Europeans Commemorate 80th Anniversary of the End of WWI
French President Jacques Chirac and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I on Wednesday and also honored British World War II leader Winston Churchill.
Chirac and the queen laid large wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe.
Later, they unveiled a bronze statue of Churchill, 54 years to the day after the late British prime minister walked down the Champs Elysees with Gen. Charles de Gaulle to a rapturous reception from Parisians liberated from the Nazis.
Standing by, their century-old faces creased and impassive, were a few survivors of World War I. Deep respect for sacrifice was palpable at the wreath-laying, but there was no false sentiment about a glorious cause. French veteran Robert Gelineau, 101, declared: “It was a useless war.”
The queen also went to Belgium, the other main battle theater of the Great War, to remember the dead at Ypres alongside Albert I, king of the Belgians, and Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland.
More than 8.5 million English, Irish, British Commonwealth, Belgian, Italian, American, Russian, German and other soldiers died in the 1914-18 war.
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