Tales from the Archives: DAR Commemorates the Tilloloy Centennial

As DAR War Relief Service Committee Bulletin No. 18 notes, Tilloloy was “a prosperous farming community before it experienced the horrors of war.” The occupation by the Germans in 1917 caused “utter devastation.” Citizens’ homes had been completely “destroyed, the fields [were ruined], the fruit trees chopped down. The people themselves [were] penniless and hungry, but their spirits [were] unconquered.” With DAR’s help, they could again be self-supporting and “face the future without despair.”

The French government decided to use its war indemnity to pay for rebuilding the houses and other buildings and suggested DAR agree to fund a complete water system for the village. That was something the French government could not accomplish and it would be a fitting and lasting gift from the Daughters. The water system consisted of a well, a large reservoir, a windmill, ten or twelve small hydrants along the roads, two fire hydrants, and two watering troughs for animals, one of which was also a decorative fountain. Construction began in November 1920.

President General Anne Minor responded, “In presenting this gift from our Society, I am expressing the love, the honor, the high regard in which France is held by every Daughter of the American Revolution. These waterworks betoken the friendship, the gratitude, the love which our Society bears to France today, and which our ancestors bore to Lafayette and to the France of long ago.”

If you haven’t already, please take a look at this special 130th Continental Congress presentation for an in-depth discussion of DAR’s accomplishments at Tilloloy.

Please see also our online exhibit honoring the DAR members who selflessly and tirelessly dedicated themselves to the World War I relief effort. Their hard work and patriotic spirit contributed much to America’s victory. http://www.dar.org/WomenofResilience