LECTURE AT MILLYARD MUSEUM ON NEW HAMPSHIRE SOLDIERS BURIED AT THE HENRI-CHAPELLE CEMETERY IN BELGIUM – SATURDAY, APRIL 5
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Manchester Historic Association
Manchester’s WWII Monument(603) 622-7531
Ext. 304, Jennifer Yakunovich, Museum Educator
jyakunovich@manchesterhistoric.org
MANCHESTER, NH – Author and historian Aimee Gagnon Fogg will present a lecture on her efforts researching and writing about the 38 New Hampshire men, including 8 from Manchester, buried at the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery in Belgium during World War II. Fogg’s presentation will be based on her book “The Granite Men of Henri-Chapelle: Stories of New Hampshire’s WWII Soldiers.” The program will take place at the Millyard Museum at 200 Bedford Street in Manchester on Saturday, April 5 at 10:30 a.m. The public is invited and the lecture is included with regular admission to the museum: $8 adults, $6 seniors and students, $4 children 12-18. Members of the Manchester Historic Association are admitted free. Pre-registration is requested by calling (603) 622-7531. The book will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop.
They rest in a distant land they fought to liberate nearly 70 years ago, their lives ended by war and their stories quieted by time. For these New Hampshire World War II soldiers buried in Belgium, their stories are brought to life once again. As the war drew to an end in 1945, the New Hampshire State Legislature adopted “Live Free or Die” as the state’s motto. At the same time, many families throughout the Granite State and the rest of the country prepared to welcome home their service members who had fought to preserve freedom around the world. These 38 New Hampshire servicemen, however, would not be returning home. Instead, they remained in Europe, resting permanently at the sprawling 57-acre American military cemetery called Henri-Chapelle in Belgium. These are not war stories. They are an attempt to illustrate each civilian life before the war as well as capture the essence of the person behind the military rank—to allow each one an opportunity to share his life once again, a life he sacrificed in the pursuit of liberty for his fellow man. As New Hampshire’s statesman Daniel Webster stated on his deathbed in 1852, “I still live.” So too do the men of Henri-Chapelle.
Aimee Gagnon Fogg holds a bachelors degree in Psychology and History. She has also completed Yad Vashem’s Holocaust certification program. Recently appointed New Hampshire coordinator for the Poland Jewish Cemeteries Restoration Project, Fogg is also involved with various Jewish cemetery restoration projects and mass grave memorializations throughout Eastern Europe. She is the author of “The Wind Wails” and “There Exists a Fence.” Her great-uncle, PFC Paul Lavoie, is among the 7,992 WWII soldiers who rest at Henri-Chapelle. Fogg resides in New Hampshire with her family.
The Manchester Historic Association operates the Millyard Museum at 200 Bedford Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the corner of Commercial and Pleasant streets in the historic Amoskeag Millyard. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The organization’s Research Center is located at 129 Amherst Street in downtown Manchester, in the Victory Park Historic District. Research Center hours are Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Please call (603) 622-7531 for more information, or visit the websitewww.manchesterhistoric.org.
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