Bram. November 11: “Peace is not a given, never!”

Upon arrival at the War Memorial, the ceremony began with the reading of messages from the Minister of the Armed Forces and the French Union of Veterans. After laying four wreaths of flowers, Eugène Saffon, president of Fnaca, recited the names of all the Brames soldiers who died for France during the various conflicts. Ms. Mayor then spoke, drawing inspiration from Marshal Foch in the introduction: “Because a man without memory is a man without life, a people without memory is a people without future.” She continued: “This date unites us to remember that all wars are deadly, bring disarray, horror and sorrow… And yet today the war persists: in Ukraine, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Gaza And yet today we are still confronted with simplistic ideologies which feed on the hatred of others and which fundamentally undermine our ideals of brotherhood. It is up to us to preserve peace because all these conflicts are rooted in. the smallest ferments of hatred and intolerance, in the smallest interstices of injustice and inequalities”.

“It is earned, protected, cherished “

Addressing the representatives of Veterans, teachers, young municipal councilors and the entire audience, Claudie Faucon-Méjean concluded: “If we must learn a lesson by meditating each year at the foot of the War Memorial , is that peace is never a given! On the contrary, it must be earned, protected, and cherished.

Two young college students, members of the CMJ, read the moving letter from a young poilu, who went missing after the battle of Loos, in Pas-de-Calais, in 1915. On December 14, 1914, he wrote to his parents: ” Things happen in the war that you wouldn't believe, the war seems something else, it was sabotaged, the day before yesterday French and Germans shook hands Incredible, I tell you, not me, I will have some! I regretted it.” As the mayor had said a few minutes earlier, Gervais and most of the soldiers who died in combat harbored no hatred for those opposite, all victims of the same machine to crush men. After a few words of thanks, the procession reformed to return to the town hall, where it disbanded.