WAR HEROINES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 133, 9 June 1927, Page 16

WAR HEROINES

JBUVOTICfIT OF WOMEN

BRATITUDE OF BRITAIN

NATION DEEPLY STIRRED

(•Fs«m"The Post's'- 1 Eepresenta- ■'■ . - tive.) , ■ - , ' LONDON, 14th April. '.... ftttotions were deeply stirred by the ■ iimple ceremony at the Mansion. House ■ when four French heroines were honoured by' the British nation through '. the hands of London's Lord Mayor. Madame Belmont-Gobert, Madame Lesur, ■ Madame Cardou, and Madame Baud- ' hum received certificates for the annuities which have been purchased ,with. the money subscribed by readers of the"Daily Telegraph," and illuminated addresses which express the thanks of the British people for their heroic self-sacrifice on behalf of British soldiers during the war. "The heart of the British people," says; the journal which, organised this pnblic expression of appreciation, "has gone': out to Madame Belinont-Gobert and her daughter, Madame Angele Lesurj who hid Trooper Fowler in their house for four long years; it has been deeiply ' touched by the Sorrows of Madame Cardon, whose Irusband gave first his liberty and then health and life for the English soldier whom he and his had succoured for two ' years, : and by the motherly appeal of Madame Baudhuin, who begged the life of the Scottish sol- . 3ier from the German Court' martial which had sentenced him to death. The recognition of their services to our countrymen has been manifested in thanks, in sympathy, and in a practical benevolence which will enable these Heroic women to spend the remainder •of their days with an assurance of comfort that will relieve their most -pressing anxieties. . . , NOBILITY OF OHAEACTBE. "Four simple Frenchwomen, humble in station, but exalted, as the humble often are, by nobility of character and 'the steadfast power to endure. If it via a proud day for them to be reeaiv'ed "with ceremony by London's first citizen as the honoured representatives of the millions of Frenchwomen, without whose heroic courage even the vali<rar of France could not have sustained and triumphed over the searching .tests of the Great War, it is no less proud 1; a. day for Londoners that these noble women are their guests, and that so far as a debt can be repaid by thanks, if will be paid to-day, with gratitude and sincerity, and with a aordiality which cannot be mistaken." ~ The wardrobe in which Trooper Patrick Fowler v/ashidden for four years had;been conveyed to London. Future generations will learn from its inscription the heroism of the Madame Bel-mont-Gobert and her daughter. In a second house in Bertry, Corporal Her--bert Hull, also of the 11th Hussars, found- refuge with the Cardon family . for- thirteen months. Hull was found lying exhausted in a neighbouring field by Gustavo Arsene Cardon on 1 22nd , August,. 1914, was taken home, and was kept there until 27th September, 19i5. On the latter date the house was visited by Germans, to whom the hiding-place of Hull had been revealed by a "niauyaise Francaise," whose name is held in detestation by the inhabitants of . the region. Monsieur Cardon, after knocking' down a German, managed to • escape, * but his wife, Marie Louise .. Cardon,' and Corporal Hull, were arlested. Both were condemned to death. Hull was shot at Caudry, but the sentence of Madame Cardon was commuted Jo one of twenty years' hard labour. Monsieur Cardon, after his escape, led the existence of a hunted, creature. He lived in fields and woods, sought shelter in barns and out- . houses, and was dependent on occasional charity for his sustenance. He died a few years ago, a martyr to successive illnesses brought on by his privations. OERMAN COTJBT MARTIAL, And there is Madame Baudhuin, who, in. the face of a German court martial, saved the life of a British soldier, not once only, but twice. On 25th August, 1914, a youthful Cameronian, David Cruickshank, appealed _ to Madame Baudhuin to give him the shelter of her home in Lei Cateau, and she did so unhesitatingly, though-the district was, as she said, ''swarming with Germans." When Madame Baudhuin was betrayed to the Germans she, as well as' her second son Leon, was arrested with Cruickshank. The president of the tribunal before which they were brought asked her why she had hidden a British soldier. "I took pity on him," she replied, "because he was so young, and it_ seemed to mo that Heaven had sent him to replace my son Jules, who is on service." There was a silence, then the German officer announced, "I regret to tell you, Madame, that' your son was killed ten months ago. Wo' iove the official notification horo. '* How can one imagine the effect of pie news on, this mother of Franco. Yet rf was of the young Cameronian, not of' herself, that she thought at that-awful. moment. '! "Then if my own son': is really dead," she. implored, "leave me this British boy—-'Ne m'enlevez pas' oehiila' t'tf. ;: .-■,■"■: ■ ;. , . • TBtANKS OF THE ARMY:: There were present at* the ceremony at the Mansion House the French Ambassador, and the Maires of Le Cateau and of Bertry. Speeches were made by the Lord Mayor, by the French Ambas«ador> .Viscount FitzAlanof Derwent, Lord Bnrnham, and the visiting French Mayors. The thanks of the Army were expressed by Sir William Robertson. The Maire .of Bertry said that the Movement of which the day's; proceedings were the expression must surely he an indication of a common desire to /save the world from a repetition of the • horrors of that cataclysm which had '■soaked the North'of France in blood. . What was now. passing in the great ,> capital of England was truly, a "fete :; de reconnaissance"—-an • expression of ' /gratitude for the: devotion and bravery 1 ■of French;wom,en who had been dominated by but one sentiment—that of saving human- life—and in it they, must all recognise a talisman in the common crusade to r bring peace to the world. . In its ■ composition the subscription Hst represents every class in the com- ■ munity, every country, and almost .every county in the kingdom,' and—as to the greater part of it—the practical gratitude of those who are by no means rich. To date the' separate subscriptions number more than £2300. ..The French visitors'were entertained ■at various places in London-and they were also received by ,the King and Queen at Windsor Castle. •■:■' When they were interviewed^onVtheir: return from Windsor Castle,-t.h'e visitors were/proudly displaying autographed photographs of Theii-• Majesties which'the. King, and Queen had given g them .personally. J; 85,- Fleet street.