Clip: Season 9 Episode 2 | 5m 58s | Video has closed captioning.
Claire Danes and Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncover the story of her great-grandfather's heroic sacrifice in World War I and the story of her grandmother's journey to see his grave in France.
Aired: 01/10/23
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-[Henry VO] Claire's maternal great-grandfather, a man named Peter Ebbert, died in World War I, leaving behind a wife and an unborn child, Claire's grandmother, Catherine.
Growing up, Claire knew Catherine well and spent a great deal of time with her.
But Claire had no idea what her grandmother had experienced as a child.
-Wow.
"Vet's baby unveils tablet to 'Daddy' she never saw."
How's that for a headline?
-[Henry] [chuckles] -"Catherine Ebbert, three years old, never saw her father, Captain Peter W. Ebbert, of Glen Rock, New Jersey, the first man from that town to be killed during the world war."
Huh.
-Almost three years after Peter's death, Catherine helped unveil a memorial plaque... -Mm.
-[Henry] Called "The Glen Rock Honor Roll."
-Oh, wow.
-[Henry] What's it like to see that?
-[Claire] Yeah, quite-- quite poignant.
I mean, it's particularly striking to see her as such a little girl, wrapped in an American flag.
-[Henry] Oh, yeah.
-That's a-- that's a... [chuckling] powerful image.
-[Henry] Yeah.
Well, they were pulling out all the stops.
[chuckles] -[Claire] They sure were!
Nothing subtle about that.
But I'm struck by... you know, the complexity of that, right?
How layered that is.
-Mm-hm, yeah.
-There's a lot going on there.
[chuckles] -[Henry VO] Despite all the fanfare, the actual details of Peter's death were not passed down, but they're worth a plaque of their own.
Peter died on the front lines in France, all because he volunteered to spot the location of enemy artillery -- a high-risk job that was not part of his assignment.
We found an account of his heroism in a letter written to his young wife Marion by a fellow soldier who was with him at the end.
-"I asked Peter if he was going to return, and he said no, he was going to the church tower to observe the artillery fire and report from which points it was coming.
He had not been in the tower 10 minutes before a large shell struck it.
I at once rushed up and found that a piece of shrapnel had struck your husband, killing him instantly.
The shock to me was great, for I loved him.
Your only consolation is that he died as a brave soldier should and had been recommended for exceptional bravery.
Major Thompson M.
Baird."
Wow, it's very moving.
[laughs] It's all very moving.
-[Henry] It is.
-Yeah.
That's the stuff of movies, right?
-[Henry] What do you think Marion felt when she received that letter?
I mean, all these years later-- 100 years later, it's emotional.
-Yeah, well, what an act of kindness.
-Mm.
-To know that there was somebody near him who valued him, loved him... -Yeah.
-Was a friend was probably reassuring.
-Oh, yeah, and said nice things about him.
-Said nice things, you know, that he was supported very close to the point at which he died, right?
Must have... been an important thing to hear.
-[Henry VO] Marion was just 21 years old when she received this news, and she was pregnant.
Claire's grandmother Catherine would be born just a few weeks later.
-[Henry] What's it like to learn that?
-[sighs] Um... well, I'd like to think that... yeah, that she brought joy to Marion.
-[Henry] Mm-hm.
-I don't know, that's really-- it's very sad.
-[Henry] It's very sad.
-Yeah.
That must have been very difficult.
-[Henry] She was a 21-year-old widow.
-Yeah.
It's provocative, right?
Because... there are so many contradictory forces at play, feelings at play.
-Yeah, mm-hm.
-Relief and kind of the ultimate happiness and the ultimate loss.
-And then every time she looks at Catherine... -Yeah.
-[Henry] She thinks of Peter.
-Yes.
-[Henry] Yeah.
-Yeah.
-[Henry VO] Peter was buried in a cemetery about 80 miles northeast of Paris, along with thousands of other American soldiers who perished in the war.
We don't know if Marion ever visited his grave, but Catherine did.
In July of 1932, she and her grandmother, Peter's mother, crossed the Atlantic on a journey sponsored by the United States government.
-[Claire] Wow!
-[Henry] Catherine was 13 years old.
Did she ever talk about that trip?
-No, no!
I wish I had known; I would have asked her!
-I can't believe she didn't tell you!
-Yeah, that's very surprising that that wouldn't have made it back to me, or maybe I've just forgotten.
It's just so striking.
-It is.
I don't think you'd forget.
"I went to France, baby."
-[laughs] -[Henry] "On a ship when I was 13."
-Yeah!
-"You did, Grandma?"
-On a ship!
-[Henry] Yeah!
-Huh.
-[Henry] What do you imagine it meant to her to see the grave of the father she never met?
-Well, I'm sure it was a useful... pilgrimage, right?
A useful ceremony.
-Mm.
-But it's abstract because how do you experience grief of someone you never knew, right?
-Right, yeah.
-Yeah.
-You have to experience an emotion without memory.
-Exactly.
-Yeah.
-That's very confusing.
Finding Your Roots.
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A new season of Finding Your Roots premieres January 3, 2023 8/7c! Tune in for all-new episodes as renowned scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. guides influential guests into their roots, uncovering deep secrets, hidden identities and lost ancestors.
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