"The
soldier is not a man of violence.
He carries arms and risks his life for
mistakes not of his making.
He has the merit of being unflinchingly true to his word
to the end, while knowing that he will be
forgotten."
Antoine
de SAINT EXUPERY
Ðiên Biên Phú
This site is dedicated
to all the combattants of Dien
Bien Phu
and in memory of their dead and missing comrades,
to all the
men and women who took part...
to the members of the Association...
June 25, 1999
on the occasion of the Commemoration of the 45th
anniversary of the end of the fighting at Dien Bie Phu,
May 7, 1954 -May 7, 1999.
With
affection for
Madame de Lattre de Tassigny
who aroused the curiosity of her "Little
Prince"
one November’s evening in 1995 and,
by her stories and memories of the Maréchal
and his son, Lt. Bernard de Lattre,
sent him on the road to Indo-china.
Dear
Friends, these pages are ours...
Antoine de Saint Exupery
wrote that the soldier knows that he will be forgotten.
I, your
young friend, Maximilien, give you these pages of
history. The history of the battle and of the men
who fought it. They do not deserve to be forgotten.
As General de Lattre said:
"To live on one’s
past is
to bankrupt oneself.
To live without one’s past
is to impoverish oneself."
Why ?
* * *
*
The
post of Ðiên Biên Phú in 1922
established by Captain E. Labolle of the 20th
Light Infantry Riflemen.
Photo taken
of Monsieur M. Labolle, 2 Rue du Danemark, in Algiers,
addressed to "Letters to the editor" of
Paris-Match, 1954.
" I think that this document
which has a historic value should be published by you. It
is a photo of my father, Capt. E. Labolle, of the 20th
Light Infantry, with his lieutenant at the military post
of Dien Bien Phu which he built in 1922. One can
read on the pediment "Military post of Dien Bien
Phu" and above, the date. That is where
my father died and was buried."
* * *
*
Url
: http://www.dienbienphu.org
E-Mail
: webmaster@dienbienphu.org
* * * * *
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