France to install memorial plaque in honor of French-Armenian hero

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new memorial plaque will be opened in the French city of Fumel in honor of the member of the French Resistance movement and the national hero of France John Torikian, La Dépêche reports.

Torikian was of Armenian descent who fled to France with his family as a young boy. They settled in Fumel, where he became an apprentice at a factory training center.

The memorial board will be installed on the street where the Torikian family used to live and which was later named after the hero.

At age 15, Torikian forged his documents to join the French Resistance. On August 17, 1944, he was instructed to blow up the railway tracks in order to delay the retreat of the German troops. On the way back from their first mission, however, John and his comrades fell under fire, were wounded and then beaten to death by the Germans.

Torikian was 17 years old then.