Spring has sprung

After a pleasantly warm last end of winter, we had a chilly and rainy beginning of spring.

Sunday, May 30, was the day Americans in France were invited to celebrate Memorial Day, since it is not a French holiday and Monday is not a day off. It was a glorious morning -- blue sky, blazing sun. Paul and I drove to Marnes-la-Coquette to attend the ceremony at the Mémorial de l'Escadrille Lafayette once again. Since I was representing AARO, even though we had not sent a wreath, we were in the widely spaced seats just in front of the monument. There were only 30 seats this year because of Covid-19 restrictions still in effect, here. Masks are still de rigueur, even outdoors, too. As usual it was a lovely ceremony, shorter than usual. It started at 10:30 with a flyover of four jets (2 Rafales from the Escadrille Lafayette based in the south of France and 2 U.S. planes from Utah). The mayor of Marnes-la-Coquette gave her two distinct speeches, one in French, the other in English. The Chargée d'Affaires, Brian Aggeler, spoke on behalf of the Embassy, but the French and American generals did not speak this year. There was a tiny honor guard, no live music for the national anthems and taps. The speeches were followed by the presentation of the wreaths -- not as many as usual. The event was over by 11. Still, I wouldn't have missed it. It's an honor and a pleasure to attend.

The books ("Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend"), arrived! The release date was supposed to be July 4, but they sent out advance copies. There are a few glitches in these advance copies and the publisher is replacing them with the final edition, or so I've been told. When I've got confirmation that the glitches are history, I'll repost the link to order. The ones I've ordered are for my kids.

Memorial Day weekend, 2015

End of ceremony -- all the flowers laid

It was my honor and privilege to represent AARO at the Memorial Day ceremony at the Escadrille Lafayette Memorial in Marnes-La-Coquette. This was my third visit. I could almost insert photos from last year or the year before, but I won't. That would be cheating. Besides, the sky was different each time.
AARO did not present a flower piece this year; we made a contribution to the association for the restoration of the monument. Mr. Blumrosen, president of the association announced that this restoration will be completed by April, 2016, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Escadrille. Not only will the monument be cleaned up on the outside, the crypt will also have some work done on it. The Memorial is not just the monument; it's the whole park, and there will be other work done on the site. (For more on the history of the Escadrille, see wikipedia, in English, or in French.)
It's always a moving ceremony. Some parts are always the same: the military bands playing behind the monument where you can't see them; the same, excellent, master of ceremony; the flyover, which we could see this year since it wasn't raining and the cloud cover was high; many of the same speakers, including the mayor of Marnes-la-Coquette, who, each year, delivers a different speech in French and in English, and each one is pertinent and moving; the generals; the person from the US embassy, the Deputy Chief of Mission this year and who spoke in French. As much as it is always the same, it is not boring, at all; it's moving. This year, with current events in Africa and the Middle East being what they are, I found the speeches even more moving; the speakers brought together the motivations and actions of the volunteers of 1916 and those of our military forces today.

We could see the flyover this year --
4 Mirage 2000N

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Memorial Day, in France

For the second year, I represented AARO at the Memorial Day ceremony at the Esquadrille Lafayette Memorial in Marnes-la-Coquette yesterday. Why Saturday? Well, Memorial Day, the US holiday, is not celebrated here. Veterans Day, November 11, is for memorial. I spoke to an officer who was coordinating with the Mirage pilots for the flyover and he explained that Saturday was the only day that air traffic control could clear the passage for the flyover. The 4 jets did indeed fly over, at precisely 11:01, but because of the cloud cover, we didn't see anything. We could hear them, though. The rain came and went several times during the ceremony.
The speeches were excellent. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. I especially appreciated hearing the mayor of Marnes-la-Coquette, Mme. Barody-Weiss, again. As she did last year, she gave two different, but similar speeches in French and English. One is not the translation of the other. The texts she quotes from are different, but you can tell that time was spent finding texts with similar messages and composing the two speeches. The US Ambassador was represented by the excellent Chargé d'Affaires, Mr. Mark Taplin. In fact, we still do not have an ambassador, here, in France, since Mr. Rivkin left. He, Mr. Taplin, spoke movingly about 100 years ago, in May, how no one was really expecting war, but the world wasn't dormant, how quickly the young men of this group switched gears from whatever they were doing to join the French forces. Would we (or rather the young people of today, 16, 17, 18 years old) do the same? After all, we are not at war, but the world is not dormant.
There were other fine speeches and the ceremony was not boring, nor did it seem like anyone was itching to leave because of the rain.
Here are some photos from the day:

Flowers from AARO

The US Air Force color guard, arriving

After the speeches.. That's me, behind the speaker, laying down the cushion of flowers from AARO

Taps

The US Air Force color guard, departing