James Moser

Anne de Gaulle was the youngest daughter of General Charles de Gaulle. She was born in Trier, Germany, where her father was stationed with the Army of Occupation in the Rhineland. She was born with Down Syndrome and in a time where disabled children were sent to institutions, she lived with her family until her death.There was one sacred rule in the de Gaulle household: Anne was never to be made to feel different or less than anyone else. Charles de Gaulle was noted for his reserve and even with family members he was usually not very demonstrative. Not so with his daughter Anne, who received a warmth that he had seemed to be storing for his entire life just for her. He would entertain her with songs, dances, and pantomimes, he would often act as a child himself for her joy. One Colombey resident recalled how he used to walk with her hand-in-hand around the property, caressing her and talking quietly about the things she understood. She was, he said simply, "My joy. She helped me overcome the failings in all men, and to look beyond them". In 1948, Anne succumbed to pneumonia, a month after her 20th birthday and died in her father's arms. Upon her death, weeping, her father said: "Now, she's like the others." On 22 August 1962, Charles de Gaulle was the victim of an attempted assassination at Petit-Clamart. He later said that the potentially fatal bullet had been stopped by the frame of the photograph of Anne that he always carried with him, placed this particular day on the rear shelf of his car. When he died on November 9th 1970, he was buried in the cemetery of Colombey beside his beloved daughter. She could only utter one word clearly in her entire life: "Papa"