Fernande Monclin (1893-1974), WWI Red Cross Volunteer Nurse

3–4 minutes

My great-grandmother Fernande Monclin was the only great-grandparent of my lifetime since all my other great-grandparents had already passed away before I was born. I have only one memory of her: I was about 6 years old, playing on the terrasse (patio) of my parents’ house, and she was sitting outside, by the kitchen door, watching me play. I remember looking up at her and meeting her eyes. She was smiling at me, with such a kind look in her beautiful blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. Decades later, whenever I think about her, that’s this very special moment and image of her that I keep in my mind and my heart.

Almost 60 years before that quiet and peaceful day, Fernande Monclin had been in the midst of the horror of the Great War… She was “veuve de guerre” (war widow, having lost her first husband Henri Albert Jacquart in September 1916) when she met my great-grandfather Eugène Berjot (1883-1963). They were both working as nurses during the Great War.

Fernande was a volunteer nurse for the Croix-Rouge Française (Red Cross). It takes a really good heart and calling to volunteer during any war… We are not sure if she volunteered when her first husband was still alive, or if she enrolled in the Red Cross after he was killed. My great-grandfather Eugène Berjot was infirmier militaire (nurse, for the Army). I can’t imagine what the two of them and thousands of others went through during those horrible years of war…

I “used” my great-grandfather Eugène Berjot to give an example on how to research your ancestors’ vital records. If you need help with this, please go to the “Researching in France” → “Vital Records” section.

Croix-Rouge Française (French Red Cross) during WWI

In August 1914, at the very beginning of the First World War, the Croix-Rouge Française mobilized more than 68,000 nurses and very soon created nearly 1,500 auxiliary hospitals and feeding areas for sick or injured soldiers. The nurses also helped civilians of the invaded areas. These nurses wore a white uniform and because of it were quickly referred to as “les anges blancs” (“the white angels”). Those extraordinary heroic women helped save countless lives, providing care and comfort to wounded men and populations.

^{Nurses of the French Red Cross during WWI (Photo: Croix-Rouge Française)}

^{We can see the Red Cross flag} ^{in the background, on the right. I wonder if my great-grandmother was there the day this picture was taken, in March 1915…}
^{Somme-Suippes. Vue du camp, mars 1915.42 Fi 63 – Archives départementales de la Marne.}

Life in Sézanne (51), Marne

Several years after WWI, my great-grandparents settled in Sézanne (51), in the Marne département, with their son Paul, my grandfather. For a few years, they managed a little grocery store (une épicerie) called “La Ruche Moderne“, which no longer exists.

This is Eugène and Fernande Berjot in front of their store. Taken ca 1955.

Here are a few pictures of my great-grandmother Fernande and her family

Fernande Monclin – Date uncertain. It could have been taken on her wedding day, women used to marry in black. Her first wedding with Henri Albert Jacquart ? (1912), or her second wedding with my great-grandfather Eugène ? (so Dec. 23, 1922). But she is holding a document… A “diploma” or an “award” after the War?

*Eugène Berjot, Marie-Thérèse Monclin (my great-great-grandmother, Fernande’s mother), and Fernande. Date uncertain. (Suippes (51), Marne)*

*In the middle, my grandfather Paul Berjot in uniform during WWII with his parents, Fernande (Monclin) Berjot and Eugène Berjot. (Sézanne, (51), Marne, ca 1943)*

*In the middle, my grandmother Lucienne (Radet) Berjot with her in-laws, Fernande and Eugène Berjot. (Sézanne, (51), Marne, ca 1943)*

Buirette-Gaulard wool factory where Fernande and her parents worked for several years in Suippes (51), Marne. Photo: Archives départementales de la Marne

Genealogy

Here is Fernande Monclin on my Geneanet tree.

(FYI: on Geneanet, the little “green circle” indicates my direct lineage with the individuals).