First World War travelling exhibition - Cesson
Cesson in France is twinned with Chipping Sodbury and the Parish of Dodington.
July 1914 it was essentially an agricultural community, with three large farms growing wheat and sugar beet.
2 to 14 August 1914 all men aged 20-50 had to assemble and leave for the war, with vehicles, horses and harness.
August 1915 onwards Doctor Gardavot was called up, so that the village no longer had a doctor. This was the worst year of casualties for Cesson. Eight men from the village were killed. Houses were requisitioned for refugees from Paris. There was a military camp near the village and a regiment billeted in the Château de Saint-Leu. Some villagers volunteered at the Military Hospital in Melun.
14 July 1919 victory was officially celebrated in Cesson by a torchlight procession, fireworks and a dance. In total, 22 men from Cesson had given their lives for their country.
In May 1922 the Monument to the soldiers from Cesson who gave their lives, was unveiled by a representative of the Prefect of Seine et Marne.
Women from Cesson at Melun Secondary School, converted into a military hospital.
A veterinary hospital for wounded horses was opened in the tiny village of Verneau near Cesson.
The war memorial in Cesson
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