Given the health situation, this year there will be no ceremony open to the public. The Prefect and the civil and military authorities will pay tribute at the war memorial.
Like several other countries, France commemorates November 11th, the date of the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War in 1918. On this day, it pays tribute to the soldiers who died in combat during this conflict.
First observed discreetly in 1919, the commemoration of the armistice became the subject of an official ceremony starting on November 11, 1920: on this day, the French State rendered military funeral honors to the unknown soldier. The remains of this unidentified soldier, chosen to represent all French soldiers who died for the country, were interred under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and placed three years later next to an eternal flame of remembrance.
Since 1922, November 11th has been a national public holiday in France that commemorates victory and peace. A new national tribute to the fallen, a ceremony is now held in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier, marked notably by a military parade, the laying of wreaths, and the playing of “Taps.” This ritual is repeated in all cemeteries and military memorials of the Great War, as well as at the foot of municipal war memorials.
Since 2012, the French Republic also pays tribute on this day to all those who died for France.
