François, Onésiphore Valet

Born 6 September 1887 in Eswars (Nord, in the district of Cambrai)
Died 11 January 1978 in Eswars

A farmer by profession, François, Onésiphore VALET was called up for military service as part of the recruitment class of 1907 for the subdivision of Cambrai (district of Cambrai-Est) with regimental number 1795. He was assigned as a private to the 147th Infantry Regiment on 8 October 1908.
He returned to Eswars after being placed on reserve for the regular army on 25 September 1910.  He was later mobilised and assigned to the 132^nd Infanty Regiment stationed in Reims where he arrived on 3 August 1914. 
Evacuated from the front after receiving a bullet wound to the left thigh on 22 August 1914 to the north of Longuyon, he was admitted to Hôpital Complémentaire no. 17 of Toulouse four days later. He left hospital on 15 September for a 30-day convalescence leave, but at the end of this period he was reported absent from the roll call on 15 October and declared a deserter on 20 October.  The battalion commander recorded him as a deserter, albeit adding that "because Northern France has been invaded, this serviceman may have been taken prisoner, although the depot has not received any such report".
In fact, after remaining in hiding for four to five months, knowing that the Germans were occupying Cambrai, he had indeed been taken prisoner at Les Eparges on 17 February 1915 and sent in captivity to Cottbus, the main prisoner-of-war camp in Brandenburg, to the south-east of Berlin on the Spree River.  
He was repatriated in January 1919 and then placed in the reserve force (132^nd Infantry Regiment). 
In 1932, the Office National du Combattant (National Office for Servicemen) issued him with the Carte du Combattant (veteran’s card).