Of all the graduates of the Legion of Honor, on January 1, 2021, we will perhaps only remember the singer Michel Sardou, the lyrical artist Roberto Alagna, the photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the Nobel prize-winning economist Esther Duflo, and a few other names already famous.
However, most of the ribbons and other rosettes awarded will soon be pinned to white coats.
And more broadly, to the jackets of hundreds of anonymous French people who fought on the Covid-19 front.
Doctor, nurse, hospital director, researcher, nursing home manager, Civil Security helicopter pilot, teacher or even business manager ... 63% of the 3884 promoted today (National Order of Merit and Legion of Honor ) were made for their dedication during the health crisis.
In their field, all - parity respected - have shown a "particular commitment" in the fight against the epidemic, "most often in the shadows".
“The nation shows that it is grateful to them,” confides General Benoît Puga, the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, to the Parisian.
While a new viral outbreak threatens France, this "Covid promotion" was wanted by Emmanuel Macron, as if to illustrate this appeal to the French launched on October 28 on the eve of the second confinement: "Success depends on the civic spirit of each and each of us ”.
Thursday evening, during his vows, he, in the same spirit, quoted Marie-Corentine, Jean-Luc, Rosalie or Lucas for their dedication during the health crisis: “All these first names, these faces, are those of hope. , they held our country in the test, "greeted Macron, who is said to be very sensitive to the figures of heroism in all its forms.
"A republican emotion ..."
Among all these promoted, perhaps you will recognize the name of Karine Lacombe, knight of the Legion of Honor.
It was in a chalet in her native Haute-Savoie, rented with her childhood friends, that this 50-year-old infectious disease specialist learned the news… through the media.
“I am in the midst of mountain fog, but happy to share this recognition with all those who have accompanied me this year, often in the shadows.
A decoration like this is never the work of one person, but always the reward of collective action, ”reacts this expert in HIV and tuberculosis, at the head of the hospital's Infectious Disease department. Saint-Antoine in Paris, where she manages a team of one hundred people.
During the health crisis, the new "knight of the Legion of Honor" had notably crossed swords with the very media Pr Raoult, himself promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2011.
Pierre Gouabault, 38, was warned this Friday morning by a friend.
When the Parisian joined him a few hours later, this director of three nursing homes in Loir-et-Cher, was still quite upset.
“A Republican emotion… Yes, I am proud of what we have accomplished collectively for our residents and their families.
It has been very hard, but we have not been held hostage by this pandemic.
We have overcome it by inventing new ways of being fraternal.
Our houses had to be devastated by this crisis for us to understand the need to re-enchant solidarity.
“Proud yes, but exhausted by two seasons in Covid, and monopolized by the organization of the vaccination which starts this Tuesday in one of its nursing homes.
"I am proud of what we have accomplished collectively for our residents and their families," says Pierre Gouabault, director of three nursing homes in Loir-et-Cher./DR
Safiya Kocaaga, 50, is a maintenance worker at the Guéret Hospital Center (Creuse).
But it was her skills as a dressmaker that earned her the National Order of Merit.
Faced with the shortage of gowns in the spring for caregivers, she organized a small workshop and made with a colleague hundreds of gowns, patching up operating shirts with pieces of sheet to lengthen the sleeves and make them adhere to the gloves. protection.
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“I have a sewing CAP, that helps,” smiles this mother of three, of Turkish origin.
As soon as her rags and brooms were put down, she took up position behind her sewing machine, brought back from the house, and no longer counted her hours.
“I loved helping myself because it was very hard at the hospital in March April.
I did this for my colleagues, so that caregivers do not catch the Covid, not for the medal!
"
Their three files and hundreds of others, General Puga read them attentively, like so many destinies overtaken by the health crisis.
“Many have done an exceptional job.
The most impressive is all those who have worked on the health front when it is not their profession, greet the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor.
This is verified once again, it is in the face of adversity, when things go wrong, that the French can be the most brilliant, inventive, resourceful and united.
This promotion is undoubtedly a reflection of this!
"