Tuesday morning as usual, until the phone rang. On November 26 2019, Jean-Marie Bockel prepared to leave his home in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) to go to Paris, where he would take his seat in the Senate. When he raised it, a voice was heard in the name of the 5th helicopter gunship regiment, based in Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), where his last son came from. “I didn’t immediately understand…” the former Minister (UDI) confided in us, without being able to finish his sentence. The silence held back from the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.
The night before, Pierre-Emmanuel Bockel was killed in Mali, as part of Operation Barkhane. Tragic accident between two French army helicopters, engaged against jihadists over the Trois-Frontières ambush zone, in the Sahel. Result: 13 soldiers died, including Captain Bockel who at the age of 28 was about to become a father.
