Tribute to the Portuguese soldiers killed during the Great War
As part of the commemorations of the centenary of the Battle of Lys, the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, accompanied by the country’s prime minister António Costa, attended several ceremonies held in France on 8 and 9 April 2018.
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On Sunday 8 April, the Portuguese President inaugurated a commemorative plaque erected in homage to soldiers in the First World War, which was also attended by Secretary of State attached to the French Army Ministry Geneviève Darrieussecq, who took the opportunity to highlight the importance of bilateral relations: “We know that united, our national can survive the most challenging trials. There is here a lesson in unity, and above all European unity, that has inspired both our nations.” The Portuguese delegation then made its way to the Arc de Triomphe and the tomb of the unknown soldier where President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa relit the Flame of Remembrance.
The inauguration of the commemorative plaque was followed on 9April by a commemorative ceremony at the military graveyard in Richebourg (Pas-de-Calais) attended by President Emmanuel Macron in order to pay tribute to the centenary of the “Portuguese Verdun” and the Portuguese expeditionary force engaged in the north of France in 1918. On Twitter, President Emmanuel Macron declared that “a century after the First World War, we gathered to remember the deployment of thousands of Portuguese soldiers on French soil.”
Source video : www.elysee.fr