Lt. Colonel Maxime Wintzer-Wehekind distributes diplomas to the Gendarme cadets who completed their national service training, in the second part of the ceremony on Sunday morning.
MARIGOT--Elected officials in the garden of Hotel de la Collectivité on Sunday morning commemorated General de Gaulle’s appeal of June 18, 1940, a powerful and decisive moment in French history.
In response to Marshal Pétain's speech on June 17, 1940, General de Gaulle went on BBC Radio in London and launched an appeal to all resistance fighters, military personnel and armaments specialists (engineers and workers), inviting them to join him in the resistance against Nazi Germany.
Five wreaths were laid at the foot of the war memorial in tribute to General de Gaulle and freedom fighters, by St. Martin Veterans’ Association, Association des Membres de l’Ordre National du Mérite of St. Barths-St. Martin, the Collectivité represented by Second Vice President Bernadette Davis, Senator Annick Pétrus and Fabien Sésé, Secretary General and Sous Préfet of the Préfecture.
At the end of the ceremony, Gendarmerie Commandant Lt.-Colonel Maxime Wintzer-Wehekind presented diplomas to the 12 Gendarmerie cadets who had completed their Universal National Service.
The training took place over a period of 10 months, one day a month at the La Savane Gendarmerie barracks.
