- Title: Kerry awarded French Legion d'Honneur
- Date: 10th December 2016
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 10, 2016) (AGENCY POOL) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER, JEAN-MARC AYRAULT AWARDING U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, THE LEGION D'HONNEUR AYRAULT AND KERRY SHAKING HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "I know this is a time of uncertainty. I ask you not to be diminished by the cross currents that are flowing through the world today because I'm convinced, I will believe this, I see the world, I see the glass as definitely half full, not half empty." KERRY TALKING AFTER BEING AWARDING BY AYRAULT (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "My sense of war dated back to then. One of my first memories was walking the beaches, being at the beach in Normandy -I was about four years old. It was not too long after the war and my mother came back to see the house that they had grown up in and that had been used by the Germans and then bombed and burnt when they left it. And I remember walking through the broken glass and holding her hand and she was crying and I didn't understand why. But I do now and that's really when I began to understand the cost of war and the need for all of us to keep fighting for peace, always." AYRAULT AND KERRY ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English/French) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "I just say thank you to you for this extraordinary honour. I would also say thank you to Napoleon Bonaparte for creating it (the Legion d'Honneur). This award will not just be, not for me, this is an award about our relationship, about France and the United States, about the values that we cherish and the enduring friendship that we have. So Vive les frites, Vive les French fries, Vive la France, and Vive the United States and all my friends." PEOPLE APPLAUDING, PAN TO KERRY AND AYRAULT SHAKING HANDS
- Embargoed: 25th December 2016 16:24
- Keywords: Kerry Legion of Honour France Ayrault
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA0015CAVUX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was granted France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur on Saturday (December 10).
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault bestowed the award on Kerry on Saturday (December 10) in Paris after the two held talks on Syria's war.
Kerry used the occasion to appeal to his listeners not to be "diminished by the cross currents that are flowing through the world today".
The diplomat told how he visited France in the wake of the Second World War, too young then to fully comprehend his mother's anguish at the devastation of conflict.
John Kerry, who speaks French, said the honour was a symbol of the warm relationship between France and the United States and, with a with a touch of humour, added: "Vive les frites, Vive les French fries, Vive la France, and Vive the United States and all my friends." - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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