“Le Cavalier de Saumur”: ode from a grandson to an unknown soldier

He not only served the France of the past century, he also personified it. The life, hitherto unknown, of lieutenant, then captain and finally colonel René-Frantz Préclaire, engaged in the two World Wars, merges with the destiny of our country and summarizes its tragedies. In 1917, hit near his trench by a shell, he was seriously injured in the leg and narrowly escaped amputation. This earned him a place in the Army Ministry’s “Excellence and Citations” section and, after a brief convalescence on crutches, being sent back to the front, where he headed a section of position machine guns on the Chemin des Dames and is still distinguished by his bravery. If his wound has healed