{"id":1907,"date":"2014-07-02T15:55:11","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T14:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/hommage-national-antoine-saint-exupery-2\/"},"modified":"2014-07-27T12:59:57","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T11:59:57","slug":"national-tribute-to-antoine-de-saint-exupery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/national-tribute-to-antoine-de-saint-exupery\/","title":{"rendered":"National Tribute to Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An exceptional day chaired by Mr. Kader Arif, Secretary of State to the Minister of Defence for Veterans and Memory, and General Denis Mercier, Chief of Staff of the French Air Force (CEMAA), was organised in partnership with the Foundation on Friday, 27 June 2014 at Airbase 709 of Cognac (Charente)to commemorate the 70<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the disappearance of Major Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Watch the TF1 coverage about this tribute\u00a0:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 640px; height: 360px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wat.tv\/embedframe\/339027chuPP3r11603471\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"watlinks\" style=\"width: 640px; font-size: 11px; background: #CCCCCC; padding: 2px 0 4px 0; text-align: center;\"><a class=\"waturl\" title=\"Vid\u00e9o L\u2019arm\u00e9e de l\u2019air rend hommage \u00e0 Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry sur wat.tv\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wat.tv\/video\/armee-air-rend-hommage-antoine-6wpan_2i6xp_.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>L\u2019arm\u00e9e de l\u2019air rend hommage \u00e0 Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry (french)<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The pilots of the Cognac airbase paid tribute to the memory of the famous writer, combatant and legendary aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry, while at the same time recalling his universal humanist values, which continue to inspire the men and women of the French Air Force today. <em>\u201cOn the occasion of the 100<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of aerial war operations and the 80<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the French Air Force, I am delighted that one day is entirely dedicated to the career of this great man<\/em>,\u201d declared the Secretary of State. <em>\u201cHis memory lives on today at Airbase 709 of Cognac.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1896 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/02-COGNAC_Personnalites_avec_enfants-BR.jpg\" alt=\"02-COGNAC_Personnalites_avec_enfants-BR\" width=\"900\" height=\"572\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Having disappeared on 31 July 1944during an aerial war mission for France, while flying a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Major Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry never stopped enriching the heritage of the French Air Force through his writings. General Denis Mercier himself called him <em>\u201ca hero who constantly put his remarkable qualities founded on an unfailing courage and determination at the service of his country\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1894 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/01-Lockheed_P-38_Lightning_Rafale_Mirage_F1_Alain_ERNOULT_1026635-BR.jpg\" alt=\"01-Lockheed_P-38_Lightning_Rafale_Mirage_F1_Alain_ERNOULT_1026635-BR\" width=\"900\" height=\"637\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1898 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/03-Colonel_Christophe_Fontaine_Olivier_d_Agay-BR.jpg\" alt=\"03-Colonel_Christophe_Fontaine_Olivier_d_Agay-BR\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This vibrant homage was also an opportunity to celebrate the centenary of \u201cThe Axe\u201d SAL-33 air squadron to which Saint-Ex belonged and of which the \u201cBelfort\u201d 1\/33 drone s<span style=\"color: #000000;\">quadron is now the guardian of the traditions, and to honour the veterans of the Belfort 1\/33.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">During this official ceremony placed under the theme of youth and Franco-American friendship, a representative from Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry\u2019s family, Mr. Olivier d\u2019Agay, read a moving extract from the last article written by the famous French writer and pilot, the day before his last mission, for his friend, the American journalist John Phillips, entitled \u201cLetter to an American\u201d, which evokes in particular the commitment of the American people during WWII.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A major military parade and spectacular aerial demonstrations were presented on this day paying tribute to the legendary aviator. A sculpture by the artist Anilore Banon dedicated to the author of \u201cFlight to Arras\u201d was also unveiled, and two never-before-seen exhibitions on Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry were inaugurated in Cognac.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Finally, the day honoured the Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry Youth Foundation. \u201c<em>I wish to pay tribute to the remarkable work carried out by the Foundation in partnership with the French Air Force in order to keep alive the noble human values of this great aviator,\u201d<\/em> said Mr. Kader Arif.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Photographs\u00a0<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>01- Officials with a group of students from Cognac and their teachers in front of the P-38 Lightning.<br \/>\n02- The Lockheed P-38 Lightning escorted by a Rafale and a F1 Mirage. \u00a9 Alain Ernoult\/ Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry Youth Foundation.<br \/>\n03- Olivier d\u2019Agay presents\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Antoine de Saint Exup\u00e9ry\u2019s<\/span> bracelet to Colonel Christophe Fontaine, Commander of the 1\/33 \u201cBelfort\u201d drone squadron, holding the last logbook of the writer and pilot, property of A\u00e9ro-Club de France. \u00a9 Thomas Goisque \/ Le Figaro.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>More information<\/h4>\n<h4><strong><a title=\"Speech of Mr. Kader ARIF\" href=\"http:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Discours-KADER-ARIF-Cognac-27-06-2014.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Speech of Mr. Kader ARIF<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h4><a title=\"Letter to an American\" href=\"http:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Letter-to-an-American_Antoine-de-SAINT-EXUPERY.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>\u00ab Letter to an American\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n<h4><strong><a title=\"Message from General denis Mercier\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/message-from-general-denis-mercier-chief-of-staff-of-the-french-air-force\/\">Message from General Denis Mercier <\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An exceptional day chaired by Mr. Kader Arif, Secretary of State to the Minister of Defence for Veterans and Memory, and General Denis Mercier, Chief of Staff of the French Air Force (CEMAA), was organised in partnership with the Foundation on Friday, 27 June 2014 at Airbase 709 of Cognac (Charente)to commemorate the 70th anniversary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1928,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions\/1928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.fasej.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}