UK’s Starmer joins Macron for Armistice Day in a display of European solidarity

NEWS WIRES

11 November 2024 at 6:08 am·1-min read

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday became the first British head of government since Winston Churchill in 1944 to attend France's Armistice Day commemorations marking the end of World War I.

With armed conflict again on their continent, many European leaders marked the end 106 years ago of World War I with warnings that liberty, so often taken as self-evident, should be cherished and defended.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, leaders both of nations with nuclear arsenals, were in Paris under the iconic Arc de Triomphe, where dozens of wreaths were touched by a milky light and the eternal flame flickered to honor sacrifices of unknown French soldiers who perished in the first global conflict. That war killed almost 10 million soldiers.

“I am honored to be in Paris to stand united with President Macron in tribute to the fallen of the First World War who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy today,” Starmer said.

His Defense Secretary John Healey told Sky News the ceremonies amounted to a reminder that “we can never take the freedoms we enjoy in Europe for granted”.

Yet the horrors of the loss of life stood in sharp contrast to the gratitude of liberty regained for which the soldiers paid the ultimate price.

Only hours earlier, reality had already intruded on remembrance.

(AP)

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