On 6th May, our class 1. A together with our teachers Mgr. Rehackova and Bc. Svarc took part in a commemoration ceremony connected with the end of WWII. This event was a part of a bunch of events happening during the week of “Celebration of Freedom”, taking part annually in Pilsen. We went to the Pilsen Town Hall. On the way to the town hall we could see a poster photography exhibition dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Operation Anthropoid (assassination of a “Prague Executioner” Reinhard Heydrich) which was completed with some information posters.
During the ceremony, Luc Rensonnet, the son of a Belgian veteran and a former president and the commander of 17th Battalion de Fusiliers Belgium, the representative the Belgium King J. E. Grégorie Cuvelier, major-general of the US Army Jessica Meyeraan and a councillor of the Ciry of Pilsen Veronika Jilichová Nová, all have their speeches.
At the end of the ceremony, the representatives of the US Army, Belgium and the mayor of Pilsen Pavel Šindelář, all laid the coronal wreaths at the commemorative plaque of 17th Battalion de Fusiliers Belgium and at 16th Armoured Division of the US Army.
After this ceremony we could meet two Belgian veterans Louis Gihoul and Valèr Gustin and two or our class-mates Štěpán Smatana and Anna Marie Potůčková thanked them on behalf of Masaryk Grammar School for their bravery while deliberating Pilsen during the WWII. We wished them all the best and a lot of health for coming years, we took picture with them and with Mr. Rensonnet. There is also a flag of the 17th Battalion in the picture, of course.
It was a fantastic and unforgettable experience to stay and to be face to face with the amazingly brave people who were deliberating our country and Europe, and were fighting against the tyranny of Nazi regime. We will never forget their bravery!!
David Pop, 1. A, loose translation
