JoeyCape1977
11-25-2007, 08:38 PM
Article from the Sunday Herald
Hunt on to find final Free French survivors
Detective trying to track down nation’s most decorated heroes
From Hugh Schofield in Paris
THEY ARE a Czech, a Latvian, possibly a Chadian, and a man of no known nationality. The American died. They are France's lost Liberation heroes, and the country has embarked on an 11th-hour mission to track them down.
The four men were awarded the Cross of the Liberation in the 1940s, personally decorated with France's highest second world war medal by Charles de Gaulle. They all joined his Free French early in the war, and performed feats of bravery in Norway, Africa and France.
But, with war's end, they returned to civilian life and disappeared. Sixty years on, the Order of the Liberation needs to find them. Of its thousand or so original members, only 59 are known to be still alive: the last of the survivors have suddenly become very important.
"The order as it now stands will disappear when there are only 15 cross-holders left. So we need to know exactly how many compagnons' there are. If by next year we have no news of these men, they will be officially declared dead," said Colonel Loic Le Bastard, the order's secretary-general.
The detective work was handed to Vladimir Trouplin, curator of the Order of the Liberation Museum in Paris, who has conducted a painstaking search for the last traces of these forgotten soldiers.
He has posted advertisements in British, Algerian and Latvian newspapers, mobilised the staff of French embassies, written to scores of associations of veterans and emigres, pored over thousands of documents. But so far, still no sign.
The only breakthrough came when Trouplin traced the last remaining of four American recipients of the Cross of the Liberation, James Worden.
Born in 1912, Worden came to France in 1940 as a volunteer medical worker then went to London to join de Gaulle. He served with the Free French in north Africa, and was decorated for bravery following the Allied landings in southern France in 1944. Using the US social services' website, Trouplin found an address for him, but his letters got no reply.
"He was bedridden and living with his daughter and son-in-law. They thought the Order of the Liberation was some cranky religious cult, so they ignored us. I told them Eisenhower was also a member, but it didn't make any difference. And then Worden died," said Trouplin.
De Gaulle created the Order of the Liberation in Brazzaville in November 1940 when at the lowest point of his fortunes. He closed the list in 1946, making sure the few recipients were all genuine Free French - not resistance arrivistes or last-minute turncoats.
Among the 1038 "compagnons" are Winston Churchill, King George VI and US general Dwight D Eisenhower. Five towns and villages in France are also honorary members, and they will have the task of keeping the order's memory alive once it is formally disbanded.
Of the four missing men, the Latvian Aloizo Waleina was in the Foreign Legion and fought in Eritrea, Libya and Syria. "He was the regiment's mascot," said Trouplin. Waleina was last heard of in London, where he settled after the war.
The Czech Josef Rysavy, who was also in the French Foreign Legion, fought in the Norway expedition of 1940 and distinguished himself at the battle of Bir-Hakeim in Libya. Decorated in Egypt in 1942. After the war he ran a bar in the Algerian city of Oran.
Of the last two men, even less is known. A man called Pois is mentioned in records as having been decorated in June 1941. Trouplin thinks he is a Legionnaire called Ange Pois, but pseud-onyms were common in the legion and he could have been from anywhere.
As for the man cited in the lists as Garge, it is amost certainly a misspelling. Trouplin thinks it probably refers to a Chadian soldier called Ngargue. Whoever it was, he fought bravely in Eritrea and was decorated by de Gaulle in Palestine. He then vanishes from history.
Trouplin concedes the chances of tracing the men is small. "They would be very old by now. Perhaps I shall find something, but I would say there is a 95% chance they are dead," he said.
Hunt on to find final Free French survivors
Detective trying to track down nation’s most decorated heroes
From Hugh Schofield in Paris
THEY ARE a Czech, a Latvian, possibly a Chadian, and a man of no known nationality. The American died. They are France's lost Liberation heroes, and the country has embarked on an 11th-hour mission to track them down.
The four men were awarded the Cross of the Liberation in the 1940s, personally decorated with France's highest second world war medal by Charles de Gaulle. They all joined his Free French early in the war, and performed feats of bravery in Norway, Africa and France.
But, with war's end, they returned to civilian life and disappeared. Sixty years on, the Order of the Liberation needs to find them. Of its thousand or so original members, only 59 are known to be still alive: the last of the survivors have suddenly become very important.
"The order as it now stands will disappear when there are only 15 cross-holders left. So we need to know exactly how many compagnons' there are. If by next year we have no news of these men, they will be officially declared dead," said Colonel Loic Le Bastard, the order's secretary-general.
The detective work was handed to Vladimir Trouplin, curator of the Order of the Liberation Museum in Paris, who has conducted a painstaking search for the last traces of these forgotten soldiers.
He has posted advertisements in British, Algerian and Latvian newspapers, mobilised the staff of French embassies, written to scores of associations of veterans and emigres, pored over thousands of documents. But so far, still no sign.
The only breakthrough came when Trouplin traced the last remaining of four American recipients of the Cross of the Liberation, James Worden.
Born in 1912, Worden came to France in 1940 as a volunteer medical worker then went to London to join de Gaulle. He served with the Free French in north Africa, and was decorated for bravery following the Allied landings in southern France in 1944. Using the US social services' website, Trouplin found an address for him, but his letters got no reply.
"He was bedridden and living with his daughter and son-in-law. They thought the Order of the Liberation was some cranky religious cult, so they ignored us. I told them Eisenhower was also a member, but it didn't make any difference. And then Worden died," said Trouplin.
De Gaulle created the Order of the Liberation in Brazzaville in November 1940 when at the lowest point of his fortunes. He closed the list in 1946, making sure the few recipients were all genuine Free French - not resistance arrivistes or last-minute turncoats.
Among the 1038 "compagnons" are Winston Churchill, King George VI and US general Dwight D Eisenhower. Five towns and villages in France are also honorary members, and they will have the task of keeping the order's memory alive once it is formally disbanded.
Of the four missing men, the Latvian Aloizo Waleina was in the Foreign Legion and fought in Eritrea, Libya and Syria. "He was the regiment's mascot," said Trouplin. Waleina was last heard of in London, where he settled after the war.
The Czech Josef Rysavy, who was also in the French Foreign Legion, fought in the Norway expedition of 1940 and distinguished himself at the battle of Bir-Hakeim in Libya. Decorated in Egypt in 1942. After the war he ran a bar in the Algerian city of Oran.
Of the last two men, even less is known. A man called Pois is mentioned in records as having been decorated in June 1941. Trouplin thinks he is a Legionnaire called Ange Pois, but pseud-onyms were common in the legion and he could have been from anywhere.
As for the man cited in the lists as Garge, it is amost certainly a misspelling. Trouplin thinks it probably refers to a Chadian soldier called Ngargue. Whoever it was, he fought bravely in Eritrea and was decorated by de Gaulle in Palestine. He then vanishes from history.
Trouplin concedes the chances of tracing the men is small. "They would be very old by now. Perhaps I shall find something, but I would say there is a 95% chance they are dead," he said.