Voie de la Liberté

Tuesday
We pass several of these Dalek-like stone monuments every time we drive from Fontainebleau to our house out in Vulaines, and we wondered what they were. Finally, one evening when Roger was out on his bike, he stopped to have a closer look, and saw that they carried the inscription "Voie de la Liberté", which we subsequently looked up on the internet.

Soon after the end of the Second World War, Mr Guy de la Vasselais, French liaison officer to George S. Patton, proposed the idea of erecting a monument to commemorate the Liberation of France by the American Armies, and to honor the lives that so many sacrificed in so doing: a monument that would symbolize the idea of Liberty. However he thought that a single monument would be inappropriate to express the immense gratitude of the French people toward their Liberators. He therefore suggested the installation of a distinctive marker placed at each kilometer interval along the roads followed by General Patton’s Third United States Army.

Beginning at Utah Beach in Normandy and ending at Bastogne in Belgium, the Liberty Way passes through the cities of Saint Malo, Rennes, Angers, Le Mans, Chartres, Fontainebleau, Reims, Verdun and Metz, and then through the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Altogether the Monument consists of 1146 Milestones. The design of these Milestones, though simple, is symbolic: The flaming torch of the Statue of Liberty, emerging from the sea, is carried eastward. Along the circumference of the Milestone’s dome-shaped top, the 48 stars of the United States Flag remind us that brave men from each state took part in the Liberation of France.

The “Liberty Way” was officially opened on September 17, 1947, in the presence of Mr Jefferson Caffery, United States Ambassador to France and members of the American Legion.

It's been yet another cool grey day - last week was sunny, but too hot - oh for a happy medium! I'm on my own this evening and for a couple of days, as Roger is down in Toulouse on business, but I have a friend coming round for tea tomorrow and I'm meeting another friend for lunch on Thursday, so the time will soon pass.