Last night, for the first time in my life, I attended a decoration ceremony. X's father was decorated for fighting in the Algerian war. The war lasted for 8 years from 1954-1962 where the Algerians fought to gain liberation from their French colonial rulers.
It started off with a mass held in the church of St Julien du Serre. Even tho we moved here a year ago, I've never been inside the church. It's only open for special occasions so I was naturally excited to be there (I will do a later post featuring the church).
The church was packed. It felt like the entire commune was there. I've never seen so many people in the neighbourhood. Needless to say, the Girl & I were the 2 youngest amongst them. Aside from the fact that we live right there, I think I was asked to attend so that I could be the photographer. Funnily enough, the journalist from La Tribune, the local weekly came up to me to asked which newspaper I represented. It might have something to do with the fact that I have a kick ass camera (thank you X).
After the mass & service honouring those who had served & died, we proceeded to the hall for the actual decoration ceremony. It was a simple ceremony with the band playing military tunes & of course, La Marseillaise (the national anthem of France) followed by the recipients getting their medals.
It started off with a mass held in the church of St Julien du Serre. Even tho we moved here a year ago, I've never been inside the church. It's only open for special occasions so I was naturally excited to be there (I will do a later post featuring the church).
The church was packed. It felt like the entire commune was there. I've never seen so many people in the neighbourhood. Needless to say, the Girl & I were the 2 youngest amongst them. Aside from the fact that we live right there, I think I was asked to attend so that I could be the photographer. Funnily enough, the journalist from La Tribune, the local weekly came up to me to asked which newspaper I represented. It might have something to do with the fact that I have a kick ass camera (thank you X).
After the mass & service honouring those who had served & died, we proceeded to the hall for the actual decoration ceremony. It was a simple ceremony with the band playing military tunes & of course, La Marseillaise (the national anthem of France) followed by the recipients getting their medals.
Look at that crowd
The guy who was in charged of the medals was standing right next to me & he graciously let me take a picture of them before the ceremony started.
The recipients
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