Macron honours Aussie veterans
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron has awarded the Legion d’Honneur to three Australian World War II veterans, thanking them for the heroism they displayed when they were barely into adulthood.
William Mackay, Norman Saunders and Louis Solomons, who enlisted in the 1940s aged 16, 17 and 23 respectively, were presented with the military medal in Sydney’s Hyde Park yesterday.
It is the highest honour the French Republic can award to a foreign national.
“Once again, you came to our soil to defend our freedom. Once again, your bravery won the day, earning our eternal and deep respect,” Mr Macron said to the three recipients.
The commemorative service came one week after thousands flocked to a dawn service in France to mark the centenary of the Battle of Villers Bretonneux in World War I.
“It is with emotion and honour that I come to you on behalf of France to say, merci,” Mr Macron said.
“Here and now ... we together renew the oath that our soldiers swore on the battlefields 100 years ago – we will answer the call every time we need each other.
“Honouring their memory is about refusing to sit back in the face of the turmoil in this world, and continuing to walk arm-in-arm.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull laid a wreath with Mr Macron and also delivered a commemorative address, noting the 46,000 Australians who were killed on the Western Front in World War I and will forever lie in French soil.
Mr Macron is on his first official trip to Australia, lasting three days, before travelling to New Caledonia to rally support for the territory to remain part of France.