REPORTAGE
She was a "bright, sparkling young woman who loved life", a "recognized" judoka, testify her colleagues and friends. The emotion remains strong, five days after the death of Mélanie Lemée, the 25-year-old gendarme struck by a motorist during a control operation in the Lot-et-Garonne. A military tribute was paid to him Thursday morning in Mérignac, the barracks where the young woman was assigned. A tribute in the presence of the brand new Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin.
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It is under a blazing sun that the gendarmes of the Battesti barracks stood at attention, gathered under the square of arms, with a contained emotion that betrayed however the somewhat lost looks of the soldiers. Mélanie Lemée was entitled to military tributes and to the Republican Guard, as well as the words of Gérald Darmanin, the brand new Minister of the Interior.
"Through this commitment, she embodied the most beautiful, the greatest of youth: selfless service, self-giving," said Gérald Darmanin. "In these terrible circumstances which bring us together today, the Republic wants to tell you that your commitment is not in vain. On the contrary, you are the honor of the Republic. You are those who protect us. Mélanie lived this commitment with passion, with the desire to always serve better. "
"A loss for all the victims"
"A comrade and an exceptional personality," says chef Guillaume, who worked with Mélanie Lemée. "She was a friend, she was a sister for many of us. Mélanie exercised her profession as she practiced judo. The same dynamism, the same biting the same self-control. It is a loss for her family, for which I have a very special thought. It is a loss for us, for the gendarmerie, but it is above all and also a loss for all the victims to whom it has rendered enormous services. "
Promoted major Thursday morning, Mélanie Lemée also received the Legion of Honor posthumously.