He was the last living companion of the Liberation. Hubert Germain died at the age of 101, announced Tuesday the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly. “This is an important moment in our history,” said the minister during a hearing before the Senate Defense Committee.
Only 1,038 people, including six women, received the title of Companion of the Liberation. As the last of his representatives, Hubert Germain is to be buried at Mont-Valérien and the Arc de Triomphe on November 11. The Elysee Palace announced that President Emmanuel Macron will chair both ceremonies.
Resistance member, minister and deputy
Father of the Free French Forces (FFL), Charles de Gaulle had created the Order of the Liberation in November 1940 to “reward the persons or the military and civilian communities who will have distinguished themselves in the work of liberation of France and its empire. “. The Order has been foreclosed since 1946. The last companions, distinguished for their early engagement within Free France, have disappeared one after the other over the past decade.
Former Gaullist deputy and minister of Georges Pompidou, this resistance fighter celebrated his 101st birthday on August 6. Son of a general of the colonial troops, Hubert Germain took the entrance examination for the naval school in Bordeaux at the time of the debacle of spring 1940. “After five minutes, I said to myself: ‘But what? are you doing here? ” “, He explained in 2018.” I stood up and said to the examiner: “I am going to war” “.
He embarked at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, aboard a ship transporting Polish soldiers bound for England and arrived in London on June 24, 1940. He joined the Foreign Legion and fought in Syria, in Libya where he is engaged in the fights of Bir Hakeim, in Egypt, in Italy, in Provence, in the Vosges and in Alsace. He was wounded and decorated by General de Gaulle at the end of June 1944 in Italy.