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Entering together into the hall of ambassadors at the Beaumont Palace, they were greeted by around 200 people, “friends”, introduced Achille Muller. It was there, facing the Pyrenees, that he received the city’s gold medal, which has only been awarded once, posthumously to Francis Miot in 2015. “For our city, you are an example,” François Bayrou assured him. And after soprano Claire Beaudoin sang “The Last Rose of Summer” to him, he put down his cane to sketch out a few dance steps with MP Josy Poueyto.
“You choose not to bend”
“I am very honored, I did not think that I would reach 100 years old,” he confided after receiving congratulations from his guests, including numerous representatives of the army and veterans’ associations.
Achille Muller, for his centenary, performed a few dance steps with MP Josy Poueyto.
Alban Laffitte
Alban Laffitte
Claire Beaudoin, the soprano, sang for Achille Muller.
Alban Laffitte
The ceremony took place in the Ambassadors’ Hall of the Beaumont Palace.
Born on 1is January 1925, in Forbach in Moselle, Achille Muller left his family in July 1942, refusing to serve in the German army. “You choose not to give in, oppression will never submit to you,” recalled François Bayrou. He will overcome “immense peril” to join General de Gaulle in London, where he joins the Special Air Service (SAS), “a French headband sewn on his British uniform”. He took part in operations in the Netherlands and France, showing “exemplary courage” and eventually landed in France in June 1944. After the liberation, he remained in the army fighting in Indochina and Algeria.
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Via his Prime Minister, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron – who in his New Year’s greetings did not fail to mention the participation of Achille Muller in the ceremonies of the 80th anniversary of the Landing – sent a message to the Billérois, welcoming “a century of honor, history and memory”.
“All the tribute I am the happy recipient of today, I dedicate to all my comrades who fell along the way, and there were many of them,” declared Achille Muller. Which, as always, concluded with a lot of humor. “Someone here asked me if we could consider celebrating a second centenary. I want to, but will François Bayrou still be mayor of Pau? That is the question,” he said, eliciting thunderous applause and laughter.
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