Despite the overwhelming heat, Arielle Coutelle, 97, would not have missed this moment for anything in the world.
In her cream trouser suit whose jacket is adorned with medals, she listens carefully to the speeches of which she is the heroine.
On this day of commemoration of the appeal of June 18, 1940, when from London, General de Gaulle delivered his historic speech, the city of Châtillon decided to pay tribute to its soon-to-be centenary resistance fighter by giving its name to a square located on Avenue de la Division-Leclerc.
Because the words spoken from London eighty-two years ago, arrived as far as Bannalec in Brittany, where Aliette Coutelle, born Trégoures, who had just turned 18 then lived.
The young student will wait another three years to truly enter the resistance, within the French Forces of the Interior (FFI), of which she will be a part until the liberation in 1945, obtaining the rank of lieutenant.
She also enlisted in the corps of women's auxiliaries in the army.
"You are among those who not only wrote history but who then never ceased to transmit this duty of memory, especially to the children of the city", underlines Nadège Azzaz, mayor (PS) of Châtillon before continuing: “You are among those who never deviate from their walk, even in the darkest night.
To resist is to believe in the future, and we are now the guardians of this history”.
Only 10% of streets in the city are named after women
Aliette Coutelle, who settled in Châtillon after the war and where she was a merchant, did not expect so many honors.
She, who has already been decorated many times, this time received the French Souvenir Medal, just after the unveiling of the plaque bearing her name.
And no question of staying in the shade, she wanted to attend every moment of this ceremony.
“I dedicate this day to all the women who gave their lives for France”, smiles the resistant, moved, thus recalling that very many women played an important but long underestimated role within Free France.
All these liaison officers who, like her, carried messages, equipment, weapons and who have too often been forgotten, with the exception of the illustrious Germaine Tillon and Lucie Aubrac.
Only six of them are among the 1,038 Companions of the Liberation, this title granted to those who participated in the Liberation.
This is also the meaning of the approach of the city of Châtillon with the name of the square.
"Only 10% of the streets in the city bear the names of women and we really want to make women invisible in the public space", underlines Nadège Azzaz, elected mayor just two years ago.
"The city has also been the scene of several episodes inscribed in History and we have this duty of memory at heart", she continues, while the pupils of a class in the town have just closed the ceremony with the song Partisans, the anthem of the Resistance.