The Lincoln Times

DECREE SAVES LIFE OF MARSHAL PETAIN
De Gaulle Commutes Former Vichy Chief's Death Sentence To Life
Paris, Aug. 20 - Gen. de Gaulle commuted to life imprisonment Friday the death sentence imposed on 89-year-old Marshal Petain, the former Vichy chief of state who was convicted on a charge of collaboration with the Germans during the occupation.

De Gaulle, president of the French provisional government, simply approved the recommendation of the high court of justice, written into the verdict, which expressed the wish that the death sentence not be carried out.

The commutation also constituted the latest chapter in the relationship of the two men which began years ago when De Gaulle, at his own request, asked to be transferred to the regiment commanded by Petain.

Intimates of both French military leaders said that De Gaulle in those days regarded Petain as his "military father." Petain had even written a preface to one of De Gaulle's books which was dedicated to the Marshal. France's fall in 1940 found the two men in opposing positions with Petain heading the Vichy regime and De Gaulle continuing the fight against the Germans as the leader of the Free French.

Former Premiers Paul Reynaud, Edouard Daladier, Edouard Herriot, and Leon Blum, and Gen. Maxime Weygand, who was commander in chief at the time of the armistice, and Pierre Laval were among the long list of political and military leaders who testified at Petain's 20-day trial.

Just before the case went to the jury last Tuesday, Petain, a hero of the First World War, declared emotionally: "On the threshold of death I swear I always served France."

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