Guy D'Artois
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Lionel Guy d'Artois DSO GM | |
|---|---|
 Guy and his wife Sonya Butt | |
| Born | 9 April 1917 Richmond, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | 15 March 1999 (aged 81) Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Veterans hospital |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Service/ | Canadian Army |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | |
| Battles/wars | World War II Korean War |
| Awards |
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| Relations | Sonya Butt |
Major Lionel Guy d'Artois DSO GM (9 April 1917 – 15 March 1999) was a Canadian Army officer and SOE agent.
Biography
Lionel Guy (generally known by his second name) d'Artois was born in Richmond, Quebec in 1917. He joined the Militia (part-time army reserves) in 1934, at the age of 16. In 1936, he became a student at the Université de Montréal, but dropped his studies in 1939, to enlist as private.
He later joined the First Special Service Force and in 1942 he was commissioned. He served as an instructor in savate, and in August 1943 took part in "Operation Cottage", the reoccupation of the island of Kiska in the Aleutians.
In 1943 he volunteered for SOE, one of several French-Canadians attached to F section. On the night of 23/24 May he left England and parachuted into the department of the
After the war, he was promoted to major and made commanding officer of the new Canadian Special Air Service Company.[2] In 1947 there was an unusual episode in which he was tasked with the rescue of a severely injured missionary from a remote district in the Far North. The mission took seven weeks altogether (which suggests that Canon J.H. Turner was himself a pretty tough character!), and resulted in d'Artois being decorated with the George Medal (GM) alongside flying officer Robert Race.
He served with the Commonwealth occupation forces in Japan, and then did an operational tour with 1st Bn.,
War time romance
One of the fellow students on his SOE course in 1943 had been a 19-year-old
The couple moved to Quebec and raised a family of six children: three boys (Robert, Michel and Guy) and three girls (Nadya, Christina and Lorraine).
Death
In March 1999, Major L.G. d'Artois, a hero in war and peace, died in the Veterans Hospital in
References
- ^ "Tentative of History of In/Exfiltrations into/from France during WWII from 1940 to 1945 (Rev. 105)" (PDF). Le Plan Sussex 1944. 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ "Canadian Special Air Service (SAS) Company". canadiansoldiers.com. 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Langan, Fred (7 May 2010). "The kind of war hero about whom movies are made". CBC News. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- "Lionel Guy D'Artois". Canada Veterans Hall of Valour.
- "Canada at War: Mute Survivors". Time. 25 December 1944. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008.
- Stevens, Colin (24 August 2008). "Canadian Army Regiments". bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net.
- Stevens, Colin (24 August 2008). "FSSF". bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net.
- Neely, Alastair (8 August 2002). "First Special Service Force". execulink.com.
- Stevens, Colin (24 August 2008). "Canadian Airborne Units". bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20081029063628/http://web.mac.com/davedepickere/World_War_II,_analyzed!/Canadian_Secret_Agents_in_the_Second_World_War.html
- Horne, Bernd, and Michel Wyczynski. In Search of Pegasus. St. Catherines, ON: Vanwell Publishing Ltd, 2001.