Grave of Pegoud

[Bulldog90]

Does anyone know when Adolphe Pegoud's body was moved from Belfort, where his plane crashed, to Paris? It seems as if there was a fairly elaborate monument at the grave site, so I'm a little surprised he was moved.

Thx,

Bulldog 90

[vb136]

His body was exhumed on 20 August 1920 and transported to the Montparnasse cemetary in Paris.
Source: les As francais de la Garnde Guerre, part 2, by Daniel Porret.

[Froggy]

Bonjour

Here you will find photos of Pegoud' s grave at Paris

Aérosteles : Tombe Adolphe Pégoud

Cordialement
Bruno

[Bulldog90]

Merci mon ami!

[Froggy]

Bonjour Bulldog

Its always a pleasure to help a friend who is "a fan" of Adolphe Pegoud

here is the translation (in my best english......so not very good..)
of the inscriptions we can see on the monument (nearly unreadable even in French)


"If I die, it will be only an airman less.
If I make a success how many of precious existences will be preserved in the aviation ! "

Words of PEGOUD before his first inverted flight


"FRANCE have lost with PEGOUD the apostle
of the air possibilities who will never be replaced "

Eugène Gilbert airman
Andermatt in September 29th, 1915

"PEGOUD learnt us to fly!
I am anxious to shout very loud that without him the air war was impossible It is advisable to remind to everybody what we owe him and what was his role in the victory "
Newspaper in April 26th, 1919
Jules Védrines airman


"The airman who the first one dared to make a looping
PEGOUD has his posthumous part in all our air victories"
THE STORK
(illustration of July 6th, 1918 on the War aviation)

4th citation in the order of the army (translation found here on the aerodrome site)

Sous Lieutenant (Reserve) of Escadrille MS49, with a spirit and bravery beyond words; also a modest and skilful pilot, who has never ceased since the start of the war to put his marvelous aptitudes to the service of his country. Accumulating daily the traits of courage and audacity, he has attacked heavily armed planes alone countless times. On 28 August 1915, during the course of an aerial duel, his plane was riddled by bullets and he was forced to land and immediately took every means available to save his plane in spite of intense German fire." Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur citation, 28 August 1915

cordialement
Bruno

[Bulldog90]

Thanks Bruno,

I'm putting a book about Pegoud together based on my web site Home Page. Over the years I have collected many of the postcards and magazine articles written about Pegoud and I thought it would be nice to have them in one book ( the web site cannot hold them all!). I should be finished in a few weeks.

Can you guess why his grave was moved from Belfort to Paris? It seems like an unusual thing since a monument had just been placed at the Belfort grave site.

Merci,

Blldog 90

[Froggy]

Adolphe Pégoud,was buried in the cemetery of Montparnasse just after he received the honors with Notre-Dame,(great honor in France) on 1920 november 23rd.
I think that it is the reason why he was transfered from Belfort.

Cordialement
Bruno

[Bulldog90]

Oh, thats interesting. I did not know that. Can you explain more about this honor?


Bulldog 90

[Lance B]

Hi all,

Though you might be interested in this newspaper photo of Pegoud's grave shortly after burial in Belfort. The Germans actually sent a wreath there that said: "Dem Helden Pegoud, von seinem Gegner." ("To the hero, Pegoud, from his opponents."

Regards,

Lance B

[aerosteles]

Hello

While checking the logs of my web site Aérostèles I saw a link from here.

Your question about Pégoud is very intersting, then I looked in the documentation to which I have access.

According to the french aviation newspaper L'Aérophile october 1915 issue and november 1920 issue, the body of Pégoud was temporarily buried at Brasse cemetery (near Belfort) on 3rd september 1915 before a move to Paris already planned at this time. It's a request of his adoptive father Mr Crémot.
Pégoud was buried at Montparnasse cemetery on 23rd october 1920 after a ceremony at Notre-Dame. I guess the reason of this honour is because Pégoud was still very popular in France at that time.

Therefore, as this source is not always very reliable, I checked with the newspaper L'Aéronautique #17 31st october 1920 issue. Just a few words about Pégoud funeral on 23rd october 1920 followed by 100 000 people.

In addition the memorial erected at the crash site on 23rd september 1917 has been moved to the center of the town Petit-Croix on 15th may 1982 because it was isolated in the country.

Pierre