Léon Gautier (soldier)

Léon Gautier MBE (27 October 1922 – 3 July 2023) was a Free French soldier during the Second World War.[1][2] He was France's last surviving veteran of D-Day.[3]

Léon Gautier

MBE
Gautier in 2017
Born(1922-10-27)27 October 1922
Rennes, Brittany, France
Died3 July 2023(2023-07-03) (aged 100)
Caen, France
AllegianceFrance
Service/branchFrench Navy
Battles/warsWorld War II
Awards

Biography

Early life and military career

Gautier was born in Rennes, Brittany, in France, on 27 October 1922.[4][5] At the start of the Second World War, he was working as an apprentice car body maker.[6]

He enlisted in the French Navy at the age of 17, and took part in the defense of the port of Cherbourg and the mouth of the Vire in Normandy as a gunner on the battleship Courbet.[7] He fled to the United Kingdom before the Nazi occupation of France.[8] After learning about Free France in 1940, he decided to join Charles de Gaulle and participated in the 14 July 1940 parade in London with the Free French Naval Forces.[5] Gautier also served on the merchant vessel Gallois and as a marine rifleman on the submarine Surcouf, which operated in Africa and the Middle East.[6]

He fought with the 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos, led by Lieutenant-Commander Philippe Kieffer, in the Congo, Syria, and Lebanon before taking part in the invasion of Normandy, where more than half his unit was killed.[9] He later injured his ankle, which led him to have limited participation in the remainder of the war.[10]

After the war

After the war, Gautier became a campaigner for peace, calling war a "misery" that "ends with widows and orphans".[11] He worked as a panel beater in the United Kingdom for seven years, before moving to Cameroon and Nigeria for another seven years.[6] He later settled in the Norman town of Ouistreham in 1992.[9] He became the president of the French branch of the Association of Commandos.[12] He maintained a friendship with former German soldier, Johannes Borner, with their friendship being the subject of a book by Jean-Charles Stasi.[13]

Personal life and death

Gautier was married to Dorothy Banks, whom he met while stationed in the United Kingdom in September 1943, until her death in 2016.[8][6] They had two daughters.[6]

He died on 3 July 2023, at age 100, after being hospitalized in Caen for a lung infection.[9][3] In response to his death, French president Emmanuel Macron described Gautier as having "united the virtues of a warrior and those of a peacemaker."[8]

Honours

Gautier is a member of the Order of the British Empire and a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.[14] He had also been awarded with the Médaille militaire, the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (with 2 citations), the Resistance Medal, the Volunteer Combatant's Cross, and the Commemorative medal for voluntary service in Free France.[15]

References
  1. Travadon, Nathalie (24 August 2014). "Le vétéran Léon Gautier décoré par Manuel Valls". Ouest-France (in French).
  2. "Le jour le plus long de Léon Gautier, membre du commando Kieffer". La Voix du Nord (in French). 6 June 2014.
  3. Rousset, Margaux (3 July 2023). "Léon Gautier, le dernier survivant français du Débarquement en Normandie, est mort". actu.fr (in French).
  4. "Léon Gautier, dernier survivant du commando Kieffer, est mort". Ministère des Armées (in French). 3 July 2023.
  5. Flandrin, Antoine (3 July 2023). "Léon Gautier, last survivor of D-Day's only French unit, has died". Le Monde.fr – via Le Monde.
  6. "Léon Gautier, last-surviving member of the Free French navy who crossed the Channel with the British on D-Day – obituary". The Telegraph. 7 July 2023. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  7. Fleury, Jean-Luc (29 June 2012). "Un des derniers du commando Kieffer débarque à la JDC de Caen". defense.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  8. "Léon Gautier, Last Surviving French Commando From D-Day, Dies at 100". The New York Times. 4 July 2023. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  9. Armstrong, Kathryn (3 July 2023). "Léon Gautier: Last French D-Day fighter dies aged 100". BBC News. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  10. "Leon Gautier, last surviving French D-day commando, dies at 100". The Guardian. 3 July 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  11. "Last surviving French D-Day commando dies aged 100". MarketScreener. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  12. "'I invaded my own country on D-Day'". 1 June 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  13. "Les deux vétérans ennemis sont devenus voisins à Ouistreham" [Two enemy veterans have become neighbors in Ouistreham]. Ouest France (in French). 26 June 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  14. Thompson, Hannah (23 October 2022). "War veteran writes open letter against wind farm plans on D-Day beach". Connexion France. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  15. Lagneau, Laurent (3 July 2023). "Dernier survivant du Commando Kieffer, Léon Gautier nous a quittés". Zone Militaire (in French). Retrieved 11 July 2023.
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