In January 1950, the young Toulon native Raymond Maufrais, barely 23 years old, disappeared in the Amazon forest. Loved by adventure and freedom, the Var explorer undertook to connect French Guiana to Brazil, via the Tumuc-Humac mountains. Of this crazy dream that cost him his life, all that remains is his travel diaries, discovered later at the site of his disappearance. And the obstinacy, not to say the obsession, of his father Edgar, who devoted twelve years of his life to trying to find the flesh of his flesh.
If the memory of the Maufrais father and son has, over time, been diluted in the waters of the harbor, Raymond still remains a myth for all those who have a taste for adventure. And – more curiously – for the Var patriotic associations. Before leaving for the Amazon forest, Raymond and Edgar were resistance fighters who actively participated in the liberation of Toulon.
The honors of the fighting world
As we commemorate this year the 80e anniversary of the landing and the liberation of Provence, it is to this past of “ordinary resistance fighters with extraordinary experiences” that the National Union of Combatants (UNC), the National Association of Combatants of External Operations wanted to pay tribute.
On the evening of June 27, a ceremony was held at Porte d’Italie, in front of the Maison du Combatant in Toulon, so that Edgar and Raymond Maufrais would not be forgotten. “symbols of an era, symbol of the refusal of renunciation, symbols of the life of a dream until its ultimate outcome”said Alain Moscowitz, president of the UNC of Var.
A model for youth
A ceremony in which four young Saint-Cyrians in uniform also took part, including the white and red cassowary. A rather rare presence in Toulon but entirely justified. From the Colonel Le Cocq promotion, the Saint-Cyriens in question are none other than the four second lieutenants Esteban, Jean-Dieudonné, Augustin and Victor who, last September, followed in the footsteps of Raymond Maufrais. A month of exhausting walking in a jungle that remains as hostile as ever.
Second Lieutenant Esteban is behind this expedition. Last January, he told TerreMag, a magazine of the Ministry of the Armed Forces: “Raymond Maufrais is like us. He had a taste for adventure and followed through on his convictions.”.
Last Thursday, due to the duty of reserve during this period of legislative elections, the young officer was not authorized to respond to the press. In a brief speech, he was however able to pay tribute to his Toulon model in these terms: “Youth is not the age of pleasure but of combats (…) Raymond Maufrais is the Epinal image of the resistance fighter with greatness of soul and unfailing will”.
