Nine million soldiers died in the Great War, each one of whom had a personal story to tell. My friend Susan sent me something today about one of those young men. Hubert Rochereau was a twenty-one year old second lieutenant in the 15th Dragoons when he perished in Flanders fields in April 1918. Later he would posthumously receive the croix de guerre and Legion of Honour. What makes his story so poignant is that Hubert’s parents preserved his childhood bedroom for posterity in the decades after he was killed. Even more incredibly, the home’s current owners have kept the room that way as well.

(image/Library of Congress)