Less Than a Mile Apart: How Two WWI Foes Became Family in America

When I joined MyHeritage four months ago, I was looking for a platform that could help me break through the walls I kept hitting on other genealogy sites. I’m still in the learning phase of my family history journey, but the early successes have been thrilling—I’ve already connected with distant cousins and uncovered documents I never knew existed. Yet, out of all the records, censuses, and military draft cards I’ve collected, nothing compares to the incredible, almost unbelievable story of my two grandfathers.

Andre Burner

It is a story of war, the complex borders of Europe, a staggering battlefield coincidence, and ultimately, reconciliation in America.

Standing on opposite sides of the line

My maternal grandfather, Sgt. James R. Mansfield, was a second-generation Irish immigrant whose family hailed from Tipperary. Filled with patriotic duty, Jim enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1918 and was among the first doughboys shipped over to France with the American Expeditionary Forces. He served as a medical professional in the 79th Infantry Division — a unit heavily engaged in some of the most brutal fighting of the war.

James Mansfield in France, 1918, wearing his gas mask (right)

Meanwhile, my paternal grandfather, Jean Burner, was living an entirely different reality in the Meuse region of France. Because of the complex history of Alsace-Lorraine — a region that constantly shifted between French and German administration — my grandfather and his family were caught in the crosshairs of identity.

“One time they were German, one time they were French,” I remember hearing.

Jean Burner, Andre’s paternal grandfather who fought in WWI in the German army

Because the region was under German control at the time, Jean was impressed—forcibly conscripted—into the Imperial German Army. He was a Frenchman at heart, forced to wear the uniform of Germany.

In the autumn of 1918, both of my grandfathers fought along the fronts in the Alsace and Meuse-Argonne sectors. As it turns out, during the ferocious Battle of Montfaucon, they were positioned within a single mile of each other. One was saving lives in an American uniform; the other was fighting for his survival in a German one.

I’m still not sure which one of them was the worse shot, but I am profoundly glad they both missed. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here to tell this story today.

The distinguished service cross and a great escape

My grandfather Jim Mansfield survived the war as a decorated hero. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), the United States’ second-highest military decoration for valor, for his extraordinary bravery in aiding wounded U.S. soldiers under heavy fire.

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