FIFTY years ago this week, France was in mourning. Charles de Gaulle, soldier, statesman, architect of France's Fifth Republic and leader of the Free French resistance during the Second World War, died on November 9, 1970, just short of his 80th birthday. More than 80 world leaders, including British Prime Minister Edward Heath, descended on Paris for his memorial service. The world had lost another of the truly great figures of the 20th century.
De Gaulle, of course, led the Free French Forces in exile in Britain, and in 1942, visited Scotland. On June 24, he came north to visit the 1,500 men of the Free French Navy, who were based in Greenock. Our main picture shows him outside Glasgow City Chambers with Glasgow Lord John McLaren Biggar; he is pictured above with Vice-Admiral Philippe Auboyneau during a tour of the Free French Welfare Centre and Maryhill Barracks.
That link with Greenock is remembered to this day – a memorial, in the shape of a Cross of Lorraine, still stands above the town, at the French War Memorial to honour the men who never made it home.
The previous day, De Gaulle had been in Edinburgh, to open a "safe house" in Regent Terrace, a place for members of the Free French movement to recuperate between missions; it is now home to the French Consul-General. Here, de Gaulle demonstrated the eloquence that helped to win the hearts and minds of his people and endeared him to his hosts: "That the soil of France enfolds lovingly the thousands and thousands of Scots whose blood was shed with that of our own soldiers during the last war, I can affirm," he said. "The monument to their memory on the hill of Buzancy has, I know, never been more frequently bedecked with flowers than since the new invasion. If the roses of France are bloodstained to-day, they still cluster round the thistle of Scotland."
The Auld Alliance was never stronger.
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