Representatives of the Welsh Guards have returned once more to Arras for yet another warm welcome from the City, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Welsh Guards liberation of Arras and to receive The Freedom of the City.
Colonel Tom Bonas (former Regimental Adjutant of the Welsh Guards and President of the Veterans Association) laid a wreath at 1 Jardin de la Legion D’Honneur, the location of the memorial to the Welsh Guards.
Captain Matthew Simons lead the Band of the Welsh Guards in a performance in the Places de Heroes in Arras following the Welsh Guards receiving the freedom of the City.
The Mayor of Arras, Frédéric Leturque, spoke of the importance of such enduring friendships and of ensuring that such commemorations were a way of teaching the younger generations about the past
A History of Friendship
The reception we had received in every town and village was tremendous, but Arras was the best we had met up to date
"The reception we had received in every town and village was tremendous, but Arras was the best we had met up to date", wrote Major John Miller in 1944, then commander of the Prince of Wales Company of the Welsh Guards. For Miller this was not an arrival but a return, as he had been a Platoon Commander back in June 1940 defending Arras against the German invasion of France.
Miller was one of the last to leave and the first to come back in 1944. Not only to the very public reception of the people of Arras, but a very personal welcome by Madame Derambure, the matriarch of the farm where he had stayed in 1940 who now returned to him his suitcase from his initial stay, along with his shirts, pyjamas and other garments freshly laundered.
Kindness & Heroics
Major Miller’s tale is one of small kindnesses and large heroics, from the tenacity of Commandant Poumier who remained in Arras with a small number of French soldiers in 1940 when others had been ordered to retreat. He placed himself and his men under the command of the Welsh Guards, or Lieutenant Christopher Furness who received the Victoria Cross for his bravery in an action against enemy forces to give time for others to retreat to safety.
Return to Arras
On Sunday 1st September representatives of the Welsh Guards returned once more to Arras for yet another warm welcome from the City, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Welsh Guards liberation of Arras and to remember the events recorded by Miller.
Wreath Laying
The day began with former Regimental Adjutant and President of the Regimental Association, Colonel Tom Bonas, laying a wreath at the Welsh Guards Memorial at the Jardin de la Legion d’Honneur. It was a small but personal ceremony attended by both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Arras, standing alongside Lieutenant Colonel Guy Bartle-Jones, the Regimental Adjutant, Welsh Guards and Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Breach, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.
It was followed by a short journey to the British Memorial in Arras to remember the fallen as part of a larger ceremony where the Welsh Guards, the people of Arras and those representing other French forces from the Second World War gathered to pay tribute to those who liberated Arras eighty years ago. Lieutenant Colonel Guy Bartle-Jones, the Regimental Adjutant, Welsh Guards, laid a wreath on behalf of the Welsh Guards, as did Frédéric Leturque, Mayor of Arras, for the French.
Having laid wreaths in the centre of Arras at the War Memorial, Lieutenant Colonel Breach having placed one on behalf of the Welsh Guards, the gathering then marched to La Place Des Heros. This was previously known as the Petite Place, it took the name "Place des Héros" in 1945, in homage to the resistance fighters of the commune who had been shot during World War II. Mr Malden Jones of the Welsh Guards Regimental Association carried the Regimental Colours.
Freedom of the City of Arras
Upon reaching the square the parade stopped in front of the Town Hall, culminating in the Welsh Guards receiving the Freedom of the City of Arras. Deputy Mayor of Arras, Arnaud Michel, read the citation for the presentation of the Freedom of the City, thanking the Welsh Guards for ‘duty bravely performed, and in recognition of services rendered.’
Duty bravely performed, and in recognition of services rendered
In turn Lieutenant Colonel Bartle-Jones spoke of ‘the affinity and warmth that the Welsh Guards have for its relationship with Arras,’ a relationship which began as far back as December 1917 when the First Battalion Welsh Guards were ordered to the Arras Front and ‘endures to this day on the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Arras.’
The Next Generation
The Mayor, Frédéric Leturque, also spoke of the importance of such enduring friendships and of ensuring that such commemorations were a way of teaching the younger generations about the past, so that these events were not forgotten and by implication, not repeated.
Having signed the Charter of Arras and enjoyed a reception in the Town Hall, everyone returned to the square where they and the people of Arras gathered to enjoy a performance by the Band of the Welsh Guards, resplendent in scarlet tunics, and lead by the Director of Music of the Band of the Welsh Guards, Captain Matthew Simons.
Courage, Capability & Commitment
For whilst the commemorations are a time to remember courage and a time to renew old friendships, and for the people of Arras to enjoy the Band of the Welsh Guards playing in the square on a warm summer’s day, there is a significance to these events, past and present, for the future, (which is why representatives of the Welsh Guards travel next to Belgium).
There is a deeper purpose, entwined with the respect for the bravery of previous generations, the enduring gratitude, friendship and respect of the people of Arras for the Welsh Guards, courage, capability and commitment.
There is, as the Mayor of Arras touched on, and Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Miller, writing on the 50th Anniversary, stated, a commitment to ‘trying to ensure that no major War ever takes place in Western Europe again.'