By RUSS OLIVO
WOONSOCKET â Marlene Gagnon shoves her hand deep into a rack of multi-colored clothing and yanks out a long, white gown of slippery sateen fabric with a ribbon of hieroglyphic-like imagery running up the back.
âThatâs Cleopatra,â she says.
When William Jolicoeur went off to war as part of the 306th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division in 1917, he was part of a band of men that was very welcome in France. General John Pershing was glad to have them. Marshal Ferdinand Foch was glad to have them.
You see, they were from Woonsocket and could speak the native tongue, making them even more valuable than the other doughboys who were landing in Europe in droves.
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