Crewe Town Council entrusted the honour of attending Liberation Day in Macon to former Crewe Town Councillors, Diane and Simon Yates, as they travelled to Crewe’s Twin Town of Macon to mark the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Macon during World War 2. A ceremony marking the anniversary took place on 4th September.
Diane Yates, a former Mayor of Crewe, commented ‘It was such an honour to meet friends in Macon again and the hospitality was second to none. There were so many highlights but if I can pick out two in particular. My first highlight was the chance to stand alongside the Mayor of Macon, while the town marked such an important and significant date, this was a great privilege and a moment I won’t forget. My second highlight is very personal, during the civic visit last year by the delegation from Macon to mark the end of the Great War, I was asked whether I knew any personal stories of British soldiers who had fought in France during the Second World War. Fortunately, I have strong family associations and my own Father Basil Chadwick, enlisted in 1940 and subsequently fought in N. Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany including landing in Normandy on D Day plus 2. I therefore wrote up his story and presented it to the Memorial Citoyen; which is a museum in Macon dedicated to military history from the 1870s through to the present. I also took the opportunity to make a presentation to the museum’s extensive library, with a copy of “Where the Fallen Live Forever” by Mark Potts and Tony Marks, which chronicles the lives of soldiers from Crewe who served in the Great War. The book was signed and dedicated by the present Mayor of Crewe, Cllr Benn Minshall’
Cllr Benn Minshall, Mayor of Crewe, commented ‘On behalf of Crewe, I would express heartfelt thanks to Diane and Simon for travelling to Macon as official representatives of Crewe Town Council. The relationship between our two towns dates back 60 years, which is something that we are profoundly proud of, and long may that continue. It was an honour to be invited to have a presence to mark the 75th Anniversary of Liberation Day. We have another visit planned to Macon, where we have asked friends from the Royal British Legion to officially represent Crewe, on that occasion a smaller version of the poppy that is installed on Memorial Square will be presented to our friends in Macon.’
