ADOPTED GRAVE

Hokitika Guardian, 20 February 1920, Page 3

ADOPTED GRAVE

A FRENCH WOMAN’S THANKS TO BRITISH V LONDON, December 22. A touching story of the adoption by a Frenchwoman of an English soldier’s grave on the battlefield is told in a letter to “The Daily Mail” given below. Her phrasing is altered only where it obscured the meaning: “Sir.—Will you excuse me? I am writing to you this little note. I am a Frenchwoman. Qn the first day of the armistice in France I saw near my home the grave of an English soldier, I’to. W Beaton, 44682, Royal Scots, killed in action at Garvin (near Lens) 1918. I have taken to myself in friendship the good soldier Beaton for his courage in defending France. “Every day 1 go to make tidy the little grave in the field. I make myself, and buy, many wreaths of flowers, and place them upon it. “On November 11 the day of the armistice, I put there a big bouquet of flowers and a French flag. With them I placed a ribbon whose colours are also the colours of the British—friends for always of France. In the morning come poilus with their band to honour the comrade Beaton and bring a bouquet of flowers. After saying prayers they play English songs and the Marseillaise. “Sir, will you put this in your news, paper ’in London? I want the news to go everywhere in all [,’Angleterre, because, for the sake of my child, who ' was a soldier too, T am very fond of my English soldier. (“Madame) Deforge Vaheneweghc, “41 Rue du Vieux Chateau, “Garvin, France.”