Clarence Morel

He should have left from St. Nazaire for Pennsylvania and home in 1919 after serving his time in the American Expeditionary Forces. Clarence Morel had a job waiting for him on a newspaper back in Harrisburg and no prospects for work in France. But he could not get Paris out of his head and ended up quitting his job, upsetting his family, and remaining in France with no prospects and little money in his pocket. Providence – says a French proverb – takes care of infants and fools. But six weeks later Morel had a job as a stringer for United Press and found himself married after eight months. He had no quarrel with his country, and there were times Morel yearned for a plate of blueberry hotcakes, yet he loved the way the French had mastered the art of living and enjoying life. Barring semi-annual visits home to the States, Morel was happy as an expatriate and had made a name for himself as one of the chief correspondents in the Consolidated News Service’s Paris bureau.