adr
9th Jun 2004, 09:17
Sorry if this has been here before (I'm a new boy here). I did a search for "Gilhoc" before posting this, but found no prior posting.
On 27th June 1944, a Halifax carrying supplies for the French resistance crashed soon after completing an airdrop near Gilhoc. All crew were lost. May they rest in peace.
At what risk to themselves to themselves, I don't know, the local population retrieved the crew's bodies and laid them in state in the town hall, where, for two days, day and night, a guard of honour of four resistance fighters stood at attention. Accorded every dignity in their funeral rites, the airmen's bodies were carried in procession on a flower-strewn truck to the cemetery, again with a guard of honour, and (judging by the pictures) the whole town standing in respect as they passed.
For sixty years, the locals have continued to honour their memory, commemorating them on the last Sunday of June each year. For the sixtieth anniversary, they've launched a web page in memoriam with pictures taken at the time. Click here (http://www.lamastre.com/histoire/halifax/halifax2.htm) for the memorial page, and click here (http://www.lamastre.com/histoire/halifax/translate.htm) for English text (no photos).
adr
On 27th June 1944, a Halifax carrying supplies for the French resistance crashed soon after completing an airdrop near Gilhoc. All crew were lost. May they rest in peace.
At what risk to themselves to themselves, I don't know, the local population retrieved the crew's bodies and laid them in state in the town hall, where, for two days, day and night, a guard of honour of four resistance fighters stood at attention. Accorded every dignity in their funeral rites, the airmen's bodies were carried in procession on a flower-strewn truck to the cemetery, again with a guard of honour, and (judging by the pictures) the whole town standing in respect as they passed.
For sixty years, the locals have continued to honour their memory, commemorating them on the last Sunday of June each year. For the sixtieth anniversary, they've launched a web page in memoriam with pictures taken at the time. Click here (http://www.lamastre.com/histoire/halifax/halifax2.htm) for the memorial page, and click here (http://www.lamastre.com/histoire/halifax/translate.htm) for English text (no photos).
adr