Léon Gautier, last survivor of the 177 Frenchmen to have landed in Normandy in June 1944, died at the age of 100

He was the last surviving member of the Kieffer commando. Léon Gautier, the last of the 177 French people to have landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, died on Monday July 3 at the age of 100, the Caen Memorial announced on Twitter, confirming information from West France. The D-Day veteran died at 7:40 a.m. in a hospital in Caen, the mayor of Ouistreham (Calvados), Romain Bail, told AFP.

The Kieffer commando was a battalion of 177 marine riflemen who had landed on the Normandy coast on June 6, 1944. These riflemen had landed on the Sword beach of Colleville-Montgomery (Calvados). “We still stayed on the front line for 70 days without relief. We couldn’t believe it. We went up to the Eure. At the end of the campaign, there were 24 of us who were not injured”, told Léon Gautier.

Born in 1922 in Rennes, Léon Gautier joined London and General de Gaulle in July 1940 before going to fight in Cameroon, Congo, Syria and Lebanon, then in France. He never ceased, thereafter, to engage “for peace”.

In recent years, the veteran had become a figure in the commemorations of the Normandy landings. In early June, he attended the Colleville-Montgomery ceremony for the 79th anniversary of “D-Day”, in the presence of Emmanuel Macron. “We won’t forget it”reacted on Monday the Head of State, quoting these words from Léon Gautier: “We are not heroes, we only did our duty.” A national tribute will be paid to him in Normandy, confirmed to AFP Romain Bail, mayor of Ouistreham.