Melville
BOUCHARD
Ouistreham Riva-Bella
Melville Bouchard, grandson of Georges Bouchard, one of the members of the Kieffer Commando
I'm Melville Bouchard, 52 years old. I was born in Lyon and I live in Lyon. I'm the grandson of Georges Bouchard, who was born in Lyon and who landed on 6 June 1944 as part of the Free French Commandos, as they're called, which were attached to British Commando No. 4, in other words the 177 Frenchmen who landed on D-Day.
Georges Bouchard was one of the 177 French members of the Kieffer commando
About Georges Bouchard: His story began long before 6 June 1944, at least in connection with the D-Day landings, since in the 1940s he was living in Colombia with his father in Barranquilla.
Following the 18 June call-up, he decided to join the French army. And so to take a ship from Colombia to France.
There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between French and British bases, and it was stationed in the south of England.
He ended up in a military camp in Dundee, where he met a young woman called Anne Ferny, who was to become my grandmother. Above all, she became his wife.
And who happened to be pregnant in the early months of 1944, as my father was born in November 1944.
So when my grandfather left to land, it's quite likely and even certain that he knew about the pregnancy of his partner at the time. And it's even more certain that he got married just before the landings.
He was wounded on 6 June near the Casino Bella Riva. He was shot in the leg.
He found himself with two other comrades, including Philippe Kieffer, who was also injured at the same time. But he was repatriated to Great Britain, along with his two other comrades, while Philippe Kieffer stayed with his wounds for another day or two, following the men's progress.
He is campaigning in the Netherlands.
He returned to Scotland and was demobilised at the end of 1945, I believe.
And so in the end, he packed up everything after the war. And then he became a sailor again. From 1945 onwards, he worked in the merchant navy in Scotland, with his wife and therefore his son, and therefore my father.
The whole family returned to France for the défintive time in the early 1960s. (they move to Lyon) Where his mother lives too. Where his cousins live, where his sister lives.
He died very young, aged 56, in 1981.
Melville has been going to the 6 June commemorations with his son Ferdinand for 7 years
I remember being 18 and following the commemorations of D-Day on 6 June 1944. So I was already aware that my grandfather had landed. But what I wasn't aware of was that he was part of a rather special group within the army.
One day I said to myself: ‘Well, I should go and see the landing beaches’, because I'd never been there. So I had to wait until I was 45 to go there for the first time. And every year since then, my children have come with me, my son in particular.
At the first commemoration I attended, the 74th, which took place on the landing beaches, particularly on the British side we're immediately confronted with the bagpipes.
And at that moment, it's a shock. It's literally a shock, an emotional shock. It's something that turns me inside out. I tell myself I've got to play the bagpipes.
And next year, I'll be able to play the bagpipes with all those people I've just met on the beaches.
And I was thinking in particular of Léon Gautier, because at a certain point he was the only one left.
So yes, it was extremely symbolic. Playing for Léon Gautier meant playing for all the guys, for all those people, and it meant playing for my grandfather.
I think that this commemoration of the past is nothing more than a sad mirror of the present, and that it is in fact an eternal restart.
And wars are being waged on our doorsteps with the same brutality. So what is the message? What message? I'd like to be able to say that through the commemorations we are able to convey a message of peace... I'd like that.
My name is Ferdinand Bouchard and I'm 16 years old. I live in Lyon. I'm the great-grandson of Georges Bouchard, and the son of Melville Bouchard.
We're talking about someone I never knew, someone I never really heard of. He was a bit absent until we went to the commemorations.
In fact, it makes me realise what was really done on that beach, even if you can't really see it just with a ceremony.
The duty of peace is never really acquired anyway, there are wars everywhere, all the time. It's just that, for me, it's important to commemorate and keep a link, even with our ancestors, even if that link wasn't necessarily created at the time.
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