First World War memorial bedroom to fallen French soldier
French soldier's bedroom to be preserved 'for 500 years' as reminder of his sacrifice in Great War
The parents of the dragoons officer maintained his room exactly as it was the day he left for the front Photo: BRUNO MASCLE / PHOTOPQR/LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE
A French soldier's bedroom has been preserved exactly as he left it when he
left his sleepy village to go and fight – and die – in the First World War.
Hubert Rochereau's blue officer's jacket sits on a stand, his books in piles
on the mantelpiece, and his bed is still covered by the same lace spread as
when, nearly a century ago, he left Bélâbre for the battlefields of
Flanders.
The pipes that he smoked still sit on the desk and the stale smell of tobacco
wafts from a cigarette packet, according to La
Nouvelle République newspaper whose journalist was allowed
visit the shrine to the fallen soldier.
The parents of the dragoons officer maintained his room exactly as it was the
day he left for the front. When they sold the house in 1935, they made the
new owners sign a clause stating that the bedroom where their son was born
in 1896 could not be changed for 500 years.
Second Lieutenant Rochereau died on 26 April 1918 in Belgium after being
wounded in fighting near the village of Loker. He was awarded a posthumous
Legion of Honour for bravery and his name is on the war memorial in his home
village.
On his desk sits a vial with a label saying it contains "the earth of
Flanders in which our dear child fell and which has kept his remains for
four years".
The young officer's room also holds his collection of pistols, a set of spurs and his fencing mask.
The current owner of the house in the village in central France, Daniel Fabre, said the clause on maintaining the bedroom has no legal value but that he intends to honour it. Mr Fabre, a retired civil servant, and his wife inherited the large family home from her grandparents.
A memorial to the 580,000 soldiers who died on the battlefields of Flanders, which covered north-east France and parts of Belgium, is due to be inaugurated by President François Hollande as part of Armistice Day services on November 11.
The young officer's room also holds his collection of pistols, a set of spurs and his fencing mask.
The current owner of the house in the village in central France, Daniel Fabre, said the clause on maintaining the bedroom has no legal value but that he intends to honour it. Mr Fabre, a retired civil servant, and his wife inherited the large family home from her grandparents.
A memorial to the 580,000 soldiers who died on the battlefields of Flanders, which covered north-east France and parts of Belgium, is due to be inaugurated by President François Hollande as part of Armistice Day services on November 11.
