ARTIFACT:
What we have here is a 1920’s – 1930’s Badge for the French Military Preparatory School of the Children of the Troops in La Boissière-École.
The motto on the badge reads: ils seront eleves dans le cult d'honneur de la patrie, in English: they will be raised in the cult of honor of the fatherland.
The badge is a deeply struck brass diamond with a chick on an Adrian helmet made in silver plated brass.
La Boissière-École, a small village in the greater Parisian suburbs, is located on the edge of the Rambouillet forest (formerly Seine-et-Oise), 18 km from this town.
The School for Children of the Troops was founded by Commander Hériot on November 4, 1886 in La Boissière, in Seine-et-Oise, where the Commander owned a castle and vast properties. The presence of female elements was considered essential due to the very young age of some of the students in order to moderate what was too harsh for them in an environment exclusively composed of men and soldiers. Madame Hériot expressed the desire to have a Community of Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.
Sister Cordier , Superior, arrived on January 28, 1887 with six Sisters . On February 10, 1887, this house welcomed 158 orphaned children of soldiers aged 6 to 13.
On March 6, 1887, a contract was signed between the Superior General, Sister Derieux, and General Boulanger, then Minister of War.
Extensions and developments were carried out thanks to the generosity of Mrs. HÉRIOT-DOUINE, widow of the Commander. Orphans, sons of disabled or active military personnel, all the children enjoyed the same advantages as their elders at the Preparatory Military Schools (free maintenance and studies, military-rate travel, hospitalization). The Commander's motto, concerning the children, was: "They will be raised in the cult of honor and country" (the School's crest: a helmet topped with a chick).
The School sees its students increase from 158 in the first years to 350. They receive primary education. Each year the School achieves very good successes. The students are presented to the entrance exams to the Military Preparatory Schools.
In summer, children who cannot be received by their families are accompanied by the Sisters to Castel Port-Mer, near Cancale (Ile et Vilaine) in a villa which Mrs. HÉRIOT-DOUINE donated to the State.
The School has given valiant generations of soldiers to the country. Many, in fact, are those who, like their comrades from the great Schools (officers, non-commissioned officers, corporals, soldiers) have given all of themselves to the Fatherland, raised and educated as they were in the noble motto of Commander HÉRIOT.
The role of the Sisters is modest and self-effacing but effective to the great satisfaction of all: military leaders, parents, children. They show affection to the children and have a religious influence by their example. Multiple evidences show that children remember.
Sister Marie received the Gold Medal of Civic Merit in 1937; then in 1946, she received the cross of the Legion of Honor from the hands of Mr. Michelet, Minister of National Defense. In 1947, Sister Poeuf, Superior, received the same distinction from the hands of General Matter, Director of the Infantry. It is the entire Community that finds itself honored and rewarded in an official testimony, with the recognition of many "old hands" of all ages who faithfully preserve the memory of this or that sister, whom they particularly loved when they were at school.
In 1958, the community consisted of six Sisters. During a visit, a sister wrote " no bell can be rung in this house where one must submit to the general regulations... Young soldiers (including seminarians) do their military service as instructors or monitors... The Sisters bear an incomparable witness to the children, the young soldiers; they are appreciated by the Commander, the Chiefs of various ranks, the Chaplain and the doctors."
In 1960, the Commander confided to a Superior who came to visit the community: “without the Sisters the School would no longer be what it is!”
In a letter dated March 31, 1958, Sister Poeuf , Superior, wrote: "Our role here is modest and discreet. Despite everything, I believe it is effective with the children through the affection they would lack in an entirely military and civilian environment, through the religious influence of our example, through the catechisms we are given to teach, through the maternal care with which we try to surround them. We have multiple proofs that the children remember."
In October 1965, the Minister of the Armed Forces decided to transfer the HERIOT Infant Military School to the Ministry of National Education, but a protocol was established to keep the Sisters in the Establishment. On September 1, 1966 , the Military School became a National School of the 1st degree with boarding school.
Some testimonies from former students:
"I met Sister Marie when I was young, because I too, like many others, was pampered by her eagerness and tenderness and because she represented for me the link that still connected me to the young years full of carelessness"; "Everyone saw in her a mother. Her appearance made us forget the harsh military discipline. And how she knew how to console us in our moments of depression";
“Sister Marie held a big place in my life as a child in the early years of the troop.”
"There is, in short, very little and much to say about Sister Vincent , who arrived in La Boissière in 1927. Very little, because like most lives entirely devoted to charity, they remain secret, self-effacing, without history, and of a single piece; a lot, because they are generally exemplary lives. And Sister Vincent has never ceased to be an example of constant modesty in daily devotion, of considerate tenderness for the little ones, of smiling affability for the big ones; and, for all, a little like a limpid source of simplicity and permanent youth of heart and spirit."
Twenty-four Daughters of Charity have succeeded one another in this house. Sister POEUF, Superior, is 83 years old. The decline in vocations does not allow her to be replaced. The closure takes place on September 13, 1967.
In 2005, some "old-timers" came to visit "their school" and went to the church and the cemetery. They noted the poor condition of the graves of their young classmates who had died, as well as those of the Sisters. After consultation, a group of fifty of them decided to implement a renovation of the graves. A ceremony was organized on June 12, the day of the end-of-year fair for the students.
Sister Louise REY , who arrived in La Boissière in 1947, was present: music, raising of the colors, ringing of the post; recalling the names of the Sisters and young students who had died, minute of silence, laying of wreaths. Then, a speech recalled the past of this house.
That day, some remember that Sister Louise called them her “chicks”!
Excerpt from a participant's speech: "It is with great and real emotion that I address you. We are gathered in front of the final resting place of those who were, for those who knew them, their "second mother". It is in a spirit of gratitude that we participated in the renovation of their tomb. Each of us remembers the Sisters, Jean Gabriel, Marie and Joseph who efficiently ran the infirmary. Sisters Catherine, Germaine, Gabrielle, Jeanne and so many others, who with dedication and self-denial consoled and relieved our pain, our sorrows and our loneliness. We rejoice in the presence of Sister Louise who was in charge of the little ones. Personally, I remember, it was you, Sister Louise, who, on November 3, 1956, opened your arms to me to ease my pain, when I arrived at school."
Sister Annie GESRET, Provincial Archivist
VINTAGE:
1920s - 1930s.
SIZE:
Approximately: 1-1/2" in height x 1-1/8" in width.
MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION:
Silver plated brass.
ATTACHMENT:
Vertical safety-style pin with circular saddle.
MARKINGS:
DRAGO PARIS
ITEM NOTES:
This is from a French Military Collection, which we will be listing more of over the next few months. MAJX17 LFEX11/12/24
CONDITION:
8+ (Excellent)
GUARANTEE: As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.
