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  1. The story of those who joined Comète to actively help shot-down Allied aircrew to return to England is truly inspirational. Unarmed, untrained and acting alone, they had to be constantly on the ‘qui vive’ and alert to suspicious activity if they were to survive.
    The hard truth is that Andrée De Jongh warned anyone who wanted to join that they could expect to operate for no longer that 6 months before being arrested by the German security services. And it must be borne in mind that the Germans did not accept that the provisions of the Geneva Convention applied to those helping evading airmen.
    Those who; despite that warning, went on to help were truly the bravest of the brave.
    In a number of ceremonies in September, we first commemorate those brave men and women who stepped forward in the dark days of WWII when an Allied victory seemed a distant and unlikely prospect. We then take two days to walk over the exact same paths across the Pyrenees that the Comète guides used to lead the evading aircrew to freedom.
    We generally have around 100 participants (from many countries) and the weekend is addictive. I did my first long Comète weekend in 2010 – and every one since then.
    Further details will be posted on our bi-lingual blog shortly.
    https://cometepaysbasque.blogspot.com/
    Hope to see you there!

  2. Oh, what a wonderfully inspiring story. And such a beautiful, calm woman, leading these men to safety. I remember The Nightingale, wonderful book. Thank you for including this in this issue. Our part of the Pyrenees had so much to offer for eventual safety during the war…

  3. These incredibly courageuse men and women make us feel very humble indeed.
    Not only did they fight, and many of them, give their lives for their country, but they withstood torture to protect their comrades.
    Those of us who are now in the later stages of life will remember our parents disappearing for years, having no news of them. My Dad was a Nazi-hunter & we only learned of his mission about 25 or 30 years later.
    I read somewhere: “If you speak English (or French), thank a solder !”

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