Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WAR

VIDEO: American D-Day veteran parachutes into France again at the age of 97

A US veteran who was parachuted into France during D-Day in 1944 defied his age on Wednesday as he recreated his courageous feat of 75 years ago as part of ceremonies to mark the famous landings.

Published: 5 June 2019 16:10 CEST
VIDEO: American D-Day veteran parachutes into France again at the age of 97
Tom Rice, 97, doing a parachute jump. Photos: AFP

“It feels great,” 97-year-old Tom Rice said after landing to applause in a field near the French village of Carentan where he flashed the V sign. “I want to go back up and do it again!”

READ ALSO D Day anniversary – How France will commemorate 75 years since the Normandy landings

Rice, who was strapped to a parachutist who controlled their flight during their tandem jump,  was one of several veterans set to jump in northern France, the day before the 75th anniversary of the June 6 landings by 150,000 Allied troops.

Thousands of people also gathered on Tuesday in the village of Sannerville to watch British veteran Harry Read jump, but his ambitions looked to have been thwarted by a technical problem with his plane.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

WAR

French forces tortured and murdered Algerian freedom fighter in 1950s, admits Macron

French forces "tortured and murdered" Algerian freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel during his country's war for independence, President Emmanuel Macron admitted on Tuesday, officially reappraising a death that was covered up as a suicide.

Published: 3 March 2021 13:40 CET
French forces tortured and murdered Algerian freedom fighter in 1950s, admits Macron
Malika, the widow of Ali Boumendjel, pictured in 2001. Photo: Stefan Fferberg/AFP

Macron made the admission “in the name of France” during a meeting with Boumendjel’s grandchildren.

The move comes after Macron in January refused to issue an official apology for abuses committed during the occupation of Algeria – instead, he agreed to form a “truth commission” as recommended by a report commissioned by the government to shed light on France’s colonial past.

Atrocities committed by both sides during the 1954-1962 Algerian war of independence continue to strain relations between the countries.

Boumendjel, a nationalist and lawyer, was arrested during the battle of Algiers by the French army, “placed incommunicado, tortured, and then killed on 23 March 1957,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

“Ali Boumendjel did not commit suicide. He was tortured and then killed,” Macron told Boumendjel’s grandchildren, according to the statement.

It is not the first time the real cause of death was acknowledged.

In 2000, the former head of French intelligence in Algiers Paul Aussaresses confessed to ordering Boumendjel’s death and disguising the murder as a suicide, according to the statement.

It added that Macron on Tuesday had also reiterated his desire to give families the opportunity to find out the truth about this chapter of history.

Last month, Boumendjel’s niece Fadela Boumendjel-Chitour denounced what she called the “devastating” lie the French state had told about her uncle.

French historian Benjamin Stora, who wrote the government-commissioned report, has said there is a “never-ending memory war” between the two countries.

The report has been described by the Algerian government as “not objective” and falling “below expectations.”

During his 2017 election campaign, Macron – the first president born after the colonial period – declared that the occupation of Algeria was a “crime against humanity”.

He has since said there was “no question of showing repentance” or of “presenting an apology” for abuses committed in the North African country.

SHOW COMMENTS