Each year I post this same entry but with updates on the ages of my children. The pictures remain the same as does the story of my daddy and his part in The Great War. Once again this is my contribution to Weekend Reflections - a different kind of reflection, but such an important one for me each year. I am wondering how many there are left of us living who our remembering a parent on this day.
Eugene Marseilles Hornot
Father of Eugenia Hornot Robinson
Father of Eugenia Hornot Robinson
Born 1893 ~ New Orleans, Louisiana
My Father’s WWI Portrait
Corp of Engineers
France
The Great War
This picture was taken outside the Smithsonian Museum of American History on my daddy’s last visit to VA. From left to right: Mattie, my eldest child now 49, Eugene Marseilles, my youngest child now 40, and me. We pushed him into where the aging American Flag was hanging in all of it glory. My frail daddy sat erect in the wheelchair, removed his beret, and saluted his flag never saying a word. In 1993, he died at 100 years, 7 months of age. He did not talk about the war, but I know he never really got over what he experienced while serving with the Army Corp of Engineers at the height of WWI. All I know is he rode horseback and was involved in the building of the roads and the trenches. On this Memorial Day in the USA, Remembrance Day in Canada, Remembrance Day in Australia, and Remembrance Day on Sunday in The United Kingdom, please let us not forget the sacrifices our American, Canadian, British, Irish, Australian, and Scottish veterans made while serving their countries during what was known as “The Great War,” and “The War To End All Wars.” Thanks, too, to the New Zealanders who celebrate their Remembrance Day on Anzac Day, the 25th of April each year.
