Discours prononcé à Feugarolles lors de la cérémonie en la mémoire de Jacob Ayliffe.

Dear Mister Mayor of Feugarolles, Didier Massias
Dear General Counsellor, André Touron
Misters the mayors of the surrounding villages,
Dear President of the departmental committee of the national association of the veterans of the resistance, M.Mirouze
Dear veterans of the resistance,
Mrs and Misters the relatives of Jacob Ayliffe,

With the full agreement of Didier Massias, I would like to have the courtesy to address first to the family of Jacob Ayliffe and by extension to the members of the british community, present to this ceremony.

This ceremony is, at first, a ceremony of lasting gratitude from this village and from the veterans of the French resistance towards Jacob Ayliffe, towards the Royal Air France and towards Britain.

Here, in the deep south-west of France, Jacob Ayliffe, gave his life far from his homeland, on the 4 th of August 1944, during a mission of bombing a german train full of german soldiers and munitions, specially directed towards the brutal crunching of the French resistance. I would like to give a special salute to Jacob’s family. Jacob is a hero for us. Keep his memory. Be proud of him.

And this act of sacrifice of a british soldier to protect the French Resistance touched us right to the heart and the reason why we are celebrating today.

We, French, have a huge debt towards the British people for his heroic resistance during World War II. Remember the terrible year of 1940, the terrible defeat of the French and British armies on the continental soil, every day was bringing its lot of good news for the news. Britain alone was resisting and the voice of Sir Winston Churchill will never be forgotten :
May 13 th 1940 , “ I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
June 4 th 1940 : “we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. we shall never surrender.

The joint history of Britain and of the French resistance started in 1940 with the welcoming of 26 000 french soldiers retreating from Dunkirk and witl the support given to the general de Gaulle and this history went through all the war and Jacob’s sacrifice is one the proof between thousands.

Let’s look quickly to the future just to tell the two things :

First, Europe will not exist without an European army and there will not be an European army without a deep involvement in it of the french and british armies. So the lesson of the joint history of the French resistance and of the british army must be heard now.

Second, every british citizen is welcomed in Lot-et-garonne. Not only for his good money, not only for his good manners, but first because we have a shared history and shared values.

That is why keeping the memory of Jacob is a question of future. Long live to Jacob Memory, Long live to the friendship between France and Britain.