Edgard Tupët-Thomé, one of the last four companions of the Liberation, died this Wednesday at the age of 100.
After the armistice, he joined the Internal Resistance, becoming one of the first four secret military personnel of the FFL in France.
Edgard Tupët-Thomé, one of the last four companions of the Liberation, died Wednesday at the age of 100, announced the Elysee and the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, expressing his "deep sadness".
A "resistance from the first hour"
"The President of the Republic salutes this resistance from the first hour, who was until his last breath a committed man, ready to oppose the bad winds of history with the breath of the ideal," said the Elysee in a statement.
Edgard Tupët-Thomé had been a shock parachutist in the Free French Forces.
Only three companions of the Liberation survive him - Daniel Cordier, Hubert Germain and Pierre Simonet - out of the 1,038 distinguished by General de Gaulle for their engagement within Free France during the German Occupation.
I am very sad to learn of the death of Edgard Tupët-Thomé, Companion of the Liberation, who celebrated his 100th birthday last April.
I extend my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.
Paris, a common Companion of the Liberation, will not forget it.
pic.twitter.com/vHQAsqwdAJ
- Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) September 9, 2020
Soldier, prisoner of the Germans, fugitive
"I learn with deep sadness the death of Edgard Tupët-Thomé, companion of the Liberation, who celebrated his 100th birthday last April. I send my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones. Paris, common Companion of the Liberation, will not forget it, "tweeted the PS mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
Born April 19, 1920, Edgard Tupët-Thomé had turned away from theological studies to join the army in 1938. Sergeant when war broke out, he took part in the fighting in Lorraine, Belgium then in Dunkirk, where it protects the embarkation of British soldiers.
Taken prisoner by the Germans, he escapes.
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
After the armistice, he joined the Internal Resistance and became one of the first four secret military personnel of the FFL in France.
With the 3rd regiment of parachute hunters, he carried out high-risk missions in Brittany, the Jura and Holland, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.
Administrator in Tunisia after the war, he resumed engineering studies in the 1950s and worked at Singer, in a pharmaceutical laboratory then at Panhard.
Edgard Tupët-Thomé had been elevated in January to the rank of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, during a ceremony at the Invalides.