Armentières is a nondescript town in northern France with but one claim to fame: its mademoiselle, heroine of hundreds of World War I ditties, most of them dirty. For 50 years, it was a fame that Armentières preferred to leave unclaimed, but recently the town fathers have had a change of heart. Hoping for a tourist boom that might stimulate its sagging farm economy, Armentières last week began a fund-raising campaign for a statue in mademoiselle's, uh, honor.
Actually, says Tourist Bureau Chairman Louis Jeanson, 74, who, together with the local antique dealer,...
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