Figure 1.-- The ARC caption here read, "Belgian lads from the zone of fire. Arrival at a Paris depot of the Comite Franco-American des Enfants de la Frontiere." The Comite will transport them to safe homes in the countyside. We are not sure just when this photograph was taken, but probably in autumn 1917 given how warmly the children are dressed. With American participation in the War (April 1917), far greater resources to care for the refugees became availzble than earlier in the War.

The Comite Franco-American pour la Protection des Enfants de la Frontiere (Franco-American Committee for the Protection of the Children of the Border) was an American charitable group. We do not know yet who the organizers were. But they collected funds in America to help setup and maintain facilities provides for the schooling and industrial training of about 1,500 destitute children who had fled the Germans. They came from norther France which is why the organization's name to the border. They also assisted Belgian refugee children. Many of these children had lost their parents as a result of the German invasion. The ARC provided food, clothing and other necistices to support the effort. One Comite report describes the terrible conditions French children faced, and what the Comite was attempting to do in France. "Marie and Simone Truchon, and father: Before the war the father was a mason. He has been at the front since war broke out. The mother, left with four children, found it difficult to give them sufficient nourishment. She had lost a little boy of tubercular meningitis in 190S. In March, 1916, a second boy, Rene, died of the same malady, and in February, 1917, the mother succumbed to the same disease. A month later the four-year-old daughter, Simone,_died of bronchial pneumonia following measles. Marie has been placed in the Sanatorium of Ormesson, at the expense of the Committee, and a boy, Alphonse, is in our colony at Gourin." [Comite Franco-American pour la Protection des Enfants de la Frontiere] Once America entered the War, food and other relef supplies became availble through the American Red Cross.

Izzy-le-Moulineux

Izzy-le-Moulineux was one of the country side sites for French refugee children established by the Comite Franco-American pour la Protection des Enfants de la Frontiere. Izzy-le-Moulineux was a substantuial village located near Paris. The final mportnt battle of the Napoleonic Wars was foughhtb here (185). At the time of World War I it was still countryside, but is now more of a Paris suburb. There was some industrial develooment. The Comite establish centers referred to as colonies in safe areas of the countryside providing for the care schooling and job training for refugee children who had lost their parents. The group at Izzy-le-Moulineux totaled about 1,500 destitute children from northern Frnce, the area invaded and occupied by the Germans. .

Oulins

This is another small group of Belgian refugee children who had lost their parents and taken in by the Comite. Oulins is a small village in northern Frmce, west of Paris and a sage distance south of the French front lines. We see Catholic nuns and priests playing an important role. Funding was initially provided by the Comite. Conditions were very basic as can be sen with how excited the children were whn they go a football. The building in the background e think is the village's church, the only building of any iportabce in the village. We have no idea about its history. The villagers did not have the resources to support a substntial group of children. This as first was provided at first by the Comite and eventuially by the America thriugh the American Red Cross.

Rosay

Most of the children assisted by the Comte were French children, but there also were some Bdlgin children, who apparently kept apart. Some 30 Belgian boys were cared for in the Comite's colony at Rosay. Some 30 refuge boys were put under the care iof Cathokic nins there (August 1915). They received schooling there as well as gardening. A report reveals that over three hours a day, three days a week the boys garden to raise food. A photyograph shows four of the boys who are repordedly "very proud of their recent accomplishment in transforming a neglected field into a potato patch, from which the colony will later benefit."

Sources

Comite Franco-American pour la Protection des Enfants de la Frontiere. Third Anual Report (January 1, 1918)

Created: 1:22 AM 11/8/2022
Last updated: 6:57 PM 11/9/2022