{{short description|French heroine of the First World War}} {{Infobox person | name = Marie Drouet | image = Marie drouet lunion 1963.jpg | alt = | caption = Marie Drouet before World War I | other_names = | birth_name = Marie-Ernestine Juillard | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1885|04|17}} | birth_place = Chartèves | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1963|11|19|1885|04|17}} | death_place = Bétheny | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Marie Drouet''' (born '''Marie-Ernestine Juillard''', April 17, 1885 in Chartèves – November 19, 1963 in Bétheny) was a French heroine of World War I.
== Biography == Born April 17, 1885, in Chartèves in the department of Aisne,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=December 1963|title=La vieille dame enterrée dernièrement à Bétheny était une héroïne de 1914|language=fr|work=L'Union}}</ref> she is the third daughter of Auguste Juillard and Victorine Marchand.
She married Charles Drouet on January 15, 1906, in Bétheny where she lived<ref name=":0" /> and ran a grocery store called “Le Pot-au-rouge” on Henri-Gand street.
In 1914, Marie Drouet's husband was at the front in Verdun. Despite her family charge of four children, she saved many wounded lying on the battlefields around Reims.
She died on November 19, 1963, in Bétheny, where she had continued working as a grocer.<ref name=":0">Bernard Cornuaille, ''Femmes d'Exception en Champagne, Marie Drouet,'' Le Papillon Rouge Editeur, 2016 pp. 181–189</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Sa grand-mère était une héroïne en septembre 1914|url=http://abonne.lunion.fr/art/region/sa-grand-mere-etait-une-heroineen-septembre-1914-ia3b24n410496|access-date=2020-09-12|website=Journal L'Union abonné|date=19 September 2014 |language=fr}}</ref>
=== World War I civil heroine === Throughout the conflict, avoiding French and German encampments, she transported the wounded from the battlefield to the hospital using her plow and donkey.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> She also informed French artillerymen of German positions<ref name=":0" /> by means of slips of paper displayed at her windows.<ref name=":1" />
Suspected by the French secret service of working for the enemy, the order accompanying the captain who came to arrest her at her home exonerated her. He recognized the person who picked up the wounded, the incident was closed and Marie cleared.
It was during this period that she gave birth to her fifth child.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
=== Legacy === Marie received a medal from the city of Reims shortly after the Armistice, after which she fell into anonymity until her death in 1963. The month following her burial, an article in the newspaper ''L'Union'' recounted her exploits.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
In 2014, still in the same newspaper, a second article was devoted to her on the occasion of the hundred years of the First World War.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> In April 2018, Val-de-Vesle dedicated a street to her.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Val-de-Vesle: les femmes prennent le pouvoir dans les rues|url=http://abonne.lunion.fr/art/83670/article/2018-04-02/val-de-vesle-les-femmes-prennent-le-pouvoir-dans-les-rues|access-date=2020-09-12|website=Journal L'Union abonné|date=2 April 2018 |language=fr}}</ref> In September 2018, on the occasion of Heritage Days, the ''Association of Friends of Old Bétheny'', organized an exhibition dedicated to her at the Bétheny museum to commemorate her rescue of many wounded.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Du sport et de l'histoire|work=Béthenyinfos, bulletin municipal d'information|url=http://ville-betheny.fr/IMG/pdf/bi68_complet_bd.pdf}}</ref> In 2018, during the commemorations of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, a tribute was paid to her in front of the monument to the dead of Bétheny.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Raphaël Blanchard, municipal councilor, statu|url=https://twitter.com/blanchardraphal/status/1061591150199533568|access-date=2020-09-12|website=Twitter|language=en}}</ref>
== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drouet, Marie}} Category:French women in World War I Category:1885 births Category:1963 deaths Category:People from Aisne Category:People from Marne (department)