Henri, Jules LOISEAU, a farmer, was born on 5 May 1902 in Ouzouer-sur-Trézée (Loiret). He died on 9 September 1977 in Leugny (Yonne). He married my grandmother, Fernande PLAIT, on 15 November 1924 in Leugny (Yonne); she was born on 15 July 1904 in Leugny. She worked as a laundress. She died on 18 May 1985 in Leugny, where they had always lived. They had three daughters: my mother, Josette, who was born in 1925, and my two aunts, Yvette, who was born in 1927, and Simone, who was born in 1932. He was held as a prisoner of war from 1940 to 1945 at Stalag IB in Hohenstein (Olsztynek in Poland since 1945), and my youngest aunt, Simone, suffered greatly as a result.

When he told me about his time in captivity (I was about 12 to 14 years old), which I sometimes listened to with only half an ear (and I regret that), he would say that he’d gone there with his accordion and that he’d suffered less than his comrades, who worked hard on a large farm (see photos) and sometimes in the cold, whilst he played the accordion sitting on a pile of potatoes. I remember that he had stayed in touch with a man called BRETON (see photo) from the CHAUMONT area (Haute-Marne), who used to come and visit him with his family.

Annick MEUNIER-CHAMBARD