That afternoon, an old man walks the Mont-Valérien memorial, accompanied by his grandson.
He politely listens to the guide's comments on the history of the site, intimately associated with those shot by the Resistance, from Estienne d'Orves to Gabriel Péri, takes an interest in the crypt, where a vault awaits the last companion of the Liberation. .
At the end of the visit, he thanks the guide, slips him a ticket and whispers:
“Take care of the place.
It is not impossible that I will return one day.
"
Hubert Germain really imagined resting there one day? Who knows ? In any case, the death of Daniel Cordier, last November 20, had suddenly conferred on him this exceptional status of "
last companion
", that is to say of the last witness of the great military and political adventure, which had begun. on June 18 by General de Gaulle. In accordance with the statutes of the Order of the Liberation, Germain will be buried in vault number 9, in the crypt of the Mont-Valérien memorial. Fifteen combatants of the Second War, resistant and deported, already rest there, relics for future times, of what was this gesture which, from London to Berlin, via Koufra, Bir Hakeim, Italy, Alsace and the maquis of Corrèze, wrote beautiful pages in the history of France.
In 1942, near El-Alamein, in Egypt, Hubert Germain
(on the left)
next to Captain Paul Arnault, who also became a companion of the Liberation.
AFP.
For several years, he had lived in a small room at the Institution des Invalides.
Since Louis XIV, France has welcomed and taken care of its old soldiers.
If there is one who responds to this quality, it is he, Hubert Germain, former officer of the 13th DBLE, "
the 13
", the mythical unit of Monclar and Sairigné, engaged in Africa and Italy for the liberation of the country.
In recent months, all the civil and military authorities were rushing towards Germain, whom his great age had symbolically elevated to the rank of "
monument
". The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, had made him the Grand Chancellor of Honor of the Order of the Liberation.
"
That day, we talked together over a whiskey, which is excellent,
"
the dashing old man confided to us by way of comment.
The Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, had also come to visit him and the Army Chief of Staff awarded him the Erwan Bergot literary prize last fall.
England was not to be outdone.
His Ambassador to France, Ed Llewellyn, presented him with the Medal of the Order of the British Empire (in a civilian capacity).
Take care of the place.
It is not impossible that I will return one day
Hubert Germain (about the Mont-Valérien memorial)
"No pharaoh will have been more covered with honors"
, commented a relative
,
observing the ballet of the authorities towards the room of Germain.
Of these bursts of consecrations, he pretended not to care, welcomed visitors with simplicity and banter, in a room full of memories: children's drawings, family photos, military or Council of Ministers ceremonies, portraits of men he had loved and admired.
A life of adventures and commitments
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