“I attended eleven o’clock mass at Notre Dame Cathedral”
“I was in Paris Easter Sunday, 1919, and, although
not a Catholic, I attended eleven o’clock mass at Notre Dame Cathedral.
It was packed with people. Practically
every Frenchman had lost either an arm or a
leg, or had been severely wounded.
Their chests were covered with medals. That afternoon I saw the gardens of the
Tuileries and visited Napoleon’s Tomb. The French certainly are past masters
of theatrical staging. And the sights that Easter Sunday afternoon — after the
armistice — were unforgettable.”A.E.
Hanson, American soldier in Paris. After the war, Hanson became
a famous landscape architect and real estate developer in Southern California – An Arcadian Landscape. The California Gardens of A.E. Hanson
– Photo:
1919, end of mass at Notre Dame de Paris, showing nurses and wounded decorated soldier(s) leaving
the cathedral – Gallica, France