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Morgan has real love for France. We are not sure just how this occured. The American monied class was more orinted toward Britain. But for Morgan it was France. Even before her inheritance she has made France her second hime, spending a great of time in Paris. Two developoments would change her life for ever and the lives of countless French people. First was her father's death and her inheritance which meant that she could go wherever she pleased. Second was World War I and the German invasion of France (1914). After the opening months and battles in Belgium, most of the war in the West were fought in nothern France. Picardy was especially hard hit because the Germans were so focused on Paris. This left northern France a sea of devestation as a result of the fighting and constant shelling. Large areas were depoulated and basically unavilable with buidings reduced to rubble, infrasructure destroyed, and the remaining population destitute. At the sane time, Germany was largely untoched. As mucha s the Germans complained about Versailles after the War, the were unconcerned about all the damage done France. Morgan began her war work in France as a private act of charity. Once American entered the War some Government assistance was possible.
She showed a fascination with France from an early point which is why she beacme became part owner of the Villa Trianon near Versailles (1903). She made several triops back and forth to France,mof couse traveling in luxury ocean liners.
Morgan was in Framce, vactioning with her friend Eliabeth Marbury when the Germans to avoid the French border forts, invaded Belgium and advanced toward Paris (August 1914). The women cross France join up with their friend Elsie De Wolfe in Paris. The French rmy manages to stop the Germans at the Marne, saving Paris (Spotember 1914).
They are apauled by the huge number of wounded soldiers and the lack of facilyies to care for them. Morgan like most Americans return home. But she retuns home to raisde money for the Allied cause and founds the Amerucan Find for French Wounded (AFFW). They collect money and supplies for French hospitals and soldiers. She returns to France and with her two friends convert the Villa Trianon residence into a hospital and convalesent center for injured soldiers. Se thriws herself into war work. America of course was still neutral. While destributing food and clothes to the soldiers, Morgan meetrs Canandian phscian Anne Murray Dike who wants to open a welfare house for refugees. The two become fast friends and associates. Morgan loves the idea. They create a new section within the AFFW aimed and assisting French civilians.
If Morgan had done nothing else before began working in Picardy, her life as a progrssive womn and philantropist would have been notable. Here work om Picardy was extrondinary. Picardy is part of Hauts-de-France, a historical region of northern France. It streaches from the northern suburbs of Paris and vineyards of Champagne to the beaches of the Bay of Somme on the English Channel. Regional capital Amiens is a university city known for its Gothic cathedral and floating gardens. After the French stopped the German drive toward Paris on the Marne, the Trench Line which developed ran through Picardy. Towns and villages were destoyed and most of the population fled or was evacuated. The Germans withdrew from some areas of Picardy and emply a scotched earth policy (1917). Affter renewed gains in the last German offensive (Spring 1918), the Germans were driven back and defeated by the Allied Hundred Days Campaign, (August-November 1918). The Germans asked for an armistice and withdrew from France and Belgium The Germans were gone but Picardy looked like a moon scape. Those who complain about the Versailles Peace Treaty, need to look at Picardy after the Germans left. Morgan's work in Picardy is one of the most successful philantrophic undertakings in histoty. She and Dr. Dike set to work in Picardy before the War was over. She worked with The American Friends of France, financed in part by Morgan. She recruited young American women help the people of Picardy. And she sought out donations on speaking tours across the United States. Morgan found an American artist in Paris to shoot used documentary photographs and moving pictures to show the devestation and terrible condiutions as a result of the War. She understood the power of film from an early point. We suspect that as progressive fmiliar she was aware of the work and impact of Lewis Hine and others. She set up shop near the front line, close to Soissons and the 'Chemin des Dames' at Blérancourt--the ruins of a Chateau. Here she ran her a formidable help organisation. She told her volunteers to prepare to travel to a warzone and had to speak French. They also need to know how to drive a car and when they arrived they had to learn how to maintain and repair cars and trucks--this alone astonished the local mpopuation. Her courageous group of some 350 young women set out to rebuild the region and bring aid to the few French civilians still living there. They helped povide soldiers and refugees with healthcare, food, and housing. Morgan insisted they wear uniforms so they were easily recognizable and were basically all equal in their effort. Much of the population of Picardy was returning refugees, but even the people who reamained were living in bombed out hovels with out sanutary facilities and water. (The Germans had poisined wells as they retreated.) As a result of the fighting, the region looked like a desolate moonscape. There were many different projects such as mobile libraries in an area in which libraries were not readily available to the population. (Americans of course can thank Andrew Carnegie for the Library Movement.) The liberated youung American women besides their many valuable projecrs, were a real eye opener in culturally conservative Picardy.
Hundred Days Campaign, (August-November 1918). The Germans asked for an armistice and withdrew from France and Belgium The Germans were gone but Picardy looked like a moon scape. Those who complain about the Versailles Peace Treaty, need to look at Picardy after the Germans left. Morgan's work in Picardy is one of the most successful philantrophic undertakings in histoty. She and Dr. Dike set to work in Picardy before the War was over. She worked with The American Friends of France, financed in part by Morgan. She recruited young American women help the people of Picardy. And she sought out donations on speaking tours across the United States. Morgan found an American artist in Paris to shoot used documentary photographs and moving pictures to show the devestation and terrible condiutions as a result of the War. She understood the power of film from an early point. We suspect that as progressive fmiliar she was aware of the work and impact of Lewis Hine and others. She set up shop near the front line, close to Soissons and the 'Chemin des Dames' at Blérancourt--the ruins of a Chateau. Here she ran her a formidable help organisation. She told her volunteers to prepare to travel to a warzone and had to speak French. They also need to know how to drive a car and when they arrived they had to learn how to maintain and repair cars and trucks--this alone astonished the local mpopuation. Her courageous group of some 350 young women set out to rebuild the region and bring aid to the few French civilians still living there. They helped povide soldiers and refugees with healthcare, food, and housing. Morgan insisted they wear uniforms so they were easily recognizable and were basically all equal in their effort. Much of the population of Picardy was returning refugees, but even the people who reamained were living in bombed out hovels with out sanutary facilities and water. (The Germans had poisined wells as they retreated.) As a result of the fighting, the region looked like a desolate moonscape. There were many different projects such as mobile libraries in an area in which libraries were not readily available to the population. (Americans of course can thank Andrew Carnegie for the Library Movement.) The liberated yojung American women besides their many valuable projecrs, were a real eye opener in culturally conservative Picardy .>
The Légion of Honour is the highest French order of merit, awarded for both both military and civil service. It was established by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1802). And it has been retained by all later French governments and régimes.
The motto is Honneur et Patrie ('Honour and Fatherland'). Its seat is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur next to the Musée d'Orsay, on the left bank of the Seine in Paris. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand officier (Grand Officer), and Grand-croix (Grand Cross). Mmembership in the Légion is technically restricted to French nationals, but foreign nationals who have served France or the ideals it upholds may receive the honor. Morgan was the first American woman appointed a Commander of the Légion of Honor (1932). We see many other honors such as turning the Chateau Blérancourt into a museum of her work. We also see a potahe stamp. But the Légion of Honour was the greatest tribute to her. -
Morgan returned to Picardy to help the people of Soissons where she had worked after Workd war I. Thebpopulation was being evacuated. She used her society connections to help fund her charity work. She compiling a cookbook to benefit the American Committee For Devastated France (AFF) (1940). It had recipes submitted by notable figures including Pearl Buck, Salvador Dalí, and Katharine Hepburn.
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