The boy hero of the Resistance

Remembrance honour for killed 6-yr-old

A BRAVE young lad who died a hero in the Resistance during the Second World War will finally be honoured at a Remembrance Day service.

Marcel Pinte was six when he was accidentally killed seconds after th e RAF dropp ed a consignment of machine guns into France in 1944. He was shot dead when one of the guns went off after falling to the ground. Marcel, who sneaked messages across German lines, was a popular mascot, and his death devastated the Resistance fighters.

Almost certainly due to his age, his name was never added to the war memorial in his hometown of Aixesur-vienne in Limousin.

But that has now been rectified and tributes will be paid at a Remembrance Day service tomorrow.

Hi s n eph ew Alexandre Brémaud said: “He was a figure of the Limousin Resistance and his whole family played a role in it. He has been posthumously awarded his fighter’s card and given the rank of sergeant, but the moving moment for me is to see his name on the monument.

“The purpose of this tribute is that its history goes beyond the family circle, that its memory is adopted by the nation.”

He added: “I was told there were some concerns because of his age. A local told his father to be careful because Marcel sometimes sang Resistance songs at the top of his lungs.”

Marcel – whose dad Eugene was the commander of a 1,200-strong Resistance movement in the area – died in August 1944.

Resistance fighters on the ground i nformed th e RAF ab out th e tragic accident by radio contact.

The following day when the RAF dropped more weapons and ammunition they included black pieces of cloth to pay their respects to the dead boy.

Marcel’s dad led the Resistance to retake the nearby city of Limoges the next day. Eugene died six years after the war and was buried beside his son.

He sang Resistance songs at the top of his lungs MARCEL’S NEPHEW ON RISKY WARTIME HABIT

MASCOT Marcel with unidentified fighter. Left, the boy’s Resistance document