It was in 1934 that Guitard's 'Souvenirs' were published in Paris for the first time. The publisher, perhaps a distant relative (his name is Eugène Humbert Guitard), explains in his preface that our grenadier was born on 22 May 1790 at Escalquens, Haute-Garonne. Conscript of the Year X, he was assigned to the 7th Cohort, 1st Company. Arriving at the corps on 4 April 1809, Guitard was transferred to the 2nd Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of Conscript Grenadiers a few days later, which in 1810 became the 1st Grenadier Tirailleurs. On 15 June 1811, young Joseph joined the Walcheren Regiment (Holland) and then, on 3 July of the same year, he served in the ranks of the 131st Line Infantry Regiment as a corporal (3rd Battalion, 5th Company). His account was written, at the instigation of his son, between 1840 and 1860. His story is clear, without embellishment, and retraces quite well the journeys that a soldier of the Grande Armée followed through Europe at war ...