“Ils Vinrent en Allies et Nous Quitterent en Amis”: An Examination of the Collective Memory of World War I in France and America and the Centennial Commemoration of Base Hospital No. 8 in Savenay, France
Abstract:
The World War I Centennial, which spans from 2014 to 2018, is producing new scholarship, monuments, and commemorations that reframe how individuals and their communities interact with the memories of the war experience through a process known as collective memory. This project traces the rise of memory studies in academia, which began in earnest in the 1980s, through a survey of the major authors in the field before focusing exclusively on the major trends in World War I remembrance in France and America. The scale and destruction of the world’s first modern war led to innovative commemorative forms, where names and empty tombs stood as symbols for bodies that could not be recovered. The most visible national example is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and an examination of the French and American Tombs analyses how it became symbolic of the ideals of national honor and military might during the twentieth century. The project concludes with a cas e study of a local example of remembrance, the 2017 commemoration of Base Hospital No. 8, a World War I American military hospital stationed in Savenay. The commemoration focuses on the theme of Franco-American friendship and is a celebration of local and regional pride sponsored by La Mission Nationale du Centenaire. The ceremonies offer an example of a nationally sponsored commemoration that responds to a desire for individuals in the town to remember their own role in history, and by participating, create a new narrative.