Help trace Amiens family to return lost First World War postcards

An Australian woman is appealing for help tracing the descendants of a family from Amiens (Somme) so she can return a collection of World War One postcards taken from an abandoned home by her great-grandfather.

Nicki Rogers inherited the postcards, collected by Australian soldiers as they passed through northern France during the war. Among them are 12 cards exchanged between Juliette Herbault and Victor Herbault, whom she believes lived in the Amiens area.

“My great-grandfather fought in France during World War One. As the soldiers moved through towns, they collected postcards from abandoned homes,” Ms Rogers told The Connexion.

Using details in the cards and their handwritten messages, she believes Victor was born between about 1892 and 1897 and lived at 16 Rue du Marais in Renancourt, Amiens. Juliette appears to have been a similar age and signed several cards: “Your wife, Juliette Herbault.”

Despite searching genealogy websites and military records, Ms Rogers has been unable to identify the family.

Some cards include other family names:

Cher Victor,

Je pense toujours à toi, bien le bonjour à ta mère et ton père pour moi, et Marie et à Lucienne.

Ta chérie qui t’aime,

Juliette.

Translation:

Dear Victor,

I am always thinking of you. Please give my best to your mum and dad, and to Marie and Lucienne.

Your sweetheart who loves you,

Juliette.

“It has been both insightful and fascinating to have them translated using AI and to read first hand what ordinary people were writing about during this time of conflict,” she said. 

“It is a beautiful yet heartbreaking love story, and I feel it is not my story to keep here in Australia. I am reaching out to anyone that may be able to assist me in finding the family so I can send the cards to their rightful home.”

Readers with information about the Herbault family can contact Ms Rogers at nickirogers3@gmail.com.