What does this page of History represent for you?
I have been lulled into it since my earliest childhood. My parents were touched in their blood. I have family who were killed by bombs, family friends who were killed by mines. They were pushed by the Germans. When they returned, after the first wave of bombings, many communities were razed. My parents had nothing left. What was buried under the carts was burned by incendiary bombs.
Why are commemorations so important to you?
Until the 1990s, shells were regularly found in our fields. During the 1992 consolidation of Saint-André-de-Bohon, more than a ton of German anti-aircraft munitions were found. On Sainteny, it was a German soldier who died in his parachute. It’s always remembered. The 101e Airborne has never lost so many men in a single battle, that of Carré de choux in Carentan. Nearly 3,000 soldiers almost in a day and a half! It’s part of us.
In Saint-Lô, on June 5, a ceremony in memory of the civilian victims took place, but not only that.
For 40 years, from 1984 to today, we have commemorated the memory of the Liberators, of the dead soldiers, and it is justified! At 80e, we continue to commemorate the glory of our liberators. This seems completely normal to me. This reflects the construction of a united Europe. At the same time, there are all the other civilians who died under the bombs. The towns and hamlets were bombed because they were strategic crossroads to prevent the Germans from arriving or leaving and to ensure that they remained there to make them disappear.
Has the agricultural world also suffered?
The number of peasants injured when returning to the stables, while plowing the fields in the 15 years after the war, is enormous. The number of horses amputated because they jumped on a mine was regular. There, it is not marked civilian victim. The civilian victims are those who died under the bombs, under the shells. Afterwards, they are still dead.
I don’t want us to forget those who nourished us without ever saying anything, in all humility. In their own way they resisted by nourishing and welcoming. Many peasants and farmers hosted Para-Americans for 1, 2, 3 days. We must pay tribute to these people.
It is time. 80 is not the age of maturity but it is when memories start to fade. Anyone who is not convinced of this page of History will never talk about it.
How were these tributes translated?
I asked the mayor of Saint-Lô, the prefect of La Manche, the president of the Departmental Council, that there be a link to rurality in this tribute to the victims. I wanted us to think of these men and women who have left either a limb or their life. This story is engraved in the memories of the rural world
Until having the presence of Chambre de France. For what reasons ?
Chambre de France, chaired by Sébastien Windsor, as part of a decentralized office, is present at various commemorations on behalf of all the peasants, all the farmers who have suffered. We celebrate the memory of victims in general, civilian, urban and rural victims.
This is the moment to remember that the war damage was significant. There were no more cattle or horses. Everything is gone. There were entire families ruined. My parents who had around twenty cows, horses, apple trees, there is nothing left. No more house, no more bedding, no more photos, no more memory, no more nothing.
People were going back to work. It is a way of remembering that after the war, farmers had a considerable role in the reconstruction of their country. Everyone at home was reshaping the French landscape. If we don’t spare a thought for our farmers, our grandmothers, I would say that our society is selfish! I would have failed in my duty as president of the Chamber of Agriculture if we had passed this period in silence on June 5.
