On this November 11th, numerous Illibériens gathered to commemorate the Armistice of November 11, 1918. The ceremony was orchestrated by Mr. Charles Higuero, President of the Elne section of Veterans and Prisoners of War, Combatants of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and War Widows (ACPG-CATM-VG).
The commemoration began with a speech by Mayor Steve Fortel, who recalled the horrors experienced by young soldiers in the trenches. General Gilles Glin, elected for combatant memory, then highlighted the journey of Henri Roger, a former combatant and mayor of Elne from 1953 to 1965. Éric Dubois, elected for security, read the address by Ms. Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Armed Forces and Veterans.
The reading of the names of all Illibériens fallen in combat, Died for France, preceded the laying of a wreath by the ACPG-CATM-VG section. Afterwards, participants gathered at the Salle Sainte Hélène to discover an exhibition dedicated to Henri Roger, presented by his son, Mr. Henri Roger, a former paratrooper officer.
A volunteer from June 1915, Henri Roger experienced the violence of the Great War, being wounded in 1917 and decorated with the Croix de Guerre. A victim of a gas attack in 1918, he later served on the Russian front and then in Indochina. His experience as an administrator in Cap Saint-Jacques forged his authority. His son recounted a dramatic episode on March 9, 1945, when Japanese soldiers executed the official replacing his father while he was on vacation. Considered administratively 'dead' by the occupier, Henri Roger narrowly escaped execution.
Returning to mainland France in 1946, he settled in the Pyrénées-Orientales and committed himself to Elne. Elected mayor in May 1953, he led the town for twelve years, during which the city was transformed by his rigor: structuring municipal services, local development combining modernization and protection of the Roussillon agricultural and wine-growing fabric, and political stability.
Today, the memory of Henri Roger, a combatant who became an artisan of daily peace, lives on through the public space named after him in Elne. The ceremony concluded with a reception offered by the Veterans' section. Thanks were extended to the participants, the veterans for their involvement, the organization of the exhibition, and Palm Beach Paysages for the donation of flowers.
