The commemoration of the Armistice was marked this Saturday, November 11, by the centenary of the Flame of Remembrance. To maintain the work of memory, nearly a hundred young people participated in the ceremony chaired by Minister Fadila Khattabi.
The commemoration of the armistice marking the end of the First World War took place in a particular context this year: the war in Ukraine, following aggression by the Russian Federation, continues and a conflict in the Gaza Strip , following the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, began.
In terms of memory work, 2023 marks the centenary of the Flame of Remembrance which burns continuously at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe. On November 11, 1923, André Maginot, then Minister of War and Pensions, himself a war veteran, lit it for the first time.
Schoolchildren, college students and SNU volunteers came in large numbers
To pay tribute to the 1,400,000 soldiers and 300,000 civilians victims of the fighting in France, Franck Robine, prefect of Côte-d’Or, organized the commemorative ceremony of the 105th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, this Saturday, November 11, 2023 .
After a time at the monument to the Unknown Soldier in the Péjoces cemetery, many civil and military authorities met at the monument to the dead of the City of Dijon, Edmond-Michelet roundabout.
The attendance was larger than usual with many children and adolescents. Nearly 100 young people followed the ceremony: students from the Alix la Providence school, Bachelard, Saint-Joseph and Saint-Michel colleges, volunteers from the Universal National Service, cadets from Civil Protection and even young firefighters from Dijon Transvaal.
Many civil and military authorities
Among the civilians present were Fadila Khattabi, Minister of Disabled People, Benoît Bordat, Philiipe Frei and Didier Martin, deputies from Côte-d’Or, as well as Océane Godard, vice-president of the regional council of Bourgogne-Franche- County, François-Xavier Dugourd, deputy vice-president of the Côte-d’Or departmental council, and François Rebsamen, mayor of Dijon.
The military authorities included General Sylvain Laniel, commander of the Burgundy-Franche-Comté gendarmerie region, General Hubert Charvet, commander of the Dijon gendarmerie school, Colonel Aymeric Andrieu, departmental military delegate and corps commander. of the 511th train regiment,
Among the representatives of the fighting world, there were notably Christian Perrin, president of the Dijon committee of veterans and war victims, René Aubry, president of the national federation of Algeria-Morocco-Tunisia veterans, Philippe Javelet, president of the association veterans of the 1st Free French Division, Lieutenant-Colonel Pascal Pomé, referent of the national association of veterans of the 2nd Armored Division, Henri Ménétrier, president of the Association for the Remembrance of the Resistance, General Olivier Herschens, president of the Côte-d’Or section of the society of members of the Legion of Honor, Gérard Savinski, president of the 19th section of the national mutual aid society of the military medal, Martine Chauney-Bouillot, president of the association of the National Order of Merit.
The prefect rekindles the Flame of the Nation
After saluting the flag and reviewing the troops, Franck Robine symbolically rekindled the Flame of the Nation from a hurricane lamp itself lit under the Arc de Triomphe on October 23.
Students from the Gaston Bachelard college read the message from the Flame committee under the Arc de Triomphe which joined forces with the National Office for Combatants and Victims of War so that “the Flame of Remembrance shines throughout France”.
According to the committee, “this flame reminds us of the immense sacrifice that the French army made during the First World War to defend France. The approximately 1.4 million soldiers killed in combat were the price to pay to defend every acre of land in our country and thus achieve victory.
There are also those killed in combat in successive conflicts, external operations as well as civilian victims: “all these sacrifices in the bodies and in the hearts have cemented the French nation to which we belong today”.
“The ingredients of the Great War” are found on the front in Ukraine
“For twenty months, war has returned to Europe,” noted René Aubry with gravity, “the height of irony, we find there the ingredients of the Great War such as the trenches which form the front and the determining role of artillery.
“The UFAC pays tribute to the exemplary courage of the poilus, as well as all those who died for France in all wars, and recalls one of these fundamental objectives: to oppose any settlement of conflict by war, to obtain it by negotiation, act with perseverance for peace and work in this direction with new generations,” explained René Aubry.
Three soldiers died for France in Iraq
The prefect then read the message from the Minister of the Armed Forces and the Secretary of State for Veterans and Memory, which emphasizes the steps taken on November 11, 1920 with the creation of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then on November 11, 1923 with the lighting of the Flame of Remembrance.
The names of the three soldiers who died for France in 2023 were cited, all three in Iraq: Sergeant Baptiste Gauchot, who died on August 18 in Erbil, Warrant Officer Nicolas Latourte, who died on August 20 in Erbil, and Sergeant- chef Nicolas Mazier, died on August 29 in Bacher.
Students from Alix Providence school sing “La Marseillaise”
After the laying of wreaths, the commemorative ceremony ended with the bell ringing “To the dead” and a “Marseillaise” sung by the students of the Alix Providence school.
The civil and military authorities then greeted the flag bearers as well as the different bodies who participated in the ceremony without forgetting to interact in a friendly manner with people in the audience.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
Message from Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces, and Patricia Mirallès, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Armed Forces, in charge of Veterans and Memory
(communiqué)
On November 11, 1923, it has already been five years since, in the Rethondes clearing, Marshal Foch signed the armistice agreement.
Five years already since Clemenceau presented the armistice to the Chamber of Deputies, saluting the rediscovered Alsace and Lorraine, honoring “our great dead who made this victory”. And in this terrible hour, at the call of the chimes of churches and belfries, in the silence of cannons which have fallen silent, tears of relief and pride flow throughout the country.
On November 11, 1923, the wounds had been slowly healing for five years. On the faces of broken faces. In the hearts of widows. In the solitude of orphans. In front of the open graves for a son or a father. At the foot of the war memorials with which the country is covered. The French have become sentinels of oblivion.
November 11 is no longer just a date. It has become the gathering of all French people.
It was November 11, 1920, when the unknown soldier was carried under the Arc de Triomphe, never to forget the price of Victory.
It was on November 11, 1923, when André Maginot lit the Flame, a living presence of the memory of the dead. A flame that has never been extinguished since.
It was November 11, 1940, when, in the turmoil of conscience, high school students and students in Paris made the flame a symbol of resistance. When among our Alsatian and Moselle compatriots, cut off from their homeland, resistance is organized.
It was November 11, 1943, when the resistance fighters from Ain anticipated the Liberation by marching through Oyonnax.
It was also November 11, 1944, when France regained the right to celebrate victory.
So, facing the names inscribed on the monuments before which we are gathered, we remember all those who died for France who find rest in our grateful memories. We remember those of 14, those of 40 and 44, those of 1954 and 1962, those of 1983 or 2008 and all the others. We remember Chief Warrant Officer Nicolas Latourte, Chief Sergeant Baptiste Gauchot and Chief Sergeant Nicolas Mazier, all three of whom died for France in 2023.
November 11 is dedicated to all those who fell to defend our Nation, our freedom, our values, on our soil as well as in external operations.
They have rights over us, as we have duties towards them. So let us carry their legacy lucidly. Because it is by honoring their sacrifice that the future of our Nation is built, without ever doubting our ability to recover from the greatest dangers.
And let us proudly wear the Cornflower of France, this flower whose bloom brought life back to the torn earth of the battlefields, which now honors the dead and supports those who remain.
Today the flame has been shining under the Arc de Triomphe for 100 years during which the French have never stopped proclaiming:
Long live the Republic !
And long live France!
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