Disappearance
Philippe de Gaulle, the General's eldest son, died at the age of 102
General de Gaulle's eldest son died at the age of 102 in Paris after a military career.
Philippe de Gaulle at the National Assembly on November 27, 2019. AFP - CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT
By: RFI with AFP
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Died on the night of March 12 to Tuesday March 13 at the age of 102, Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, eldest son of Yvonne and General Charles de Gaulle, former President of the French Republic and founder of the Fifth Republic, was born on December 28, 1921 in Paris.
“
He died during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday at the National Institution of Invalides where he had been a resident for two years
,” said his son Yves de Gaulle.
“A great Frenchman”
“
Let us salute the memory of a formidable father and a great Frenchman, whose sense of duty was matched only by his elegance and modesty.
Vision, honor and simplicity, that is ultimately Gaullism
,” wrote Pierre de Gaulle, another son of the admiral, about X.
A former student of the Naval Academy, Philippe de Gaulle joined the Free French Naval Forces in 1940.
He had participated as an ensign in the campaigns in the North Atlantic until 1944, then in the French campaign (1944-45) in the Leclerc division.
Lieutenant in 1948, lieutenant captain in 1956, admiral in 1980, he ended his military career two years later.
A “
dazzled son
”
The eldest of the de Gaulle couple's three children was then a senator for Paris between 1986 and 2004 under the RPR label, then the UMP.
He also devoted himself to preserving the memory of his father, publishing several works on the general, including
De Gaulle, my father
, a publishing success.
For the “
dazzled son
”, as he said, it was a question of humanizing his illustrious progenitor, icon during his lifetime, leader of Free France and former President of the Republic, who died in 1970.
Guest FranceThe political legacy of General de Gaulle's June 18 appeal
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