In Clamerey, France the honor guard lowered their flags over a burial site at the historic church. Most of the crowds who had attended the previous ceremony naming the loved ones lost in WWII had started walking home. This ceremony was different. There was a stoic respect shown for the person who was laid to rest at this site.
Christian Perceret was born in Dejon, France on November 24, 1926. She was 2 years younger than my mother. After her father left, she joined her mother in the resistance. She was just 13 years old.
She began to deliver clandestine papers and she welcomed escaped prisoners on their road to freedom. She was arrested in 1943 by German officers and sent to Auxonne prison. She was released 13 days later because she was so young. Her mother however was deported to Ravensbruck on the Czechoslovakian border. Christian’s then started working for the French Intelligence service while followed by the Gestapo.
On September 7, 1944, she set out to deliver weapons along with 5 others to the resistance in Dejon. They were stopped at a roadblock but they were presumed to be innocent teens out for a car ride. 200 meters further down the road, they were stopped at a second roadblock. A particularly aggressive non-commissioned officer insisted that they get out of the vehicle. The vehicle was watched and the weapons found. The youths were forced to stand against a wall with their hands behind their necks. They were all shot in the head at point blank range.
This happened a few days before the liberation of the region by Allied troops.
Whatever happens, the flame of the French Resistance must not be extinguished, and will not be extinguished.”
– General de Gaulle.