My grandfather kept a tiny, secret diary of his voyage across the Atlantic on board the liner "Espagne", on his way to France in the waning days of World War I. He and his fellow troops were secreted below decks in horrible conditions; the food was so bad the men often went without meals.

At some point, after dark I assume, my grandfather and his friend Frank Hanson, from Calais, Maine, happened to look through the porthole to the fancy dining room for the paying passengers, who included Mrs. Pankhurst and the wife of railroad magnate Harriman. A French steward noticed them and passed them delicious bread and real butter. He took them under his wing and managed to pass them food and fatherly encouragement nearly every day and sometimes more than once a day.

My grandfather was very impressed by the steward, mentioned him often and even wrote his entire name in the tiny diary, luckily for me. Isidore Augustin Floch. A kind genealogist who studies the Floch tree sent me the birth date/place of M. Floch and his parents' names. Born 1881 Rue du Mur, Landivisiau, Brittany, France; parents Gabriel Marie Floch and Catherine Bihan.

My grandfather expected to see M. Floch, who was planning to send them off with a veritable feast, before leaving the ship in Bordeaux, but circumstances didn't permit. They marched off the 4-1/2 miles, he estimated, to Rest Camp #2.

The only other data I can find is evidence of M. Floch's many voyages back and forth on the French Line in the New York Passenger Lists. I found a reference from his granddaughter searching for information about him in 1997, but the email address is defunct. It would be so nice to let this grandchild know how kind their grandfather was to two young doughboys from Maine, USA. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he had adopted doughboys on every trip.

Karl W Jewers

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