On the day of homage to hero from Gendarmeriemany Gendarmes were honored by receiving decorations in Paris and in the provinces.
We collected the testimony of two of them. This is the adjutant Ludovic Combesof the proximity brigade of Saint-Paul Le-Jeune in Ardèche, which received the police medal at the Invalides and the Gendarme Eugenie Marcq, of the proximity brigade of Bar-sur-Seine which was decorated at the Aube group, near Troyes, with the gold medal for acts of courage and dedication
On the same theme: The heroes of the Gendarmerie celebrated
Warrant Officer Combes Ludovic saved two people during a fire
On August 4, 2022, at the end of the day, Warrant Officer Combes, the first to march from the brigade of Saint-Paul-le-Jeune, (Ardèche) was on patrol with Chief Philippe in Chambonas.
As the end of service draws near, Ludovic sees thick, black smoke rising over a block of houses. “We park the car at a good distance and while my buddy calls for help at my request, I go to the house whose floor is on fire; I test the door, it is not closed, and I enter a room, and I come across a lady, 40, 45, seated, who does not react” remembers the one who was a volunteer firefighter during his adolescence. “The tenant does not speak, she is indifferent to what is happening above her, I explain the situation to her, she agrees to go out and takes her cat with her three kittens” continues the soldier who connects, once the woman is safe, on a terraced house belonging to the same owner and rented. The Gendarme tests the door, it opens on a room in which a man of about 35 years old is lying on the bed with his earphones on his ears, his eyes closed. “I asked him to get out urgently, he didn’t take any stuff and followed me, I gave him to the chief, and the firefighters arrived right after and if they couldn’t save the first house, they avoided in extremis the spread to the second” details the 43-year-old warrant officer. “At the time, I did not have the feeling of having saved lives, the danger is concealed, I did not think, it was necessary to go there” testifies Ludovic who received the medal of the Gendarmerie from the hands of the Director General. The one who has 23 years of service did not expect it. “The brigade commander had applied for the award, but I did not expect this decoration, it is a very great honor and it is a duty to go to Paris to participate in the ceremony in order to pay tribute to deceased comrades” told us Ludovic who “climbed” with his wife and children, invited by the General Management.
Warrant Officer Combes, who had a vocation to serve, started as Deputy Gendarme. Trained in Tulle, he served in Lozère a few months before passing the NCO competition. At the end of his schooling in Libourne (Gironde), he cut his teeth in mobile at the EGM 24/5 in Grenoble. Five years later and great missions, the OPJ competition in his pocket, he joined the “white” in the community of brigades of Thueyts, company of Argentière, before being assigned to the brigade of Montpezat-sous -Bauzon where he stayed for five years. When the latter was dissolved, he joined the brigade of Saint-Paul-le-Jeune. Warrant Officer Combes is already decorated with the National Defense Medal, gold level, and the Territory Protection Medal with Trident and Egide clasps.
Eugénie to the aid of a mother and her children wounded by stabbing
On January 6, 2023 at 11:42 p.m., on patrol with a comrade, Gendarme Eugénie Marcq of the Bar-sur-Seine brigade heard on the radio a call from the Gendarmerie’s operational and intelligence center (CORG) for an attempted murder. stabbing a mother and her two children in Montreuil-sur-Barse. However, the team requested by the CORG being 40 minutes from the scene, Eugénie and her partner informed the operational center that they could go to the scene, being closer. Arrived on the spot, the two Gendarmes assessed the situation and found that the suspect, entrenched at the back of the house according to their information, had set fire to the ground floor after breaking two panes.
After closing the perimeter, Gendarme Marcq then decided to evacuate the mother and her two children. His comrade reached the upstairs window and first passed the children to Eugenie and then the mother. The three were immediately handed over to the fire department. “The two children, twins aged 9, seriously injured, were covered with ax and knife wounds, it was not a pretty sight” remembers the 27-year-old young woman, a judicial police officer. The firefighters then arrived and extinguished the fire, allowing the PSIG, who had arrived on the scene in the meantime, to carry out a reconnaissance in the house. Arrested, the author of the attempted murder of the mother and her children is in pre-trial detention.
Originally from Nancy, Eugénie began to serve very early by enlisting as a reservist in the Air Force at the age of 17 after a military preparation. She then passed the voluntary assistant Gendarme competition and after her training in Tulle joined the departmental judicial intelligence brigade of Pontoise (95). She quickly passed the non-commissioned officer competition and joined the first promotion of the Dijon school. The Bar-sur-Seine brigade is his first assignment. Already decorated with the National Defense Medal and the Territory Protection Medal with Trident clasp, Eugenie Cava now wears the gold medal for acts of courage and dedication. “A great pride to be decorated on February 16” she comments.
