Like last year as it was 11 November we went to the war graves cemetery in Lyon.
Some floral tributes had been left at certain graves and the wall where the firing squad had shot members of the Resistance was a moving reminder of Lyon’s recent history.
Paul Cunq was a 20-year-old radio cadet in the Resistance.
He distributed leaflets, recruited other Resistance fighters and provided false papers to Luxembourg deserters from the German Army to help them escape across the Spanish border.
He watched German defenses along the Mediterranean coast, particularly at Palavas-les-Flots.
He managed to escape from the Germans several times but on 21 February, 1944, following a tip-off, he was arrested at Le Sphinx restaurant where he was supposed to send his bosses a plan about German mines.
He was imprisoned in Montpellier and then in Lyon, where he was tortured.
He was sentenced to death by a German military court and on June 1, 1944, Paul was executed by firing squad against the wall at La Doua.
His body was found in a mass grave at La Doua and identified by his father on 28 September, 1945.
He was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance.
There were flowers at the grave of Sergeant Charles Edward Taylor.
He was the son of William Henry and Emily Taylor and was married to Nellie Annie May Taylor, of Colchester, Essex.
He died on 17 August 1943 aged 29 when his bomber took off from Downham Market as part of an attack on the Fiat plant in Turin – the last raid on an Italian city.
His plane was shot down by a night-fighter on its outbound journey and crashed at Amberieu.
We were joined among the graves by a black redstart. A beautiful bird on a beautiful, moving day.
Thrown to (the) Lyon 