Leon Gautier, the last surviving Frenchman to participate in the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944, died Monday aged 100, local authorities said.
Gautier was among 177 Frenchmen who took part in the landings on 6 June, 1944, which marked the start of a rollback of Nazi Germany's domination of western Europe.
He belonged to the Kieffer commando, made up of French fighters who continued to battle the Nazis alongside the US, Britain and other Allied forces even after the French government surrendered to Germany in 1940.
His death in hospital in Caen was announced Monday by Romain Bail, the mayor of Ouistreham, an English Channel coastal community where Allies landed and where Gautier lived out his last years.
Admiral Vandier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, wrote on Twitter : "I bow to the memory of Léon Gautier ... Having joined the Navy aged 17, this hero of the Liberation was a tireless torch-bearer for service to France."
Je m'incline devant la mémoire de Léon Gautier, dernier membre des "177" du 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos ayant débarqué le 6 juin 44.
— Chef d'état-major de la Marine (@amiralVandier) July 3, 2023
Engagé dans la Marine à 17 ans, ce héros de la Libération n'a cessé de transmettre la flamme de l'engagement au service de la 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/AHY7i7EjWE
The landings on 6 June, 1944, known as D-Day, were the largest amphibious wartime operation ever.
The assault was led by US, British and Canadian troops, with a smaller participation of Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian and Polish troops.
Some 18,000 paratroopers were dropped into the invasion area, and Allied air forces provided air support for thousands of naval vessels carrying more than 130,000 ground troops in the landings.
Over 4,000 Allied troops died on the first day of the invasion, which eventually provided the attackers with a foothold in western France to push back the Germans.
Campaigner for peace
Gautier – who had lived in Ouistreham since the 1990s – joined the Free France movement in London, headed by Charles de Gaulle, in 1940.
He went to fight in Congo, Syria and Lebanon before joining the Normandy assault.
After the war, he became a campaigner for peace, pointing to his wartime experiences.
"You kill people on the other side who never did anything to you, who have families, and children. For what?" he said during a celebration for his 100th birthday last year.
"Ouistreham is very sad today, the loss of this father, this grandfather has orphaned us," said mayor Bail, calling Gautier "a local hero whom everybody knew" and "an ardent defender of freedom".
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the soldier on Twitter: "'We are not heros, we simply did our duty,' Gautier liked to say. We will not forget him."
(with AFP)
