On September 12, 2018, I was fortunate to have found a local guide to the Flirey area. He, Christophe Wilvers brought me to the place where Jay’s kitchen had been located 100 years before.
The years have been kind to this place. Gone is the destroyed landscape of war, its now green and lush with vegetation. Below are images of what the place looked like during the war followed by some photos taken when I visited. There’s one of me standing in a place Jay would surely have stood.
The cover photo of this post is my favorite. It is a condiment can found at the kitchen site. Walking through the woods and stopping at the site where Jay led and directed the cooks of Unit A, it lay under some leaves against the base of a tree. I like to think it was left there by a young Mess Sergeant 100 years ago knowing his grandson would one day come looking for the places he had been.
Jay in the Great War 