Emmanuel Macron presented, this Wednesday during a very sober ceremony at the Invalides in front of the family of the alpine hunter, the legion of honor, posthumously, to sergeant Maxime Blasco, killed in operation in Mali. The president approached the coffin of the soldier, on which he placed his hands, before pronouncing: “Sergeant Blasco, I make you an officer of the Legion of Honor.” The soldier’s family attended the ceremony, including his 8-year-old child, who wore the alpine hunter’s pie (beret), the deceased’s home unit. Prime Minister Jean Castex and many members of the government were also present.
The remains of Maxime Blasco, 34, had previously crossed the Alexandre III bridge in a mortuary van preceded by a gendarmerie escort, while the soldiers on the sides were at attention and others in the crowd, applauded. Master Corporal Blasco, appointed posthumously sergeant, was killed during a reconnaissance and harassment operation conducted by the anti-jihadist force Barkhane in the region of Gossi, near the border between Mali and Burkina Faso .
An “exceptional operational path”
He leaves a child and a companion, Alexandra, who confided in Parisian his wish to marry Maxime Blasco posthumously. Several times decorated, Maxime Blasco received in June the military medal “for the exceptional value of his services”. “He was someone who had an exceptional operational background”, according to Colonel Pascal Ianni, spokesman for the armies.
In 2019, he saved the lives of two of his comrades after their Gazelle helicopter crashed. Seriously injured, in particular with multiple vertebral fractures, he had succeeded in extracting them over about fifty meters before installing them “in a somewhat artisanal way on the skids” of a Tiger helicopter to extract them from the combat zone, according to the staff. His death brings to 52 the number of French soldiers killed in action in the Sahel since 2013. Thursday, another tribute will be paid to him in Varces (Isère) by his brothers in arms of the 7th battalion of alpine hunters.