Touching : President Macron pays tribute to the fallen Colonel Beltrame
It was a touching moment yesterday when the French president invoked the spirit of France’s wartime resistance movement. This was as he led a state memorial to a gendarme who sacrificed his life last week to save a hostage from an Islamist terrorist.
With the coffin of Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, draped in national colours, before him in the courtyard of Les Invalides military complex, the French president ranked the officer among France’s national heroes for the bravery that he showed.
Hear Mr Macron as he eulogised the departed officer:
“His grandeur stunned France. To be prepared to die so the innocent can live: that is the essence of what it means to be a soldier. Others, even many who are brave, would have wavered or hesitated.”
Colonel Beltrame, 44, who had been decorated for bravery as a paratrooper in Iraq, volunteered on Friday to take the place of a woman cashier who was being held as a human shield by Radouane Lakdim, 25, at a supermarket near Carcassonne.
The jihadist had already killed two people in the shop and another earlier that day. He cut Colonel Beltrame’s throat and shot him after an apparent attempt by the gendarme to overpower him. Officers then stormed the supermarket and killed Lakdim.
No comments:
Post a Comment