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gmic.co.uk  :
"Mark,
Quite a story on that man's chest... Was emprisonned for Resistance activities, jumpted the Pyrennes, fought in the 1944-45 campaign in Frence and possibly Germany and was mentinned (croix de guerre). He may have served in the ranks and decided to stay with the Army after the war as an officer, after attending officer-candidate school. It seems clear he was with the Legion as a Major (Chef de bataillon) possibly at the end of his carreer.
But you must not forget that in the French Army you can move from one type of infantry regiment such as the Legion to a batallion of Chasseurs, or a line infantry regiment. His name sounds germanic, but so are names of a number of people in Alsace and Lorraine. He might very well have lived in those parts early in the war and been imprisonned by the Germans for evading military service with the Wehrmancht.
He obviously went on to fight in Indochina which was true of all professionnal soldiers at the time, and later in Algeria.
Try and get the story from the family if you can. With the Foreign Legion, mum's the word. You cannot get personnal records of an officer before 120 years have elapsed since his day of birth. This man should have been born in the early '20s.
....
Good luck and cheers
Veteran " 
Laloup laurent le mercredi 19 mars 2008 Contribution au livre ouvert de Guy Edouard Robert Ghislain Halftermeyer | |
