heritage.
Remembering Raymond André and Louis Chaudouet
An operation carried out, for the administrative part, in collaboration and with the valuable advice of Bruno Ghiringhelli, president of the Langres patriotic associations and general delegate of Souvenir Français. And ''on the ground'', it was Didier Gardien, a resident of the village who was responsible for the arrangement of the commemorative space with Jacky Vincenot, as well as the restoration of the tombs.
Indeed, the two young people from Chalmessin, in this case Raymond André and Louis Chaudouet, who fell in combat, are buried only a few meters from the newly installed plaque. A very laudable initiative which deserved an inauguration commensurate with this event (read below) and a great way to perpetuate the memory of Raymond André and Louis Chaudouet, two young people who left to defend their Country and who never saw Chalmessin again.
Broken lives, a bruised village
1914, in Chalmessin the harvest begins on this Saturday 1is August, when the tocsin sounds. The inhabitants think of a fire, but it is in fact a general mobilization. Louis Chaudouet et Raymond Andréwho thought they were freed from their military obligations, are recalled.
The first, born in Auberive in 1889, was then 25 years old and worked as a butcher in Châtillon-sur-Seine. Recalled with the rank of corporal, he was incorporated into the 21e Infantry Regiment, then sent to the front. It was there, at the foot of the Notre-Dame de Lorette hill, in Pas-de-Calais, in the middle of the trenches, that he lost his life on May 9, 1915, the victim of a shrapnel from a fallen shell. next to his artillery piece. He was twenty-six years and four months old.
No longer be the “forgotten ones of History”
Raymond André, for his part, born in 1885 in Chalmessin, is the son of the village teacher. He received a good education and enjoyed a peaceful childhood, surrounded by his sisters Angèle and Mathilde. His abilities led him to Paris where he was an accountant-photographer and married Marie-Madeleine Iquille in 1909.
He too will be recalled with the rank of corporal, but at 221e Infantry Regiment. On March 11, 1917, fighting raged in Cernay-en-Dormois, in the Marne. Raymond André's regiment is sent to attack with the objectives of the trenches of Haraucourt and Maison de Champagne. After several hours of fighting, the next day there were 25 missing and 69 dead, including the young man born in Haut-Marne.
Repatriated, the bodies of the two soldiers have been lying side by side for several decades in the small village cemetery. Their tombs were restored by Vals-des-Tilles Patrimoine and now wear the roundel of French Remembrance. Thus, Raymond André and Louis Chaudouet will no longer be “forgotten” by History!
