In the courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides, Emmanuel Macron paid a sober tribute on Thursday to Daniel Cordier, penultimate Companion of the Liberation who died on Friday, November 20.

The Head of State notably retraced the life of a man who "has always acted out of love".

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"This flame which you have kindled with your Companions will not be extinguished and it will continue to inspire many more."

Emmanuel Macron on Thursday greeted the memory of former resistance member Daniel Cordier, "a free Frenchman, in love with a France without chains", on the occasion of a national tribute six days after his death at the age of 100 .

In the courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides, the Head of State presided over the military ceremony in the presence of only about thirty guests due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Secretary of Jean Moulin

A homage all in sobriety, where the silence was only broken by the click of the heels of the six students of the Saint-Cyr school who carried the coffin of the former secretary of Jean Moulin during the Second World War.

In a 15-minute speech, Emmanuel Macron retraced the life of Daniel Cordier, this boy who, aged 20 in 1940, had joined General De Gaulle in London, before being parachuted two years later in Lyon with a mission: help Jean Moulin to unify the resistance.

A mission that will end with the arrest of the latter in 1943.

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"Impetuous bravery, a thirst for the absolute"

A man who "has always acted out of love", recalled the Head of State: "the love of the fatherland where the past, the land and the taste for the universal are mixed; the love of freedom which justifies taking all the risks; the love of beauty which led him to reveal so many artists; the love of truth which made him write history ".

"The life of Daniel Cordier is an adventure novel", he summed up.

"He had in him a part of the national novel (...) The taste for action and going beyond. An impetuous bravery, a thirst for the absolute".

At the end of this speech, the President of the Republic addressed himself directly to the one who has been the last of the 1,038 Companions of the Liberation since Friday: Hubert Germain.

"My lieutenant, I am counting on you and you know it, you will never be alone", declared Emmanuel Macron to the centenarian in a wheelchair, green beret of the Foreign Legion on his head.

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Burial at Père Lachaise

Among the guests at the ceremony were former President François Hollande, Presidents of the Senate Gérard Larcher and of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand, Prime Minister Jean Castex, Ministers of the Armed Forces Florence Parly and of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, the Secretary of State Geneviève Darrieussecq and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General François Lecointre.

About ten family members and relatives of Daniel Cordier, including singer Hervé Vilard, who was under his tutelage, were also present.

The body of Daniel Cordier is to be buried on Friday in the Parisian cemetery of Père Lachaise, where he has chosen to rest.

As for Hubert Germain, his body will rest at Mont Valérien, in the Hauts-de-Seine.

There, a vault awaits the last of the Companions of the Liberation.