Name
Adalbert Gaston Henri Leopold Bernard de Forceville
17-11-1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
French Army
2054
89th Infantry Regiment (89th RI)
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Edmunds College Memorial, Old Hall Green
Biography
Born on 17-11-1894 in Cour-Cheverny (41 - Loir-et-Cher, France)
The following text was transcribed from The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College:
The first obituary below is fairly brief, but was followed up in the following magazine with a more detailed one, also below.
With very deep regret we learn that Bernard tie Forceville, who was a student here from 1907 to 1909 and whose last visit to the College was as recent as Speech Day in July, was killed while leading his men in a charge at Vauquois. From an appreciation of his noble character written by his friend M. Emmanuel Reviere in L' Echo du Centre of 16th March, we learn this fact alone, without other details. We hope to give a portrait and memoir in our next number.
* * *
Though the first news that reached us of Bernard de Forceville's death proved to be unofficial, the months that have passed have lessened even the slender hopes that were entertained by those that loved him. Officially missing, we must count him for ever among the heroes buried in unknown graves. Left in the hands of his country's foes, we trust that he met with not unkindly treatment from them, though it be that he asked for but a little earth to cover him in death.
Adalbert Gaston Henri Leopold Bernard de Forceville was born on Nov. 17, 1894, and spent his early years at. the Christian Brothers' School at Blois. During his two years at the College 1907-1909 he endeared himself to all. Which of us does not remember the term by which he first became known to us and in his case ‘cher Bernard' was more than a form of greeting. In spite of a reserve partly natural to him, partly induced by finding himself among strangers, he became popular among the boys and was liked by his masters. Quick to learn, he soon spoke English fluently and well, so much so that in the holidays after he left the College he was mistaken for an English boy by an Englishman in France. He left to continue his studies in Switzerland for the French baccalaureate which he gained in 1913. and he had already passed a year in Park engaged in higher studies when war broke out. That ended his career as it has ended many another's. Yet he was of those that a nation can least afford to lose. I knew him best in the later days. His patrician ancestry, his Catholicity that was more to him than a heritage, his modern training, had combined to produce a type of the new France for which so many of us have been looking. His friends mourn his loss But his country should mount him too, for he was one whose influence in days to come should under God's providence have meant more for his country's good than even the glorious death he found. J. C.O.B.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Di Vanderson, The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College
