Private Henri Lecorre And His Rifle Rosalie

Bruce, a frequent contributor to this blog, sent me the story about a World War I French Canadian soldier and the rifle he named Rosalie. Lecorre carved "Rosalie" and the names of the battles he'd fought in on the gun. When a commanding officer discovered the carving on the rifle, he had Lacorre thrown in the stockade  for “defacing the King’s property” and his rifle was taken from him twice but he managed to retrieve it both times. Then in June 1918, in Neuville-Vitasse, he was forced to abandon Rosalie on the battlefield when he was injured. Thirty-eight years later the two were reunited when Lecorre randomly found her at an exhibit of military effects at the La Citadelle de Quebec museum.