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Jacques Lucien, a 99-year-old New Caledonian, is one of the last veterans of the Free French naval forces. On the eve of the 78th anniversary of the armistice of the Second World War, he testifies in the 13 Hours.
At 99, Jacques Lucien has forgotten nothing of his years at sea. In 1942, he was only 17 when he embarked on “The Deer”, a warship. The New Caledonian is in search of adventures. So he enlisted in the Free French naval forces. In the Atlantic, it will cover tens of thousands of kilometres. Under the impetus of General de Gaulle, equipped by the English, the free naval forces numbered several thousand men and around forty ships.
One of the last veterans
Jacques Lucien and his ship have a mission: to protect merchant ships from German submarines. “He could have drowned 20 times, 100 times, with his little boat. […] We realize that he was in the United States, that he crossed the Panama Canal, that he found himself in the Mediterranean., explains Michel Mourget, the delegate of the Free France Foundation in New Caledonia. It was with a full beard that Jacques Lucien finally landed in Toulon (Var), in 1945. He is today one of the last veterans of the Free French naval forces.
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