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March 1919. "Marseilles, France. Refugee children from Belgium, happy while in the care of the American Red Cross." 5x7 glass negative. View full size.
Those kids are almost exactly my parents' ages, born in 1915 and 1917. They were both born in south Georgia and I can tell you they never had shoes as nice as these kids are wearing.
Did these children and their children become refugees again 21 years later?
We all know war is hell, but these displaced children are happy for the moment chomping down on naked bread; at least it is something to put in their bellies. The fourth child from the left with her hand in her basket is wearing what looks like a military honor award, the only child who has one. One wonders if their witnessing the hunger and horrors they have seen will ever leave their memory or if their haunted eyes will ever shine with innocence and wonder again. We can only ask why must it be like this, time after time?
Most don't know the relief effort was led by future president Herbert Hoover.
http://www.cornellcollege.edu/history/courses/stewart/HIS260-3-2006/01%2...
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