The French government has decided to mark the 80th anniversary of the Armistice of World War I by conferring the Legion of Honor on American and other allied veterans of the Great War.

TRIBUTE TO THE SURVIVORS OF THE 1914-1918 WAR

"In a few months, we shall be commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I. The United States gave decisive support during that war to French soldiers fighting to defend their country. Wishing to pay a solemn tribute to the remaining survivors of this war, I have decided to award the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, to allied veterans--Americans particularly--who took part in the 1914-1918 war on French soil. I have instructed the Ambassador of France in Washington to identify, with the help of the competent authorities, the veterans concerned so that they may receive the insignia of the decoration as soon as possible." These were the terms in which President Jacques Chirac informed the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, on June 12 of the decision by the French authorities, following a similar decision with regard to French war veterans. The French Embassy in Washington immediately set to work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to locate the veterans concerned.

In accordance with the wishes of the French authorities, the veterans, who receive the Legion of Honor with the rank of chevalier (which will not be awarded posthumously) must have served on French soil before November 11, 1918. Veterans with police records will not be honored.

COOPERATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE U.S.

In the absence of any central record listing veterans, the French Embassy and the Department of Veterans Affairs pursued two parallel lines of action to identify the veterans concerned. A letter was sent on July 29 from Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo West to each of the nearly 900 pensioned veterans, and an article appeared on the front-page of the July 1998 edition of The Torch, a periodic publication of the Association of Veterans of World War I of the U.S.A. Inc., inviting persons eligible for the decoration to submit their war records and to declare on their honor that they had no police record. According to statistical estimates by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1,500 American veterans, men and women--as nurses in particular are obviously included--could be concerned, taking all the services together.

As of October 26, the letter from Secretary West and the article in The Torch had resulted in more than 300 applications being sent to the French Embassy (which has set up a special zip code: 20007-2151). The applications are being vetted by a working group consisting of French and American volunteers--veterans themselves and Veterans Affairs retirees. Once the service records have been checked by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the French Embassy drafts an individual proposal which is signed by the Ambassador and forwarded to the French Foreign Ministry and the Grande Chancellerie of the Legion of Honor. After the proposal is adopted, a decree is issued, and each veteran is notified by the Ambassador. Two decrees of September 30 and October 12 recently confirmed that 27 Americans, the first, have been named chevaliers of the National Order of the Legion of Honor. They were recently informed of the honor in a personal letter from the Ambassador, François Bujon de l'Estang. At least two of these men will receive their insignia from the Ambassador this coming November 11 at a ceremony at the French Embassy.

EACH VETERAN TO BE PERSONALLY DECORATED

The Ambassador and Consuls General of France, the Defense Attaché and visiting dignitaries will present the insignia of the Legion of Honor to veterans at ceremonies held on official French premises or in the residences of the honorees depending on their mobility. In the event it is too difficult to join a veteran living in an isolated area, a French or American member of the Legion of Honor will make the presentation, or an American official may be commissioned to do so, in which case he will be instructed to pronounce the traditional sentence: "Monsieur X, au nom du Président de la République [française] et en vertu des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous faisons chevalier de la Légion d'honneur" (Mr. X., in the name of the President of the [French] Republic and by virtue of the powers vested in me, we hereby make you chevalier of the Legion of Honor) and how to perform the "accolade républicaine" or ceremonial embrace.

U.S. SOLDIERS REMEMBERED BY THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE 80 YEARS LATER

The decision to confer the Legion of Honor on American soldiers is part of the larger celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Armistice. During a visit to Washington this year, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin paid his respects at General Pershing's tomb at Arlington National Cemetery on June 18. On September 26, Secretary of State for Veterans Jean-Pierre Masseret and his U.S. counterpart, Togo West, together commemorated the launch of the decisive offensive of American troops (involving 1.2. million men) at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, in eastern France. They also spent a quiet period of reflection at the cemetery at Meuse-Argonne, established in 1929, where the remains of 14,246 American solders who died in combat are buried. Ever since the Armistice, this memorial site has symbolized the French people's gratitude to the American people for their decisive contribution to the war effort of French soldiers./.