How did they learn the news? Relatives remember.
Martine COUSTAL, wife of Marcel COUSTAL
“On January 28, 1968, when she received a visit from her father-in-law, she thought about approaching her upcoming marriage once again. She was far from imagining the worst. She understood that day that her husband would never return. The baby she was expecting would be an orphan. The boy would be born two months later and would be named Marcel. In tribute. She would marry posthumously, with the authorization of the President of the Republic, on July 10, 1968, and would obtain the right to bear the name Coustal. "The marriage was very, very difficult."
Thérèse SCHEIRMANN-DESCAMPS, wife of Jules DESCAMPS
“On January 28, 1968, I was baking a cake for my husband, whose birthday it was. At 10 a.m., I heard the sirens. At noon, a livid sailor showed up and told me he would be late. he left at full speed. I immediately understood that he would never return. The following days are terrible, I calculated the number of hours during which he could live. I lived in anguish and suffering. How do I explain to my children the death of their father?
The information transmitted by television, radio and the press, all contradictory from one day to the next, was very
hard to bear. My husband's friends surrounded us a lot."
Anne Marie SAUSSAYE, wife of ClaudeSAUSSAYE
“Claude was due to arrive on Sunday morning, on the 11 a.m. train, at Blois station. I went to pick it up with my little guy. Of course he wasn't there. We got back there at 2 a.m. When I got back, I mechanically switched on the set: planes had just taken off from the Hyères base to try to find the submarine, of which we hadn't heard from since the day before. This is how I learned of my husband';s death.
Edith GREGOIRE, sister of André FAUVE
“It was 8:00 in the morning, we rang the doorbell, Mom thought it was our neighbor whose wife was ill who came to ask us for a favor. She opened the door and found herself in front of our neighbor, a retired admiral, in uniform, and another in service who broke the news to us.
Gérard AMPEN, brother of Pierre AMPEN
“My brother, who was not yet 18, was on board the Minerve. I was then doing my military service in Toulon in the Navy as a radio operator. On the night of the 27th to the 28th, in the absence of a radio operator, I was awakened at 2 am by a superior who thought that I was the cousin of Pierre Ampen. So I replied that it was my brother, the superior then asked me if I was in a state to take radio watch. Of course I agreed and tried desperately to reach the sub all night. At 8 am I was relieved of my post. »
Gérard MALARME brother of Jacques MALARME
“I was watching the news on television when it was announced that La Minerve was missing. My nephew was playing in front of the TV and said it's Uncle Jacques ' submarine. To reassure him, I told him "he's playing hide and seek at the bottom of the water, and since he's clever, we can't find him."
Gabrielle HELIES mother of Bernard HELIES
When I returned from mass, two friends came to see me looking serious. I found this surprising, as they never came to see me so early. We started chatting until the doorbell rang...
Marie PRIARD-BREITENBERGER sister of Jacques PRIARD
“I vividly remember the shock caused by the brutal news of my brother's death. My father's screams, from the balcony of the apartment, the livid faces of the neighbors. It was abominable, unthinkable. My father and I had lost my mother just ten years before. Each decided to be silent to preserve the other. After the tragedy, anxiety never let me go..."
Odile X.
“I can say that the first time I saw my father cry was when he learned of the disappearance of the submarine Minerve and of his friend, a great classmate at the naval school, who commanded it”
Eric X.
"I vividly remember the time when the news of Minerve's disappearance came home. I saw my mom cry without me understanding what was the cause. My father was very dark and he took a long time to tell us things. Like the whole community of submariners, he tried to understand with the elements at his disposal by imagining all the scenarios. »
Jean-Luc VIENT
"I sailed on the Minerve from December 1, 1968 to September 1, 1967, I left it by the deminers' diving school in St Mandrier which I left on November 2, 1967, to embark in Lorient on the BSL Rancid. On my way to Polynesia…near Madeira, the Pasha (CF Chardin) called me to inform me of the bad news. He organized a ceremony on board, in which I participated, in honor of the 40 comrades I had left behind. »
Bruno ROULIN
"In January 1968 assigned to one of the services housed by the marine base which housed the command of the submarine forces, I was staying in the life building of this base.
This weekend of January I had stayed at the base, because young provincial EV2 R I only came home for leave. This morning of the 28th I was therefore the only officer to direct me to the base's only officer's wardroom for breakfast. In this almost deserted building I met with astonishment the driver of ALSOUMAR who told me that he had driven at night to bring the Admiral back to the base. Sensing a serious problem I then telephoned the maritime gendarmerie at the dawn which confirmed to me that the Admiral had returned and was stationed at his PC.
So I called on the inside of Admiral Storelli to tell him that I had learned of his presence and that I was at his command, reminding him of my Trans specialty.
The Admiral thanked me telling me that he was with his chief of staff and his signal officer that we had lost contact with a submarine and asked me to add 3 place settings for the midday meal.
Five minutes before the meal the Admiral arrived with his two officers. Briefly I was told that it was Minerva and I understood that there was no longer any hope. The chief of staff had tears in his eyes.
When the Butler announced: the admiral is served, I thus found myself alone to share with these three officers a particularly sad and moving meal.
Lunch was quick and the admiral returned to his command post.
Until the end of my assignment, I often had lunch in the square at the end of the table en presence of the Admiral, this day was never mentioned, but January 28 remains forever in my memory as the day the Marine family clenched their teeth and ranks."
Hubert XXX
I met Serge GOMEZ in Hourtin, during classes.
Without knowing that he was among the missing, I paid the honors to the whole crew.
It was by consulting the list of missing persons, forty years after the event, on the Internet, that I recognized his face.
It was a shock, as if it had just happened.
I keep the memory of a good guy, sympathetic, with whom I would have liked to become friends, if our roads had not separated. We didn';t have the same specialty.