106 years after the end of the First World War, Polynesians remember

Tuesday 12th November 2024 01:53 AM

November 11, a date that marks the commemoration of the 1918 armistice and the end of the First World War, signed between the Allied forces and Germany. In France as in overseas territories, the duty of memory has been respected. In Tahiti, it was at the Papeete war memorial on avenue Pouvana’a in Oopa that the ceremony took place this morning.

“It is these sacrifices that we commemorate today, to which have been added since 2012 those of all those who died for France”declared High Commissioner Eric Spitz this morning during the celebration of the armistice of November 11 which marked the end of the First World War.

Laying of wreaths in memory of those who died in combat.
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©High Commission

This first global conflict caused the death of more than 20 million people.

By their presence, elected officials, armed forces, veterans of different wars, or the younger generation therefore wanted to salute their memories. “We must continue to pass on the fight, the suffering of our elders, so that we, the younger generations, can live free…but freedom is not definitively acquired, and perhaps one day we will have to be ready to our turn to fight so that our children can live free”explained Philippe Leydet, dDirector of the National Office for Veterans and War Victims of French Polynesia.

All the armed forces of Polynesia present for this event.
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©Polynesia the 1st/Mirko Vanfau

This commemoration thus serves as a reminder of the importance of peace, here as elsewhere.

In Paris, a ceremony in tribute to the overseas soldiers who died for France was organized this Monday in the presence of elected officials and representatives from the three oceans. Among them, the Polynesian deputy Moerani Frébault. The tribute was presided over on the esplanade of the Compagnons de la Libération towns by Jacques Martial, responsible for Overseas Territories at Paris town hall.

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