Around five years after their initial visit, Hopkinsville has welcomed a delegation from their sister city Carentan, France and on Thursday a meet and greet was hosted between French students and county students at Hopkinsville Community College.
Hopkinsville and Carentan were recognized as sister cities in 2019 when a French delegation from the town visited to recognize the contributions of Fort Campbell soldiers in World War II. Soldiers from the 101st were responsible for liberating Carentan from Nazi control in the days following the D-Day Invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Visit Hopkinsville Financial and Office Manager, Amy Rogers who coordinated the visit says she is proud of the relationship they were able to form with Carentan based on the intersecting history of the two cities.
Rogers shared that they were on day two of their visit, and Wednesday the delegation were welcomed by students at Fort Campbell High School and visited the Pratt Museum which is home to military artifacts and memorabilia.
At Hopkinsville Community College, French delegation students from Sivard de Beaulieu High School and students from Hopkinsville and Christian County High Schools got to participate in activities to get to know more about each other’s cultural similarities and differences.
Before the activities kicked off the French delegation was welcomed by Hopkinsville Mayor J.R. Knight who says he appreciated them visiting and that it is important to remember the historical significance of their relationship.
Knight gifted the delegation coins with the city’s emblem on one side and the Fort Campbell insignia on the other.
With the French delegation was English teacher, Isabelle Farges who shared it was her second time coming to Hopkinsville and that she visited in 2019 when the cities were first paired.
Along with Knight, Farges says it is important to remember their shared history and it is also important for students to be introduced to and learn more about different cultures.
Rogers says she is happy to be able to have this relationship with those from Carentan and looks forward to maintaining that relationship in the future.
Before they depart on Saturday, the French delegation will continue touring Hopkinsville and are set to hear from a WWII veteran who had boots on the ground at the Invasion of Normandy.
