2023-07-07 08:19:56
He was the last French veteran of the 1944 Allied landings in Normandy. Emmanuel Macron is presiding over a national tribute ceremony to Léon Gautier this Friday, in Ouistreham (Calvados).
“In accordance with his wishes and those of his family, this national tribute will take the form of military honors, and will take place on the beach of Ouistreham”, where he landed on June 6, 1944 with his 176 comrades from the Kieffer commando, specified the Presidency.
Léon Gautier on June 6, 2019. AFP/Damien MEYER AFP or licensors
The president will be accompanied by his wife, Brigitte Macron. The ceremony, open to the public, will be held in the presence of family and loved ones as well as members of the government, added the Elysée.
Léon Gautier died Monday at the age of 100. Born in 1922 in Rennes, he joined London and General de Gaulle in July 1940.
He had lived in Ouistreham since the 1990s where he continued, “driven by a burning thirst to transmit”, to tell his five years of war to middle and high school students, recalled the Elysée Monday in a tribute.
He had attended the 79th anniversary of the Allied landings, on June 6, last on the nearby beach of Colleville-Montgomery, in the presence of the Head of State and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
#Macron #preside #national #tribute #Léon #Gautier #Friday #Normandy