In Saint-Augustin, “Le Gisant”, made of white marble, hosted this commemoration for the first time. It is the work of the sculptor Malterre de Saujon. This life-size sculpture represents a soldier of the class of 1870, “immobile in eternal peace, his uniform and equipment faithfully reproduced, his kepi fallen at his feet”, recalling the famous poem “Le dormeur du Val”, by Rimbaud.
It is a representation of Justin Élie Lecler, born September 10, 1850 in Saint-Augustin. This young man, a soldier during the Franco-Prussian War, was mortally wounded before dying on February 20, 1871 in the ambulance of the “Petit Séminaire”, commune of Ornans, in Doubs, far from his native land and his parents. , Élie Lecler and Adèle Delidon. “Three epitaphs engraved on the tomb tell his story and his last moments,” indicates the president of the departmental section of the Society of Volunteers Xavier Perry.
The monument moved
The cemetery where “Le Gisant” was located was in poor condition, invaded by brambles and vegetation and even attracting stone looters, the commune of Saint-Augustin, with the support of the Drac (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs) and the Saintonge-Océan Reformed Church, decided in 2010-2011 to move the tomb next to the Protestant temple to protect and restore it. “The body was not exhumed and placed under the tomb,” explains Xavier Perry.
