"In the brief moment during which dying men see, as in a vision, the
whole past and the whole future, if Guynemer knew a comfort it was the
certainty that his comrades would successfully complete what he had
begun.
"You, his friends and rivals, I know well; I know that, like Guynemer,
you can be trusted, that you meet bravely the formidable task he has
bequeathed to you, and that you will fulfil the hopes which France had
reposed in him.
"It is to confirm this certitude in presence of our flags, brought to
witness it, that I am glad to confer on two of his companions, two of
our bravest fighters, distinctions which are at the same time a reward
for the past and an earnest of future glory."
Then the general gave the accolade and embraced Heurtaux, now less
dependent on his crutches, and Fonck, suddenly grown taller, children of
glory, both of them, and still pale from the emotion caused by the
evocation of their friend's glory. He pinned the badges on their coats.
After this he added, in a lull of the conflicting elements:
"Let us raise our hearts in respectful and grateful admiration for the
hero whom the First Army can never forget, of whom it was so proud, and
whose memory will always live in History.
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