Old Lady's Grandfather Goes To War

Among the papers I rescued yesterday was a copy of my grandfather's memoir, and a letter I wrote 10 years ago to Citibank about it. (I never got an answer from Citibank.)

My grandfather was a World War I flyboy. In his memoir, he tells of how he and his fellow Americans were shipped to Europe, without notice, without pay, and without provisioning. That was about late 1917. They were moved around England, and then:

After a few days we were moved to Paris. We were taken to some French barracks in some run down part of the city. We were told we could stay there free or could find quarters where we pleased. But we were ordered to report back there at ten A. M. three

days later. The barracks were vermin infested, dirty, with straw to sleep on. The blankets revolted us. We told the officer in charge we had not been paid and asked what to do. He said that was beyond his province. He himself had been a cadet up to a few months previously.

There we were, practically broke, and no provision made for us. Some of the fellows were flat broke. I had a few dollars. Fortunately for me the Western Union man had cashed Roberts' money order. Roberts said he would advance expenses until pay day, whenever that would be, for me and another of our friends. . . .

The next day Roberts, another boy and I were walking down one of the streets. We ran into another group of our contingent and one of the fellows said he had met a friend of his who worked in the Paris branch of a New York bank. I think the name of the bank was the Farmers and Mechanics Bank, but am not sure now. He told us his friend, after hearing our dilemma, said he might be able to help and to have all the fellows he could contact be at the bank that afternoon at a certain hour. Our two officers, who had been commissioned just before we left the states, were to be there also. About fifty or more of us were at the bank at the time set.

An official of the bank said the bank, because of the unusual circumstances, would lend us two hundred and fifty francs apiece, slightly under fifty dollars at the then rate of exchange, provided the officers would endorse our notes. The officers promptly demurred, for which I did not blame them. But they did say they would identify us. After a conference between the bank people present this was agreed to. We signed notes and got the money then and there. While it was no great sum we were solvent. I have always been grateful to this bank and still am. . . .

We got paid, finally, just before Christmas. [By this time, the contingent had been moved  from Paris to Foggia, Italy.] . . . .

Before we went on leave with several other fellows I went to the Banco d'Italia in Foggia to send the bank in Paris the money I had borrowed. Nothing had been mentioned about interest so I added about six percent interest and then to make sure added a few more francs. It was my first introduction to Italian banking. Every bookkeeping process involved was performed before a check was given to me. It took at least a half hour to pay in my money and get the draft in return. On my return I found a letter from the Paris bank advising I had sent too much and they had deposited the balance to my account. I still have a deposit in the Paris bank if it is still there. 

My grandfather probably dictated his memoir to my grandmother, who typed it up for him. It was probably written in the early to mid 1950s (he died 1958). His memory was pretty damn good -- I don't think I can recall events from my early 20s with that level of detail. Still, I think he may have gotten the Paris bank's name wrong.

Around 2007, I wrote Citibank asking if they had any records of these loans. According to the letter, I had found a bank directory from that time that listed a Farmers' Loan & Trust Company with an office at 41 Boulevard Haussman, Paris, 1917. That was the only bank with Farmers or Mechanics in its name. And according to Citibank's website, its predecessor, City Bank, merged with Farmers' Loan & Trust Company in 1929. (An unfortunate year. It certainly doesn't bode well for my grandfather's bank account!)

I'm going to try to contact Citibank again. I just addressed the 2007 letter generally, to "Customer Service". I need to find the right contact person. It's a great story, if they were the ones who rescued my grandfather and his squadron.