Born on April 24, 1905. His sister, born in April too, had just celebrated her 16th birthday, his brother Louis was going to take his 8 years and Paul had just had his 5. His mother was 41 and his father 51! He was the little last.
Following an attack which had occurred before his birth, his father got paralyzed. When he died, he was 3... his mother was 44 and his elder sister 19. They were poor. When a kid, he sang in cafés to earn some money...
He was 9 when WWI broke out. His sister was married with two children. His eldest brother became wage earner in the family at 17. A lady from the upper middle class, Madame de Monteti, decided to finance his high school studies (latin/greak) in a religious school in La Valette. He was a boarder there.
At 14, on September 1, 1919, he was apprenticed at the arsenal of Toulon. On his 16th birthday, he was hired as a worker and assistant helper till May 7, 1925. He took the exam to enter the officer school of Saint Maixent and passed it. On May 7, 1925, at 20, he joined the army for 5 years and departed to Saint Maixent. He became a captain in the army corps serving alongside French navy in overseas operations.
On September 6, 1930, he married Eglantine Girard (he was naming her Eglan). He was 25, she was 23.
He didn't forget his family, to which he faithfully gave money to help them make ends meet.
On July 27, 1931, he became a father for the first time: it was a son, Jacky. Then he was transfered to the military base of Medenine, in Tunisia, where a second son was to be born three years later, in 1934: Henri. In 1937, a third son was born in Saint-Louis, Senegal: Jean-Pol. In 1939, while he was at the military base of Fréjus, WWII was declared. Everyone was ready, waiting for orders, as he learned his daughter's birth: he leaved the base in secret to go see her and gave her the name of the homeland, France. In '42, a fourth son, Bernard, was born in Dakar, Senegal. They were at the military camp of Ouakam, in the outside of Dakar. The situation deteriorating due to the war, he got obliged to have his family to be repatriated. His wife took on board in Dakar, with her 5 children, including baby Bernard. His wife travelled alone on a boat, with all of this little people and 9 packages! He settled then Avenue Roume, in the middle of Dakar. During these years of separation, he hold a diary in which he wrote to his lovey.
His mother died on January 15, 1944 at the age of 80. He was to learn it only later indirectly, that worried him.
He lived so for 5 long years, separated from his ones, hoping to participate to the liberation of France, waiting for the orders, without knowing what they were to do, nor when he was to be allowed to go back home.
He was demobilized on July 23, 1946. He arrived in Toulon, where his family came greet him. They lived in Reillanne on the 'Cours'.
In 1947, he got a son, Gérard then, in 1951, a daughter, Marie-Chantal.
He decided to resign and left army. He was searching a job... he carried out the secretarial work of the cityhalls of Reillanne and Oppedette; he worked as a gardener at the monastery, bred silkworms before sending them to Lyon. He was a voluntary representative for young delinquents and a honorary member in the corps of firemen.
When his daughter France got married, he was 55. He was working at the Péchiney plant, as a guard in the plant and the city. He also worked at night checking the outgoing trucks, what they carried... he lived in Saint Auban, in an adjoining house. He bred rabits in hutches. He went to work with his lunchbox. When he was arriving from work in summer, he was putting his head under the water, above the sink of the kitchen and smoothed his hair with the hand.
Struck by leukaemia, he organized his documents and managed to get a good retirement pension to his wife. He set directions about steps she had to make after his death.
He died four years later on October 8, 1980 at the age of 75.
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