Achille Muller awarded the City of Pau Gold medal

Colonel Achille Muller, last survivor of the Free French Forces to have participated in the Landing of June 6, 1944, was decorated, this Saturday, January 11, with the great Gold medal of the City of Pau. It was given to him by the Prime Minister and Mayor of Pau François Bayrou, in the middle of a tribute ceremony which took place at the Beaumont Palace. All this, just ten days after Achille Muller celebrated his 100th birthday on January 1st.

The ceremony began with a speech by François Bayrou, who hailed a “hero”. “It is a rare event that we are experiencing today: it is rare to celebrate the centenary of a hero who is, at the same time, a friend. Because there are few heroes, and fewer friends than we think. Achille, as the whole of France now knows him, is this hero and this friend that we appreciate every day. » Before presenting him with the Gold medal, a new reward for the former resistance fighter already decorated (in particular) with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, the highest French honorary distinction. Last year, he accompanied the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron throughout the ceremony of the 80th anniversary of the Landing, in Plumelec.

Never one to shy away from jokes, Achille Muller likes to say that all his medals transform him into a “Christmas tree”. Later, still with the same humor, he explained: “Receiving this medal is a joy and a surprise for me. The medal is magnificent. I am very honored. I didn’t imagine that I would reach the age of 100, having fought three wars. You have to believe that there were some very bad shooters on the other side! »

Lesson of courage

More seriously, he then said: “I gave conferences in high schools. The kids listen and wonder how it is possible to still be alive after having fought three wars. I replied to them jokingly: ‘Because I’m small, the bullets went over’. Having no other explanation. »

Bullets and dangers, Achille Muller has faced many in his life. Since he was 17, when he decided to leave Forbach and his native Moselle, annexed by the Germans, so as not to be forcibly incorporated into the German army. He then sets off on a crazy journey, lasting eight months, which sees him cross the demarcation line, on his bike, and reach Lyon, then Spain to arrive in Gibraltar where he comes across a French Vichy ship. He then returned to England where, imprisoned by the British army who took him for a German spy, he spent 70 days in prison. Released, he meets General de Gaulle. He then joined the paratroopers. After a long wait, on August 5, 1944, in Erdeven, Achille Muller, Jeep pilot, landed in a glider behind enemy lines in Brittany. His first gesture: to embrace his land of France.

Echoing this extraordinary journey, which will also see Achille Muller fight in Indochina and Algeria, after continuing his career in the Army, François Bayrou will say that it offers a “lesson in courage”, before concluding: “ Thank you Achille. »