"The Association of Friends of French Volunteers has just been formed to provide moral and material support to French volunteers and their families, welcoming all initiatives, individual or collective, from all countries."
Sold
Charles de Gaulle (1890.1970)
Signed letter to Yvonne Salmon.
A quarto page on paper with his Carlton Gardens letterhead.
London. August 23, 1940.
« The Association of Friends of French Volunteers has just been formed. »
In the early days of the national resistance, General de Gaulle sought the services of Y. Salmon to work at the Association of Friends of French Volunteers.
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“Mademoiselle, The Association of Friends of French Volunteers has just been formed to provide moral and material support to French volunteers and their families, welcoming all initiatives, individual or collective, from all countries. Lord Lloyd has honored us by accepting the Presidency of the Patronage Committee ; I now wish to ask you to join this Committee. Nothing could be more auspicious for our Association than to begin its activities under the auspices of a name like yours. Please accept, Mademoiselle, the expression of my respectful regards. C. de Gaulle.”
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We are attaching a carbon copy of Y. Salmon's reply dated August 28th:
"General, Having spent a few days in London where I am now working at the Association of French Citizens in Great Britain as a Council Member, I only received your letter of August 23rd very late last night. It deeply honored me, and I gladly accept the offer to join the Committee of the Association of Friends of French Volunteers. I can assure you that I will do my utmost to serve this association with the greatest possible dedication. Please accept, General, the assurance of my highest consideration. Yvonne Salmon."
Yvonne Salmon (1885-1965) offered her services to General de Gaulle in the aftermath of the Appeal of June 18th. An active propagandist for Free France through the Alliance Française, she gave countless lectures and published in 1943, in London, the first biography of the leader of Free France entitled "General de Gaulle"