2023-07-03 17:32:17
Leon Gauthier, the last surviving Frenchman, who participated in the Allied invasion of the beaches of Normandy in 1944, died today, Monday, at the age of 100, according to what the local authorities announced.
Gauthier was among 177 Frenchmen who took part in the landings of June 6, 1944, which marked the beginning of the decline of Nazi Germany’s hegemony over Western Europe.
Gauthier belonged to the “Commando Kiefer” special squad, made up of French fighters who continued to fight the Nazis alongside the United States, Britain and other Allied powers even following the French government surrendered to Germany in 1940.
Leon Gauthier died in a hospital in Caen early today, near the beaches of Normandy, where fierce battles are commemorated every year, said Romain Bey, mayor of the neighboring city of Westerham.
The Allied landings on June 6, 1944, were the largest wartime amphibious operation ever.
Gauthier was honored more than once and received many medals, the last of which was honored by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the “Normandy” operation.
American, British and Canadian forces led the attack, with smaller participation from Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian and Polish forces.
About 18,000 paratroopers landed in the invasion area, and the allied air forces provided air support to thousands of naval ships that carried more than 130,000 ground forces in the landing operations.
More than four thousand Allied soldiers died on the first day of the invasion.
Gauthier, who has been living in Westerham since the 1990s, joined the Free French movement in the British capital London, headed by Charles de Gaulle, in 1940.
He went on to fight in the Congo, Syria and Lebanon before joining the Normandy offensive.
After the war, he became a peace activist, drawing lessons from his wartime experiences.
“You’re killing people on the other side who have never done anything for you, and they have families and children. For what?” he said, during a celebration of his 100th birthday last year.
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