Figure 1.--This is a home for refugee children in Caen, Normandy where a home has been provided for them. The ARC captions read, "Refugees from Lorraine singing the 'Marseilles' as they crossing the drawbridge of the old Chateau of Caen. The boys also learned the 'Star pangled banner'. The boys liveb and attend school in the Caserne du Chateau. In the enclosure of the Chateau, barracks have been provided for 160 children to live in under the direction of the Prefet Mirman. Among them are 15 "Stars and Stripes" children, French wards of American soldiers, the funds for whose maintanence are administered by the American Red Cross. The picture shows the older boys of the colony." Click on the image to see the younger children.

We notice a colony (home) for children at the old chateau dating to the time of William the Conqueror in Caen, Normandy. Caen was well south of the Western Front trench line and relatively untouched by the War. It would become a major battlefield in the World War II fight for Normandy (1944). There were facilities for 160 children. We are not sure what agency organized this. We see that Prefect Mirman was the director. This may mean that the home was organized by the lical municipality. There is also a reference to 'Stars and Stripes' children. Stars and Stripes was the newspapers of the American Expeditonary Force. This may refer to adoptions by American Doughboys. Funds for 15 children in addiition to deliveries of relief supplies came from the ARC. The boys wear the classic black school smock. Notably very few boys in these refugee images wear berets which we had thought were stil common in France.

Created: 12:21 PM 11/10/2022
Last updated: 12:21 PM 11/10/2022