April 25, 2015

Finest Hour 119, Summer 2003

Page 51

On Armistice Day, 11 November 1944, Churchill was in Paris, walking the Champs Elysees with General de Gaulle to popular acclaim. This wonderful photo appears by kind courtesy of Ben and Dominic Winter, London auctioneers; it has since been sold. It is signed by Eden, Churchill and, just possibly, Charles de Gaulle (upper left), which makes it indeed a historic piece.

The figures from left to right: a French official (possibly security—from other angles he is walking quite a way behind the main party); British Ambassador Alfred Duff Cooper; Cdr. C. R. “Tommy” Thompson, Churchill’s Naval Aide; Anthony Eden; [bald man between Eden and WSC unidentified]; Churchill;

Rene Massigli, French ambassador to Britain (just visible right of Churchill’s nose); Gen. Sir Hastings Ismay, staff officer to WSC; de Gaulle’s son Philippe, who later became a rear admiral (just behind de Gaulle in naval uniform, glancing right); and General de Gaulle.