Soldier’s bedroom remained untouched for 102 years after he died in battle during World War I in 1918

Peering into this room in France is as if you are stepping into a time portal into the early 1900s. The bedroom, which belonged to a French soldier, hasn't been touched since 1918.

If you drive three hours southwest of Paris, you'll find Belabre, a quaint French village with a population of fewer than 1,000. That is where you will discover the home of the parents of Hubert Guy Pierre Alphonse Rochereau.

When World War I was ravaging Europe, a young Rochereau was deployed to the Belgian battlefield. Sadly, Dragoons' Second Lieutenant Hubert Rochereau died at the age of 21. Rochereau, who was a graduate of the elite French Saint-Cyr military school, passed away in an English field ambulance after fighting in the village of Loker, Flanders, on April 26, 1918. World War I would officially end a few months later, on Nov. 11, 1918.

Rochereau was buried in a British cemetery, and his family didn't track down his burial site until 1922. Rochereau's parents brought their son's body back to their home town of Belabre.

The parents made Rochereau's bedroom a makeshift shrine of sorts, refusing to alter the room. The only change they made was placing a small bottle of soil from the Belgian field where he lost his life. The vial is labeled: "The earth of Flanders in which our dear child fell and which kept his remains for four years."

The memorial to Hubert Rochereau still stands today, 102 years after he breathed his last breath on that WWI battlefield. Rochereau's bedroom is untouched, seemingly frozen in time.

Hubert's parents wanted to honor their son past their time here on Earth, so they included a request in the home's deed: Leave the bedroom exactly how it is for the next 500 years. In 1935, the parents bequeathed their home to a military friend, General Eugene Bridoux, under the condition that their son's room would remain untouched for 500 years.

A small twin bed sits in the unspoiled chamber, as well as a wood desk. Books are stacked up high as they collect dust and spider webs. Rochereau's medals, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'Honneur, sparkle in the achromatic room. Black and white photographs of friends who also died in the war decorate the somber walls.

Scattered about the room, you can see Hubert's blue uniform jacket, pistols, knife, keys, a notebook, military manuals, a filled pipe, and hand-rolled cigarettes. "I tried to smoke one," the current owner of the house, Daniel Fabre, said of the old cigarettes. "It wasn't very nice."

"He was young, a military officer, and I imagine him to be quite provincial, perhaps even narrow-minded," Fabre told the BBC. "But it's part of the history of the house, so I keep it."

Fabre's daughter will inherit the house, and she too has agreed to never touch Hubert's room.

daltec brought it to my attention at post #53:

“The fellow in your bottom photo is Wilfred Owen, a British officer and poet, also killed very near the end of World War One (November 4 1918).

“His poetry made a deep and lasting impression on me when I first read it as a kid.

“Perhaps his best-known work is “Dulce et decorum est.”

Same Here, my Grandfather [Silver Star] was gassed in France and died a young father of 4 because of lung complications in a N.Y. City Vet hospital. His brother was killed in France shortly before the Armistice both of them served with the 102nd Inf. Regiment from Connecticut in World War I

In August 1917, the Regiment was organized with 3,755 Officers and enlisted men:

Headquarters & Headquarters Company- 303
Supply Company- 140
Machine Gun Company- 178
Medical & Chaplain Detachment- 56
Infantry Battalion (x3)- 1,026
Headquarters- 2
Rifle Company (x4)- 256[1][2]

The 102nd was stationed at the Neufchateau, Vosges Training Area during the fall and winter of 1917[3] with the 26th Division also known as the Yankee Division which included the 101st, 103rd and 104th infantry regiments.

They were then deployed in March 1918 to the Chemin des Dames area where the men had their first experience with defensive and offensive operations and with poison gas.[4]

Next they were deployed in April 1918 to the Toul Sector in the American sector near the Beaumont Zone. They fought at Seicheprey.[5]

Next the 102nd was deployed in July 1918 to the Chateau Thierry area and were involved in the battles of the Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne and the Second Battle of the Marne (15 July – 6 August). They fought at Trugny, Épieds, and the La Fere Forest.[6]

Next the 102nd was deployed to Saint-Mihiel fighting at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel,[7] then the Troyon Sector[8] and finally at Verdun.[9]

After completing its war service in France with the 26th Division, the Regiment arrived at the port of Boston on 7 April 1919 on the U.S.S. Agamemnon and demobilized at Camp Devens, Massachusetts on 29 April 1919.[citation needed]

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