Association Nationale des Anciens Prisonniers Internés Déportés d'Indochine
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For the first time on 8 June 2005, in France, was celebrated the national day of homage to the dead for France in Indochina.
Tribute Madame Michèle Alliot-Marie Minister of Defense 51 years ago, the guns fall silent in Indochina. This silence was closing a century of French history in the Far East. He put an end to a painful eight-year war that began in the aftermath of the brutal Japanese occupation. Far from their homes on inhospitable terrain, facing an opponent elusive, brave and ever-better armed combatants French Expeditionary Force fought tirelessly with faith, zeal, courage and dedication that command admiration and impose respect. Their sacrifice was immense. Their tribute was that of suffering, blood and death. From 1945 to 1954, almost 100 000 soldiers of the French Union in Indochina fell. More than 76 000 were injured. 40 000 were taken prisoner. Among them, 30 000 never came back. The brilliance of their bravery, the panache of their commitment not meet too often in France, that the indifference or hostility of their fellow citizens. All these fighters have fought, suffered, died and, without doubt, the bitter sense of abandonment, injury ultimate ingratitude. Do not forget. Paratroopers, legionnaires, colonial soldiers, metropolitan, police, sailors, airmen, nurses and doctors: they came from France, Europe, North Africa or Black Africa. Their brothers in arms Vietnamese were fighting for their land, their freedom, loyalty. They were young. They died in the course of a runway into the mud of a rice field, in a prison camp. Today, for the first time, the nation officially makes a solemn tribute to our soldiers in Indochina. France has not forgotten. On this occasion, we must collect the remains of one of these combatants. He fell there, there are more than 50 years, somewhere along the NAM YOUN in the plains of Dien Bien Phu, the last scene of the tragedy whose greatness is beyond us. Through him, that is all his comrades that we pay tribute. That our soldiers fighting in Indochina can remain forever engraved in the memory of the French people. Their heroic actions were the culmination of a certain conception of the world, whose principles have called freedom, justice and democracy. Today in these countries, after many years of suffering, the war now belongs to history. New pages of peace, cooperation and friendship have been written and written again. In an uncertain world, where peace is never acquired, the memory of the exploits of our soldiers, that the strength of the values they have shown, helps us to stand by free men, vigilant and determined. Honor the fighters of Indochina! Tribute Mr Jean-Marie Rouart L'Adadémie Française In this moment we are talking about the war in Indochina, we hugged by a feeling when he enters as much excitement as sadness. Our heart is shared. Excitation to one of the finest examples of the courage of French soldiers. Sadness that courage has met so indifferent, so much misunderstanding on the part of the Nation. This war, which has the force of a terrible symbol, revives the memory of all combatants of the war in Indochina, whatever were their weapons, their grade, they were members of the Expeditionary Corps, legionnaires, Supplementary Indochinese, Moroccan Tabors. All were not only French by the blood, by suffering, by the ideal, but they now belong to the same fraternity. Mixed all their dreams, their courage, their blood on the red earth of Tonkin or waters muddy rice paddies of Annam and Cochin. Besides these major battles lost, like Dien Bien Phu and Cao Bang, which sparked both heroes galvanized by the energy of despair, do not forget the more obscure fighting: they too have given rise to acts of bravery bright . Their names are exotic, difficult to pronounce, speak only a few survivors. They all shape the geography of the sacrifice: THAT-KHE, COC XA, HOA-BINH, Tay Ninh, the Black River, the Red River, the Plain of Joncs marshes CAM AU, Colonial Road No. 1, that the soldiers called "street without joy", the RC4 they called "the road of death", Col pineapples, the PHAI LUNG, if conducive to ambushes. Let us not forget, more anonymous, these soldiers who defended twenty years, to 14,000 miles from their homeland, the forts attached to limestone peaks surrounded by the jungle. Under a merciless sun or in the warm monsoon rain, alone with their ideals and their flag. They showed a heroism all the more poignant that he was without witnesses, without memory. The passion that inspires us the memory of the combatants in Indochina, they have sent us. They have communicated their youthful enthusiasm. This cruel war, this tragic war, they wanted to see it as a great adventure, to serve a mission to serve the universal values of France. Many had responded to the call of the exotic, the risk of fiction. They looked far from their native land, meaning to their lives. They felt the tenderness in this country so beautiful, so much flattered that in their imagination of teenage dreams. They have lived a life of intense moments of emergency even if they paid the highest price, that of death, suffering, humiliation. But that is not here, in a chamber illuminated by the military glory, that we will learn that the profession of arms is always the risk of sacrifice. It is the mark of military honor, the duty of serious poetry, which gives it a spiritual value. This recognition of their sacrifice, we owe to the dead of the war in Indochina which we sometimes give the impression of being forgotten soldiers, the dead unburied. But we also owe to the living: the maimed, the deportees in the camps, those who have lost their blood or wounded who remained forever in their souls. Beyond the vicissitude of the fighting, the vicissitudes of war and politics, these unfortunate soldiers were shown of eternal values. Faced with an opponent whose / a bravery was equal to theirs, they won by their courage victory mysterious: it leaves behind a trail of light and the stars which never extinguished. The National Tribute to the Fallen for France in Indochina has been regularly celebrated on 8 June of each year. See CD in the folder "the celebration of 8 June 2006 and 7 June 2007 at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.   Photo INDO EDITIONS |
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