November 11 is Remembrance Day
All French war dead will be remembered on one national memorial day - but other commemorations are retained
ARMISTICE Day on November 11 is to become the national day of remembrance for all France's war dead, and not just the First World War, MPs have decided.
Only MPs from the Front de Gauche voted against the proposal, revealed by President Sarkozy last November 11, even although it specified that the new tribute "does not replace other national memorial days".
Veterans groups fear that it would mean that commemorations such as that on May 8 for the Allied victory in Europe or those for the IndoChina or Algerian dead would lose significance.
Socialists had originally voted against the Remembrance Day plan but swung behind the proposal after the text was amended to protect the other commemorations.
War Veterans' Minister Marc Laffineur said 600 French troops had been killed in action since the end of the Algerian war and the deaths of the last of the First World War veterans meant that the need for change. France needed to "honour the fourth generation in the firing line".
However, Communist MP André Chassaigne, for the Front de Gauche, said that combining all the commemorations would reduce the value of the lives lost and prevent future generations from "learning the lessons of each war".
The new law would also oblige communes to update their war memorials with the names of all those Mort pour la France, no matter what conflict they died in.
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