He was 100 years old. Léon Gautier was the last survivor among the 177 Frenchmen who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. His death was announced on Twitter by the Memorial of Caen, thus confirming the information from Ouest-France. Léon Gautier was part of the Kieffer commando, a battalion made up of 177 marine riflemen who had landed on the Normandy coast. He died on Monday July 3 at 7:40 a.m. in a hospital in Caen, the mayor of Ouistreham (Calvados) Romain Bail told AFP.
Born in 1922 in Rennes, Léon Gautier joined London and General de Gaulle in July 1940, before going to fight in Cameroon, Congo, Syria, Lebanon, before the June 6 landing. He has been committed to “peace” ever since.
“The worst thing you can see is a war. Because we kill people in front who have done nothing, who have a family, children. All this to achieve what? declared the Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, dressed in a suit and tie in his wheelchair, during a ceremony for his 100th birthday on October 27, 2022.
Father of two children, he had lived in Ouistreham since the 1990s. President Emmanuel Macron immediately paid tribute to him in a tweet. “We are not heroes, we only did our duty,” he repeated. Last member of the Kieffer commando who landed with his 176 French comrades in Normandy on June 6, 1944, hero of the Liberation, Léon Gautier left us. We will not forget it, “reacted the head of state.
“Ouistreham is very sad today (Monday), we are a bit orphaned by this father, this grandfather, a local hero known to all who transmitted a certain number of values for freedom, of which he was an ardent defender by landing on our beaches,” said Mr. Bail. “State services have confirmed to me that a national tribute will be paid to him in Normandy,” he added.