Well done, sir!
Posted on 09/12/2010 10:12:14 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Marcel Albert, who became one of the leading French fighter pilots of World War II, flying Soviet-built planes in duels with German aircraft on the Eastern front, died Monday in Harlingen, Tex. He was 92.
His death, at a nursing home, was announced by France’s Order of the Liberation, founded by Gen. Charles de Gaulle during the war. The cause was complications of cancer, his nephew Jean Mavinger told The Associated Press in Paris.
Mr. Albert was among four pilots of the Free French’s Normandie-Niémen fighter unit to be decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union, receiving the citation in 1944. Flying Yakovlev fighter planes — known as Yaks — in combat alongside Soviet pilots, he took part in shooting down 24 German planes, according to the Order of the Liberation.
Created by de Gaulle in 1942 to help repel Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Normandie-Niémen unit was composed of nearly 100 French fighter pilots, almost half of whom were killed in action. According to the Normandie-Niémen Museum in Les Andelys, France, its pilots flew 5,240 missions and shot down at least 273 German planes.
Mr. Albert was born in Paris on Nov. 25, 1917. He was a mechanic with the Renault auto works before joining the French Air Force in 1938. He fought as a fighter pilot during Germany’s invasion of France in May 1940, shooting down two German planes on a single day; he later flew in combat out of England.
He left military service in 1948 and came to the United States, where he opened a chain of hotels.
Mr. Albert and his wife, who died last year, had no children. He is survived by a sister.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Rest well, Soldier.
There are places in France where American graves are tended and the flame of our WWII brotherhood still flickers.
In that spirit I bid you adieu, RIP and God bless.
Nicely put-I second it. RIP and adieu.
Well done, sir!
Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited (CAVU)
Prayers to his family
RIP.
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