Nice to see they meant it when they said "Never Forget the Australians"
Posted on 04/25/2009 9:45:40 PM PDT by naturalman1975
"WE have not forgotten the Australians."
That is the simple message of Pauline Lefebore, 10, who beams with pride as she tells how she and her classmates in a French village are keeping a promise made long before they were born.
Pauline and the 130 other children at the school in Villers-Bretonneux are raising money for children affected by Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires.
"You always have to keep your promises," said Pauline's friend, Cecile Przewrocka.
This promise was made by their grandparents, and it is still written above the blackboard in the class of Chantal Macrez and every other teacher at the school: "N'Oublions Jamais l'Australie" (Let us never forget Australia).
A plaque on the front of the school tells how 1200 Australian soldiers died liberating the village from the Germans on April 24, 1918, in fighting that destroyed the school and left the entire Rue de Pressoir in rubble.
The children of Victoria then helped to raise money to rebuild the school, with each child in the state asked to donate a penny.
Using the slogan "By Diggers defended, by Victorians mended", the donation campaign raised £10,000, which was matched by the Victorian Education Department.
Now the French are repaying the debt, raising money to rebuild one of the three schools razed in Victoria on February 7. Today's students of Strathewen primary school have some idea of what a war zone looks like. In the Black Saturday bushfires, they lost their school, many lost their homes, four young students lost parents and the school lost one of its own, little Erryn Bartlett.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Nice to see they meant it when they said "Never Forget the Australians"
Cool, western civilization still exists.
That is really cool! Bookmarked.
Great story. Having been to France, I can tell you, not all French are Parisians. Thank God.
for later
La Marseillaise (French National Anthem) sung by Roberto Alagna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrtD2Nn_3Ok&feature=related
I've never been to Paris, I have only been to small towns and villages and met the soldiers, regular people and border guards, I like the French a lot.
Obama and "Move On" are working on fixing that.
Viva La France!
While the monarchs weren’t exactly the best, it was the Parisians that instituted the bloodbath of the Terror and tried to overthrow the old order, literally renaming the months and cycles.
Frankly I wonder if voting should be restricted to the villages and provinces, with the city dwellers having to complete a certain examination to ensure their brains haven’t rotted.
A journey into the depths of hell.
Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, 24-27 April 1918
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_villers_bretonneuxII.html
The German attack was preceded by a short artillery bombardment, with a mix of mustard gas and high explosive shells. The 8th Division was overwhelmed. A three mile wide gap was opened in the British lines, and Villers-Bretonneux fell to the Germans. There was a serious danger that the Germans might break through to Amiens.
General Rawlinson responded by launched an immediate counterattack. This would be a night attack, to be launched by two Australian brigades – the 13th (Brigadier Elliot) and 15th (Brigadier Glasgow). The attack, on the night of 24-25 April, was a total success. By dawn the main German line had been forced back, and the troops in Villers-Bretonneux cut off. By the end of the day the village was back in Allied hands. The Australians suffered 1,455 casualties during the battle.
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