Memorial Day

Belle Isle

I just returned from Paris and Belle Isle in Brittany. Belle isle is an enchanting island (blog post to follow) and one cannot forget its tumultuous past while hiking along its wild coast , with german blockaus being part of World war II military landscape and Hitler's "Atlantic Wall". One can find these monstrous structures all along the West coast of France,  protecting the Atlantic coast from allied invasions. Locals residents as well as prisoners from concentration camps built these bunkers which housed generators, ammunition storage and rockets.

I have read numbers of history books and novels taking place during World War II and have an endless fascination for this part of history that showed the worst lack of humanity and yet the incredible courage in each human being, a period of hatred and great love all at ounce.

On a walk to my village with my dad, a couple of hours before my flight back, he pointed to a small "place" in our village, remembering how his father used to hide gasoline for the "Resistants" among the fruit crates and store it there for the night. Then I went up to our cemetery to say goodbye to my beloved aunt who recently passed away and read the names of all the departed ones, young sons of the village who died in the two World wars.

One must never forget and truly be thankful for the selflessness of others who died for us.

My french village: Clemont dessous

In Memoriam…

A Bientôt,

Francine