It is impossible to talk about the Kieffer commando without mentioning the name of Léon Gautier. On the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Emmanuel Macron, who goes to Colleville-Montgomery on Tuesday, June 6, will not fail to pay tribute to this last living French veteran, who was engaged in the only battalion of France present on D-Day alongside the 132,000 allied soldiers. "I imagine that for Léon Gautier, this new commemoration has the flavor of a reunion. Even at 100 years old, I know he is very happy to be able to perpetuate the memory of the Second World War to the end," says Benjamin Massieu, professor of history and author of the book "Les Français du jour D" (ed. Pierre de Taillac, 2019).

Because "Léon Gautier is first and foremost this young man who enlists, out of patriotism, in the first within the Free French Forces when he is only 17 years old, continues the historian. But above all, he is this tireless smuggler of history. Since the 1980s, he has devoted his retirement entirely to the memory of his unit, to the point where he has become its most vibrant incarnation today."

But the star of the day is the veteran Léon Gautier, one of the last three of the Kieffer commando. He will give alongside @EmmanuelMacron their green berets to the sailors who have just passed the commando course. pic.twitter.com/50RaXQO6a5

— Stéphanie Trouillard (@Stbslam) June 6, 2019

From bodywork to Navy

Nothing predestined this young Breton to such a trajectory. Born in Rennes on October 27, 1922, he was apprenticed as a coachbuilder when the war broke out in 1939. The young man felt the urgent need to enlist and joined the Navy without any hesitation in February 1940 – at the time the only component of the armed forces recruiting soldiers so young. Gunner aboard the battleship Le Courbet, he took part in the defense of Cherbourg by bombarding the road to Carentan during the German invasion. When the hour of defeat sounded, the officers chose to set sail for England.

Taking refuge in a camp for French sailors in Sheffield, near Liverpool, he learned on the radio, with some comrades, that General de Gaulle had just created the free France to continue the fight under the French flag. "Of course, I am committed," says the veteran in an interview on October 27, 2022 to France 3 Normandy.

Under the orders of Philippe Kieffer

He then participated in the parade of July 14, 1940 in London in the presence of General de Gaulle and George VI. Later, he was sent to the Atlantic aboard the Welsh before joining the 2nd Marine Battalion on its African journey, to Syria and Lebanon. In the summer of 1943, he joined Philippe Kieffer's commandos with many members of this unit and trained at Achnacarry in Scotland. At the end of May 1944, like his other sailing companions, he was put in the secret of the preparations for the Normandy landings. "Kieffer gathered us before the start and said, 'Gentlemen, you know the plans, you know what awaits you, there may not be a dozen of you who will come back intact. Whoever does not want to leave, let him come and see me. I won't blame him.' Everyone left," Léon Gautier told France 3 Normandy.

On June 6, 1944, with 176 French brothers in arms of the 1st Marine Rifle Battalion of the Free France, he landed with the first wave of assault on Sword Beach, in Colleville-Montgomery. The mission of the French battalion led by Philippe Kieffer was twofold: to retake the casino of Ouistreham transformed into a fortress by the Germans and to join the troops of the 6th Airborne Division in Bénouville. Goal achieved: in less than four hours, the French unit clears 1.8 km of beach. "We still stayed 70 days on the front line without relief," recalls the former soldier. We didn't believe that. We went up to the Eure. At the end of the campaign, there were 24 of us who were not injured."

Difficult return to civilian life

He ended up accidentally injuring his ankle during a new stay in England in September 1944 and found himself forced to leave the commandos. Demobilized after the war, he married Dorothy Banks, a British signal corps met across the Channel, with whom he had two children.

The return to France is complicated. Léon Gautier struggled to find work. "This return to civilian life was difficult for all these free soldiers," recalls Benjamin Massieu. They were not accepted because they sent back to others the image of what they had not had the courage to do." Pugnacious, he ends up getting a job in a body shop, but the lack of work gets the better of his boredom. He returned to England to live in his wife's homeland for seven years. "All my friends, like me, found ourselves as brave to resume civilian life and get there as during the war. We had the spirit of conquerors that we had during the war. We found him," says Léon Gautier to France 3.

A life to pass on

He then moved to Cameroon and Nigeria, where he worked for the French West Africa Company. But it was finally in the Oise that he ended his career as an automotive expert, until his retirement. "From the early 1980s, he devoted his free time to this episode of history, at a time when it was still little talked about in the media," says Benjamin Massieu. We had to wait for President François Mitterrand to attend the first commemorations." The recognition of the enlisted members of the free France is late because General de Gaulle preferred to evoke the landing in Provence rather than that of the Normandy coast, upset not to have been warned of the "D-Day" by the British.

Having become president of the Kieffer Commando alumni association and manager of the N° 4 Commando museum, he eventually moved to Ouistreham, near his landing beach, to respond to the ever more numerous and pressing requests. Since the 1990s, Léon Gautier has attended all ceremonies. "He shook hands with all the French and foreign presidents present at the commemorations. He even greeted Queen Elizabeth II. He quickly became a key figure in this part of our history. Today, he's a little star," says Benjamin Massieu, who has become the veteran's friend over time.

Peacemaker

Even weakened by age, "he would never miss a ceremony," adds the 33-year-old historian. With his strong character and his unwavering humour, he continues to transmit to the younger generations this message of peace and freedom that he carried with his brothers in arms on June 6, 1944."

On Tuesday, the French president will therefore present, with Léon Gautier, the green berets to students who have just succeeded in their commando course. Then the head of state will officially launch the public interest group responsible for preparing the major commemorations planned for the 80th anniversary next year. With, everyone hopes, a new participation of Léon Gautier.

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