Landing of June 6, 1944: a tree of memory planted in the park of the town hall of Marvejols

This Thursday, June 6, 2024, a ceremony took place in the park of the Marvejols town hall to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landing in Normandy. A memory tree was planted.

It's with the voice of Jim Radford, this English veteran hired at the age of 15 at the time of the landing and his song The Shores of Normandy", which began the commemoration of the landing of June 6, 1944 and the start of the Battle of Normandy in the park of the town hall of Marvejols, this Thursday 6  ;June 2024.

The Marvejols students mobilized

In front of an audience of civil and military personalities, the students of the city's schools, the municipal children's council, were gathered around Patricia Bremond, mayor of the city. For remembrance but also to plant a memory tree for future generations. A student recalled the first lines of Verlaine's poem "chanson d’Automne", broadcast on the BBC a few hours before the landing:"The long sobs of the violins of autumn hurt my heart with a monotonous languor…" Then others, from Notre -Lady, performed "The Longest Day" by Paul Anka.

A young person from the Marvejols municipal council then recited a poem of his own composition: "War is an atrocity on the land, on the sea, in the air. Stop killing yourself, tearing yourself apart. We are all brothers…" Next was Patricia Bremond who spoke: < em>"We are gathered to celebrate the courage, the sacrifice, the determination of those who fought and who fell. It is our unwavering gratitude that we express today."

A young Ginkgo planted

A torch also passed on by Georges Meissonnier, former mayor of the city, who died on May 31 at the age of 99, like the former mayor. recalled the councilor : "He had participated in the landing in Provence and the liberation of France." Finally, Malcolm Théoleyre, sub-prefect of Lozère, closed the speeches: "For these ceremonies, our entire country is mobilized because it is also our cohesion around our republican values ​​that we celebrate. The enemy was not a people but an ideology […] our gratitude is immense." After a Marseillaise sung by the children, the assembly surrounded the tree of memory, a young Ginkgo, for the traditional shoveling of earth. A tree deemed indestructible, and which will be the living memory of this June 6, 2024, 80 years after the Normandy landings.

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