French President

In Historic

Visit To Pacific

General Charles de Gaulle became the first French Presi dent to visit the South Pacific while in office when he spent just over a week in New Caledoma, the New Hebrides and

French Polynesia early in Sep

tember.

THE general arrived in Noumea on September 3, flew to Vila for a one-day visit to the New Hebrides on September 6; and left for Tahiti from Noumea's Tontouta Airport on September 7.

He remained in French Polynesia until the 11th, during which he watched the explosion of a nuclear device at France’s nuclear testing centre, Mururoa Atoll from the French warship de Grasse.

The explosion, the fourth in France’s current nuclear series, took place in a device suspended below a balloon at an altitude of 1,600 ft.

General de Gaulle was warmly received wherever he went, although the crowds were not always as big as they might have been.

In his public speeches, he usually stressed the fact that although France's Pacific Territories were a

long way from France, their people were Frenchmen in heart and spirit, with a French duty to perform in the Pacific.

The general said little that was new or positive apart from the fact that, on his return to France, the French Government would “do every thing necessary” to build a road across Tahiti’s rugged, lofty and seldom-penetrated interior. General de Gaulle said that the road would be a ‘“peaceful, useful and magnific ent work” to commemorate for ever the nuclear testing centre at Mururoa.

During General de Gaulle’s visit the New Hebrides, the French Government announced awards to several senior British officials in the Pacific.

An award was also made to Mr.

Reece Discombe, a New Zealand resident of Vila, for his discovery of the wreck of La Perouse's flagship Boussole at Vanikoro several years ago. Mr. Discombe became an Officer of the Order of Merit.

General de Gaulle renewed acquaintances with some old comrades-in-arms during his visit to Noumea in September. He is seen here with 2nd Lieutenant Raymonde Beer, nee Roly, who was the first woman to volunteer from New Caledonia in World War II. She went to London in 1940 as a chauffeur, and finally served as a secre tary at the Free French HQ. A school teacher, she is married to a Norwegian doctor, and they have a family of two girls and two boys. To her right is Lieutenant Thomas Hagen (now a reserve captain), who served in the Pacific Battalion. He is a nephew of the late "Tibby" Hagen.—Photo: Fred Dunn.