A museum dedicated to the memory of the soldiers of the First World War: uniforms and various objects are on display, but it is above all the story of his Doughboys that owner Franck Besch tells us.
A collector at heart:
I started collecting in 1980, when I was 12 years old, and in 1998 I moved to Haute-Marne, where my vision of collecting was about to be turned upside down... At the time, it wasn't unusual to find lots of American relics lying around in second-hand shops, attics and antique shops. All this memorabilia had been lying around for more than 80 years, and I began to realise its historical interest as an object that passed on memories.
Over the course of 30 years, I collected just over 3,000 items on this theme, including letters, photographs, glass plates, vehicle parts, crates, uniforms, barracks and so on. Even back then, I took great pleasure in sharing my emotions through a canteen found in an old attic or a flask picked up by chance at a jumble sale, and that's what helped me evolve in my perception of the object and its relationship to history.
Sharing a collection:
In 2017, the culmination of all these years of collecting and research came to fruition with the setting up in Marac and over 90 m2, of a formidable exhibition of testimonies through objects and anecdotes, through a spectacular and moving journey on the daily life of American soldiers in our department during the Great War with the aim of better understanding and above all remembering the commitment of our cousins from America in the name of Freedom.|Here are a few examples of objects that are presented:
- An original jacket, identified as that of a driver at the Great American Headquarters in Chaumont
- Souvenirs from a doctor at Hospital 53 in Langres
- An original photograph signed by General Pershing himself
- The gas mask of Captain Sereno Brett, Patton's right-hand man and instructor at the tank school at Bourg with the 326th and 327th Tank Battalion. This officer was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for heroic actions during the Saint Mihiel offensive.
- The haversack of the famous American astronomer Joel Metcalf
- An authentic Edison phonograph found in Haute-Marne
- ...
Set up at the "Petit Musée du Doughboy" at 4, rue des Charmes in Marac, this exhibition is open to the general public, including primary and secondary schools.
Petit musée du Doughboy de Marac
