Holiday Day 13 – The Announcement of the 18 June

Unless you are a Francophile this title will probably mean very little to you. On the village noticeboard where we are staying, there was a notice stating that there would be a celebration of the Announcement of the 18^th June with a drink to follow. When I tell you that it was to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of this event you will probably start to know what it is about.

I guessed, but had the help of Wikipedia to fill in the details. The significant happening was that General De Gaulle newly exiled in London during World War 2 broadcast to the French people calling then to arms and to resist the German invader. The original broadcast was heard by very few people, but is iconic in the same way that Churchill’s “fight them on the beaches…” is to the British. It was also the point at which De Gaulle transitioned from being a junior minister and tank commander to a major political figure that would bestride Europe for the next twenty-five years.

All this is a prologue to the moving little ceremony that was held in in the appropriately named Place De Charles De Gaulle. About thirty-five village people gathered with a couple of hangers on like me. A man who I thought was the mayor made a short speech on the significance of the event, followed by another gentlemen reading the text of the actual broadcast. There was then a two-minute silence; all that was missing was a stirring rendition of the Marseillese.

I felt that the ceremony was moving because of its ordinariness, and the fact that almost all of the people there would have been too young to hear the speech, but nonetheless were remembering a significant event in their national history. It was also a timely reminder at that stage in history it was Britain alone that carried the torch of freedom.

The whole thing only lasted ten minutes but had a profound effect on me.