Pascal Bollon

Category: The Shoulders We Stand On

The genesis, memories and souvenirs of the family before Katanga, before Africa.

WWI National War Loan Campaign

WWI National War Loan Campaign

1917, The Last Push To finance the war effort during WWI, France balanced money printing and war bonds. The war bonds were not a novelty, and had been used since the French revolution in every national emergency situation. No “whatever the cost” then, but “mobilise your savings for victory!”. Different...

The Orange on the Dresser

My grandparents thought Christmas was too commercial. Their parents did too. How did they say it? With the story of the Orange on the Dresser. A European trope. It goes something like this: “We used to get only one orange on the 25th, you know, and we were grateful for...

La Der des Ders

1914-1918 War Memorials that list in every village strings of similar names, as if entire families were decimated in one event. They were. Signs for cemeteries and ossuary’s of every nation pointing in every direction at every crossroad. Barren fields still peppered with ammunition, squelching mud still spitting out the...

WWI in Soissons, Henri Penotet and the Big Bomb

Henri Penotet, the father of my grandmother Suzanne Dulière of Jadotville fame, was around 44 when he was posted in Soissons, France during WWI. As a newly appointed police commissioner, his job was (probably) to secure the rear lines, as the city had been near the frontline or the frontline itself...

Of Pierced Eyes and French Gothic

My great-great-grandfather had his picture taken around 1865. A dynamic pose. The conquering Van Dyke goatee. The well-accessorised 3 piece suit. Squared jaw. His pale eyes are looking straight at you. He is ready to tell. But then.. His left pupil is precisely, delicately, pierced with a needle. And so...