La mariée était en noir. The bride wore black.

June 1916. Exactly a century ago. WWI had started two years before. Two years of massive slaughter. For nonsignificant gains in the front line in the north and northeast of France. My grandfather, Louis Prodault, his brothers, cousins and in-laws, had been fighting for two years now. Some had already fallen. Morts pour la France. Fallen for France. Some, like my grandmother’s little brother, Alexandre Després, in the first weeks of the war. More would die until the end, on November 11, 1918.

Alexandre Després, my grandmother’s little brother, born in Piré-sur-Seiche, Brittany, died for France on August 22, 1914, in Charleroi, Belgium. WWI had started on August 3rd. Three weeks before.

WWI death count reaches 9 million dead. Plus 8 million wounded. Maimed for life. France paid the highest price with 1.4 million dead. A significant…