France Forever / France Quand Même

Rédigé par Alan dans la rubrique Le coin du collectionneur

I recently found a rather interesting cushion in a shop in the village of Debenham, Suffolk which sells mainly old French pieces of furniture and bric a brac. One of its owner's father was French and had made it over to England during the war and had joined the R.A.F. as a pilot.


It looks like the material used had started out as a silk scarf and then later a back has been added to make it into a cushion cover.



France Forever was founded in 1940 as an association of French men and women living in the United States and of American friends of France, seeking to preserve the age-old comradeship between these two great countries in the cause of freedom and democracy. The organisation was created to support Général de Gaulle and held their first public meeting at the Carnegie Hall in New York on December 20th 1940. 
Its founders were :

  • Major General William G Price, Jr. - commandeur de la Légion d'honneur
  • Oswald Chew - Officier de la Légion d'honneur
  • Emile C. Geyelin - Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
  • Roger E. Brunschwig - Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur
  • Eugene J. Houdry - Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
  • Fred G. Hoffherr - Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
  • Emile G. Henno - Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
  • Henri L. Laussucq
  • Pierre Quilleret
  • Jacques de Sieyes - Officer de la Légion d'honneur
  • Docteur Albert Simard - Chavalier de la Légion d'honneur

Later the organisation would become affiliated with the French Committee of National Liberation and published a monthly bulletin promoting its ideas, fighting against Nazi propaganda and allowing the true voice of France to be heard in the United States as well as encouraging those in France to resist and play their part in bringing about ultimate victory.


From the cover of a leaflet published by France Forever

France Forever laminated pin owned by Yvonne Klug Redgis,
a Jewish French Resistance member who had been imprisoned in France
(collection : United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Join France Forever poster by Henri L. Lassucq

Front cover of monthly bulletin published July 1943
(photo : Fondation de la France Libre)