A Bolkata Ostanuva

A century after the outbreak of the First World War, a state ceremony is held at the French cemetery in Bitola. The event is attended by deputies, ministers, ambassadors, military attaches, consuls, honorary consuls, and members of the media, along with priests from the Orthodox, Catholic, and Muslim faiths. A military band provides music. Jean Batiste Valerie, a small, frail man in his late 70s with thin, gray hair, arrives in Bitola for the first time. He reaches the solemn ceremony honoring the fallen French soldiers of the First World War somewhat late. According to correspondence and information from the French army, a predecessor with the same name and surname is believed to be buried nearby. The ceremony had already begun when he arrived.