Live: national tribute for Maxime Blasco, French soldier killed in Mali

Published on : 09/29/2021 – 16:52

France pays tribute to French master corporal Maxime Blasco, Wednesday, September 29, during a ceremony at the Hôtel des Invalides. During this tribute, the Alpine hunter, who died during an operation in Mali on September 24, was posthumously elevated to the rank of sergeant and made an officer of the Legion of Honor in the presence of his family and several members of the government.

Before the ceremony chaired by Emmanuel Macron, his funeral procession crossed the Parisian bridge Alexandre III in front of Parisians and soldiers who came to pay homage to this “exceptional” soldier.

Maxime Blasco was killed during a reconnaissance and harassment operation conducted by the Barkhane anti-jihadist force in the Gossi region, near the border between Mali and Burkina Faso.

Several times decorated, Master Corporal Blasco received in June the military medal “for the exceptional value of his services”. “He was someone who had an exceptional operational background”, according to Colonel Pascal Ianni, spokesman for the armies.

He leaves an 8-year-old child and a companion, Alexandra, who confided to the Parisian his wish to marry Maxime Blasco posthumously.

See also: the story of the rescue of the crew of the Gazelle with the soldier Maxime Blasco

In 2019, he saved the lives of two of his comrades after their Gazelle helicopter crashed. Seriously injured, in particular with multiple vertebral fractures, he had succeeded in extracting them over about fifty meters before installing them “in a somewhat artisanal way on the skates” of a Tiger helicopter to extract them from the combat zone, according to the staff.

His death brings to 52 the number of French soldiers killed in action in the Sahel since 2013. Thursday, another tribute will be paid to him in Varces (Isère, south-east) by his brothers in arms of the 7th battalion of Alpine hunters.

With AFP