French connection: A Beaumont-Hamel survivor's family remembers

One hundred years ago, the poverty of the Port au Port Peninsulaon Newfoundland's west coastwas as pervasive as its spectacular sceneryand for its young men looking to find a betterway throughthe world,the battlefields of the First World War offered a way out, albeit a brutal one.

In September1914, 21-year-old EugneCornect, out mowing hay on Cape St. George, saw a recruitment ship alonghis beautiful coastline, and soon became soldier 429 of the Newfoundland Regiment's First 500, a fighting francophone member of the Blue Puttees.

"He wasn't fighting for the British well, in a way but he was for Newfoundland," his daughter Marina Cornectsaidfrom the kitchen ofher white saltbox home on the Port au Port Peninsula.

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As the100thanniversary ofBeaumont-Hamelapproachesthe regiment's most brutal battle, and Newfoundland's defining moment of the war she and the rest ofthe family still bear the scars of whatEugnesurvived on that fatal day ofJuly 1, 1916.

Battlefield survivor

EugneCornect had already endured battleat Gallipoli and a bout of dysentery when he arrived at Beaumont-Hamel as a scout, given the unenviable task of being one of the first soldiers over the top of the trench on July 1, meant to crossNo Man's Land and conquer the Germans on the other side.

A mission cut short by the enemies' artillery: only 68 of almost800 men answered roll call the next morning.

"They were all mowed down like sheep to the slaughter," said Marina Cornect, whose father was hit by shrapnel in his ankleearly on in the fight, spendingthe next 20 hours among the dead.

"He just laidthere and stayed there, because he knew if he if he stayed immobile, he may be able to survive," she said.

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At dawn, Cornectbegan crawling back to safety, meeting a similarly injured German solider amid the destruction.

"[They]just stayed there and stared at each other, he said, and [they]shook hands and then said goodbye," said Cornect.

"We were just fighting for the country,he said, not against the man right?That's theway he put it."

Father and son soldiers

EugneCornect made it back to Newfoundland, but the battle came with him. He eventually losthis leg to his injuries, as another painlingered underneath.

"He was a bit of a pestwhen he was drinking," saidhis son, Robert Cornect, admitting their relationship could be a rocky one.

"Rowdy when he was drinking, but when he was sober, he was a pretty good guy."

Despite their differences, battle proved to be a uniting force.Robert followed in his father's footsteps and became a soldier himself, fighting in the Korean War. In fact, seven of Eugne's eight sons joined the military.

"Genetic, it's in your blood," said Robert Cornect, adding when he returned home, his father was the only person on the Port au Port Peninsula who understood him.

"He was infantry too, see? And I was infantry, but I wasn'tin a war like he was in."

FollowingEugne'sfootsteps

Eugne Cornectnever wanted to revisit the French battlefield that shaped the rest of his life. But as Marina Cornect witnessed its impact, she became filled with a urge to see Beaumont-Hamel, a journey her father gave his blessing to.

In 2006, for the battle's 90th anniversary, she and her sister made the transatlantic journey along with other veterans' familiesto mark that historic moment.

"I was calmas anything, just trying to take it all in. I came home andfor weeks after all I saw was white crosses and poppies," she recalled, her emotions easily bubbling upa decade later.

Those feelings surface with more frequency these days, as the hundredth anniversary looms, as she remembers what her father strove to leave behind.

"We went, we saw,and we remembered."