Lewiston men confronted the same feelings following WWI

With victory in Iraq this spring, American soldiers and the rest of the world witnessed emotional scenes like the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad.

In 1918, Edward Callahan of Lewsiton was serving in Metz, France and wrote of scenes similar to those in Iraq. Two days after the allies recovered the city from the Germans at the conclusion of World War I, Callahan described the treatment received by a huge statue modeled after the Kaiser.

Townspeople didn’t topple this statue; instead, they placed chains on its hands and hung a large sign about its neck that translated said: “thus passes away the glory of this world.”

However, just as was the case in Iraq, not all of the post-war news was good. A month after World War I was over, one Lewiston family received shocking news. The U.S. Intelligence Department informed them that their son, Ralph Levesque, was missing in action.

All of Lewiston mourned the news. In high school Ralph had been a star pitcher on his baseball team and since graduating had become a popular politician. While still in his 20s, he had become a member of the City Council and then the state house of representatives. Sympathy poured in from friends and family.

His parents were in disbelief. They had in their possession a letter from Ralph written on Armistice Day. Could their son have been killed in battle after peace had already been declared?

The next several days were long, painful ones for the Levesques.

As the rest of the community turned its attention to the coming holidays, the Levesques heard no more from the Intelligence Department.

Then, just before Christmas came another letter from Ralph, this one dated Nov. 28. When he was supposed to have been missing in action, Ralph had written matter-of-factly that he had just been transferred to Angers, France. Far from being dead, Ralph was not even missing. He had simply been transferred to another unit, a fact that in the confusion of war, officials in his own unit had somehow missed.

Once peace was declared in Europe in 1918, American soldiers wanted nothing more than to return to their loved ones, not realizing that, for many, winning the peace would follow winning the war.

“We are anxiously looking forward to the day we can go home,” wrote Lucien French from Veraney, France a few weeks after the end of World War I, “but I do not care to be too optimistic, for I have found Army life is very, very uncertain.”

The end of the war brought with it mixed emotions for Lucien French of Lewiston. “When I think of the lives lost and ruined, the great suffering and destruction I have seen,” he wrote, “I wonder if the lessons learned and good gained can possibly be worth the price it cost.”

Additional research for this column by David Farady.