I thought you and your TAG readers might be interested in my comments and photos, plus web links, covering last Sunday's events which I attended in the village of Verneix when the SOE agent Nancy Wake's ashes were finally scattered near Montluçon, as per her wishes.
The day was particularly poignant for me because in December 2001, having been contacted by an Australian veterans association, I alone had greeted Nancy at Terminal 4, Heathrow after she'd decided to live out her days in Britain.
Martyn
Val says I have precised this report but it is so interesting I suggest you contact Martyn for the full copy
Back to the ceremony … I had intended going in any case, but I was very proud to have then been asked by the Secretary and Chairman of the Escape Lines Memorial Society (ELMS) to lay a wreath on their behalf - the reason being that in the first phase of Nancy's activities during WW2, when living in Marseille, she and her French husband had been key players in an escape line helping Allied service and Jews getting out of France.
As you'll see in the attached photos I placed the wreath at the edge of the woods just outside Verneix in which Nancy's ashes had just been scattered. This was on privately owned land - in the grounds of the Chateau de Fragne - and so, as already agreed with ELMS, I later retrieved the wreath, drove into nearby Montluçon and attached it to a resistance memorial in the centre of the city.
The organisers thought this was a terrific idea because as well as ensuring that the wreath would be more visible to the general public it was also a way of linking Montluçon to the ceremony.
You'll see from the photos that two present-day FANYs were there to also represent the Special Forces Club. The mayor of Verneix had warmly welcomed the small group of attendees, and he later hosted a lunch for us all. The owners of the chateau were also extremely hospitable and by way of thanks Brigadier Sowry and the Australian military attaché from Paris presented them with a copy of Peter Fitzsimons book about Nancy.
The significance of the photos posed on the steps of the chateau is explained by the attached wartime photos from one of the books about Nancy.
The mayor of Verneix told us that later this year a special plaque will be placed in the centre of the village in memory of Nancy Wake.
Photo slide-show here: "Les cendres de la résistante Nancy Wake dispersées là où elle avait été parachutée"
Comments to taglines82@gmail.com