Decorated WWII Resistance fighter Michel Cherrier dies aged 102

Michel Cherrier passed away on 2 January in Calvados, Normandy. The baker from Caen received the Legion of Honour in 2015 for his actions during the French Resistance.

Michel Cherrier, who worked as a baker in Caen until his retirement in 1986, is known for his efforts as a French Resistance fighter during WWII.

Cherrier held around 10 official decorations including knight of the Legion of Honour. According to the Legion, he was a decades-long “activist in associations of the fighting world.”

Notably, he participated in the landing in Provence, a successful Allied operation which will be commemorated for its 80th anniversary in 2024.

Persistent fighter

Calvados-born Michel Cherrier was 19 years old when Germany invaded France in 1940.

In 1942, he was arrested when he travelled to Spain in an attempt to join the Free French Forces established by General Charles de Gaulle's government-in-exile.

Cherrier escaped in 1943 and successfully enlisted in the Free French Naval Forces in Morocco. In 1944, he participated in the landing of Provence.

After WWII, Cherrier was sent to Indochina in 1946 for various missions, before being discharged in 1947.

• Claude Bloch, French survivor of Auschwitz camp, dies aged 95

Social media tributes

The Prefecture of Calvados paid tribute to Cherrier on X, formerly known as Twitter.

They saluted how he had been imprisoned for his act of resistance and added that he was a “great figure in the fighting world”.

President Emmanuel Macron also commemorated Cherrier on X, saying: "We will think of him and his comrades. Condolences to his loved ones."

A few days before Cherrier's passing, Claude Bloch also died aged 95. He was the last Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor from Lyon.

(with AFP)