Madam Minister, Gentlemen, Mr Fauve, Mr Agnus,

To all of the crew, to everyone who made it possible for us to be there…

Thanks.

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Gérard you are absent today Thank you for allowing me to praise your brother, you were doing your military service in the harbor where you experienced the terrible anguish the day the neck brace disappeared

A thought for your parents who left in the pain of a missing son without ever knowing.

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I also greet your two sisters whom I knew so young.

We are tous here for a son, a husband, a father, a grandfather we would have liked to have known, a brother, a friend,_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ all passionate and proud to belong to the great navy family.

 

“ Pierre Ampen, engineer sailor … ”

 

I want your name  to resound on this day with pride ! like all of the crew. Of the missing from La Minerve, you are the youngest sailor and barely 28 days assigned to La Minerve.

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For us, you were Pipite. And I'm here, for this memory that never faded, of the friend you were.

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 You were loved, appreciated, by all : by your family, friends, teachers and fishermen, and by all those that you were approaching at Hendaye.

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Hope to find you in despair at the mass given in your honor a few days later,   I saw flow  tears on the chiselled cheeks of fishermen , without coffin, instead only flag : blue, white, red.

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I then  made a sorrowful promise : I swore to myself that I would be there when you were found!  51 years . After 7 months and 18 days! I'm here !

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Because such a passion for the sea as you had, it is never forgotten. Because we don't forget, such a beautiful friendship full of reason, yet so young, you had the maturity.

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Always calm,  you had a deep look, an engaging smile, determined, sociable and full of qualities, you had the wisdom and seriousness.

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Tu allais à l'école des garçons et tu habitais à la capitainerie du vieux port tout en bas toujours entouré lots of friends, and I saw you go by when I got back to St Germaine school at the top a huge wall separated us, some girls spent their time at send you friendly nods. And of all you were the favorite.

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Little signs amiaux that didn't leave you insensitive at all. So much so that your friends decided to tease the girls un jour where we paraded proudly on the seafront crowned heads and our improvised bicycles in corsos flowered with branches of a cut mimosa found on the way. Your friends got in the middle of the road forcing us to stop and one of the three tore the mimosa branches off the girls' bikes.

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For me !  It was out of the question to let things go and let us be bothered by boys…I reacted strongly.

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Quiet you got up, you came and you approached me, you picked up the damaged branches, and you put them back on my bike. You as kept a sprig of mimosa and handed it to me smiling It was our first meeting.

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But that wasn't enough for you, you wanted  really that these quarrels stop between girls and boys, you wanted  to make peace… more than two hours… 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_you waited for me to decide to shake your hand.

And we became friends. 

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Never again boys and girls argued.

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 You invited me to come to your parents' house… I found you sometimes at the drums of Gérard's orchestra, your brother passionate about music…and you took me to say hello to your parents, give a kiss  to your kind grandmother, a former lacemaker from the north of France and to your shy little sisters. 

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You were very often  at the port with the fishermen, curious about the mechanics of boats, you liked their smells. -136bad5cf58d_You were waiting for me to pass and we were going to the rocks of the beach, always on the same ! flat and tt just a place for both. ...assis côte à côte, moi les yeux dans le déferlement et dans le bruissement_cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_waves with a mad desire to go surfing, you with your gaze searching the ocean you were telling me about your dream of being a sailor...and then one day you carefully told me that your dream was to become submariner, to navigate the depths of the seas… 

 

Faced with my fears… you turned to me,  you took my hand,  as always when you wanted to make me listen to reason,_cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_the look full of sweetness, serene you reassured me. And you told me, but  I will come back…

 

The day before your departure, you told me: some are going to leave … I think that it would be good if you came to Toulon_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136_bad5cf58d to do your studies…. I inquired… We can see each other more often… 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_…  Tu as rajouté : j'en ai parlé à mes parents, je reviendrai à Pâques_cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_et …

 

You left at the beginning of January, happy to fulfill your dream of being a sailor and to sail for the first time in the depths of the_cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_mer, and ………You didn't come back.

 

At the church in your place only a flag,  

 

51 years of waiting… You and your companions have not been forgotten.

Ici sur ce bateau, au plus près de vous il est temps que vos âmes… et nos_cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_sighs be finally released !

Because we now know where you are…  where you rest for eternity.