FATHER, I HAVE DONE MY DUTY

May 13
18 min read

We are used to reading of our commando forebears’ military careers, their courage and brave actions, their medals, and we rightly celebrate and commemorate the service they rendered to us their future generations, and the sacrifices they made, in many cases the ultimate sacrifice, that we should live in liberty, peace and prosperity.

But how often do we learn of the motivations of these men, of their fears and aspirations, of their successes and disappointments, of their loves and desires?

This is one commando’s story, where the documented record is complemented by personal testimony, which has allowed a light to be shone briefly on the intimate and personal forces which helped to determine the direction of one commando’s wartime journey.

In addition, this account reveals the answer to a mystery which has endured for 82 years and explains how it has been possible to connect a family with the knowledge of their commando forebear, which had until now eluded them.

This is the story of Marcel Labas.

Personal testimony

This story has only been made possible through the survival of two key personal accounts by Marcel Labas.

The first is an appeal to the Free French office in New York made in March 1943 that he should be allowed to join the Free French forces. A translation can be found in Appendix 1.

The second is a letter written to his parents in France one month before D-Day, in which Marcel tells his parents that he has fallen in love with an English girl, and that she is expecting his child, but that he has been refused permission to marry her. A translation is presented in Appendix 2.

By integrating the content of these two documents with other official service records, together with some new research, for the first time Marcel’s full story can be told.

Early life

Marcel Pierre Labas was born on 2nd April 1922 in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). His parents divorced when he was four years old; his father remarried, and Marcel lived with his father and stepmother in 1931 and 1936 in the rue du Vieux Pont, Nanterre.

A two-year odyssey across three continents to join the Free French

France fell in June 1940 and Paris was occupied by the Germans. After nine months, in about March 1941, Marcel sought to join the Free French forces. In practice one of the few ways to do this was to make your way to Gibraltar (or perhaps Lisbon) by way of Spain.

This in itself was a risky journey. Firstly, you had to cross the Ligne de Démarcation, the internal frontier between the German-occupied north and west of France, and the Vichy-controlled east and south. This was tightly controlled, and arrest at the border risked detention and possible deportation to Germany as forced labour.

Once in Spain there was a risk of detention in concentration camps such as that at Miranda de Ebro (Spain was officially neutral in the war but had clear sympathies with the Germans).

In Marcel’s case, according to the statement made in his request to join the Free French made in New York in March 1943, he successfully crossed the Ligne de Démarcation, and made his way to the south of France, but was arrested in Marseille in April 1941. He was sent to Toulon and forced to enlist in the Marine nationale, the navy of the Vichy regime.

From this point on his military service can be closely followed by reference to his military service record, which is summarized below. This account will now explain each entry in this summary, in its wartime context.

19th April 1941 - Marcel was forced to enlist at the 5th depot of the Marine nationale in Toulon.
His service number with the Marine nationale was 3566 T41.
22nd April 1941 - Marcel was almost immediately sent to Casablanca to the École de télémétristes, a training school for a specialist function in the navy, that of optical technician, who would be responsible for the maintenance and calibration of optical instruments, such as the rangefinders which directed the main gun batteries.
1st June 1941 - Marcel’s next posting was on the Commandant Teste which was a seaplane tender, essentially a floating harbour and maintenance depot for seaplanes, which were widely used by the Marine nationale at this time, although they were largely obsolete.
1st January 1942 - Back to Toulon for an immediate transfer to.
1st January 1942 - Richelieu. Marcel’s service on the Richelieu was the most important of his career in the Marine nationale and ultimately provided the opportunity for him to join the Free French forces.
The Richelieu was France’s largest and newest battleship. It was being fitted out in Brest, when, to avoid capture by advancing German forces in 1940, it sailed to Dakar in the Sénégal in French West Africa, arriving on 23rd June 1940. The ship was not fully commissioned; it had only a limited number of shells for its main armament, and many facilities had not been fully installed.
In early July 1940 Richelieu was a target in Operation Catapult, the Royal Navy operation to disable the French fleet in a number of ports in order to prevent the ships falling into the hands of the Germans. Richelieu was damaged whilst moored in Dakar harbour by a torpedo dropped by a Royal Navy Swordfish aircraft.
In September 1940 further damage was incurred in the course of Operation Menace, a failed attempt by the Free French with Royal Navy support to rally the French colony to the Free French cause. This was before Marcel joined her crew in January 1942.
After this time, Richelieu was effectively immobilized in port, undergoing repairs to make her seaworthy. This remained the case until after the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, after which time Richelieu became an allied asset, but remained under the control of the Vichy navy, which was predominantly loyal to général Giraud and not de Gaulle.
The allies decided that Richelieu should be sent to the United States, where repairs could be completed, and the ship modernised. She left Dakar on 30th January 1943 and arrived in New York on 11th February 1943.
The Free French had set up an office in New York, and it is to this office that Marcel, in common with a number of other sailors, some of whom also became Free French commandos, applied to join the Free French, effectively deserting his ship (see Appendix 1).
11th March 1943 - This is the date that Marcel officially joined the Free French. According to Marcel’s letter to his parents, he then made his way to England, by way of Halifax in Canada, arriving on 23rd May 1943.
His service number with the FNFL was 458 FN43, and after qualifying as a commando he was assigned badge No. 170.
23rd May 1943 - Marcel spent his first six months in the UK in a number of barracks, whilst awaiting a permanent posting; initially at the Caserne Surcouf, which was a FNFL barracks and administrative centre located on Southside, Clapham Common. On arrival in the UK, new FNFL recruits would be housed there until a permanent posting was decided.
2nd June 1943 - Relocated to the Caserne Bir Hacheim, a large FNFL barracks in Emsworth, near Portsmouth. It was similarly used as accommodation for FNFL personnel between postings.
23rd June 1943 - Relocated to the Amiens, an obsolete FNFL ship used as a floating barracks in Portsmouth harbour. As referred to in his letter to his parents, it was probably whilst on Amiens that Marcel’s frequent requests to join a fighting unit were refused, on the grounds that his specialist technical training required him to be available for duty at sea.
22nd October 1943 - Back to the Caserne Bir Hacheim. It seems likely that this is where Marcel spent the 60 days in prison, that he refers to in the letter to his parents.
1st January 1944 - Marcel was finally admitted to the ranks of the 1er BFM commando. The initial period was spent training in Wrexham; this was used as a training centre rather than the usual Achnacarry in Scotland, as the latter was snow-bound. This course at Wrexham was said to be even tougher than at Achnacarry.
It was at this time that he met his fiancée, as will be explained below. It is possible that he was billeted with her family.
6th June 1944 - The final entry in Marcel’s service record. Killed in action - Mort pour la France in the course of the Normandy landings.

Preparation for D-Day

At the time of D-Day the official title of the Free French commandos was the 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos. Administratively they were assigned to the No. 4 British commando, which itself formed part of the 1st Special Service Brigade, a force of some 2500 men.

In March 1944, Philippe Kieffer reorganised his commandos into a unit of about 180 men. There were two troops (Nos. 1 and 8) of about 65 men each; these were lightly armed with rifles and light sub-machine guns.

A new troop of about 20 men was recruited largely from Marcel’s commando training group. This was a heavy machine gun unit, referred to as K-Gun, and Marcel was in this unit. The K-Gun was a Vickers-K heavy machine gun developed from aviation use, capable of firing 1000 rounds per minute.

Training continued at Nairn in Scotland, and from early April severe restrictions were imposed on personnel movements; letters were censored, and the last days of leave were taken. The commandos were based in Bexhill-on-Sea at this time and were largely confined to camp. It is for this reason that Marcel’s request to marry his fiancée was refused (see below in Appendix 2).

D-Day

The plan for D-Day was that the Free French commandos (177 in number) would land on Sword beach, specifically at the place named La Brêche at Colleville-sur-Orne, about 2 km to the west of the centre of Ouistreham. Their objective was to seize the former Casino in Ouistreham, which had been converted into a German strongpoint. They were then to proceed inland to relieve the glider-borne troops who had seized and held the bridge (Pegasus Bridge) over the Caen canal since the early hours of 6th June.

The commandos disembarked from two landing craft at 0755 at La Brêche, under a hail of German mortar and machine gun fire. Three commandos were killed on the beach. They regrouped at a former holiday camp about 150 metres inland and then proceeded towards Ouistreham.

The K-Gun troop’s role on D-Day was to provide heavy support for the attack on the casino in Ouistreham; troops 1 and 8 were only lightly armed. In the event, Kieffer had to call in supporting fire from a British tank to silence the German strongpoint. The K-Gun troop was equipped with a total of four machine guns.

The K-Gun troop took the main road from Lion-sur-Mer to Ouistreham, together with troop 1. They were supposed to turn off on the boulevard d’Angleterre but missed this road junction. They had trouble with their heavy machine guns, which had become clogged with sand from the beach, and required frequent dismantling and cleaning, often whilst under heavy enemy fire. They were forced back from the locality of the Casino to the boulevard d’Angleterre (today renamed boulevard Winston Churchill), where Marcel was killed by a German sniper whilst setting up his machine gun. Augustin Hubert, also in the K-Gun troop, was killed by a sniper at the same spot. Ten Free French commandos were killed or died from their injuries incurred on D-Day.

There is a memorial plaque in the boulevard Winston Churchill in Ouistreham, marking the place where Marcel fell.

Decorations

Marcel was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre with Étoile de Vermeil, and the Médaille Militaire.

Burial

Marcel, along with others killed on D-Day, was given a temporary grave in Ouistreham, but his permanent resting place is in the cemetery in his home town, Nanterre.

The search for a child

An enduring mystery has surrounded the question of the identity of Marcel’s fiancée, and whether or not she bore his child. Partial transcripts of the letter to his parents have been published at least twice ⁽¹⁾ but they do not include any information with which to identify her.

There was therefore no way of searching UK birth records.

However, there were some clues. If Marcel was aware of the pregnancy in the period immediately before D-Day, then it would have dated from about two – three months previously, ie February – March 1944. At this time, Marcel was undergoing commando training in Wrexham, so it was plausible that his fiancée might live there. The birth would have been expected about November – December 1944.

Marcel had written that he wished that the child would bear his name as a consequence of his marriage. But that was denied to him.

But if his fiancée had wanted to honour Marcel’s wish, she might have done this by choice of forename for the child. So it would be expected that she would name the child Marcel if a boy, or Marcelle if a girl.

A search was carried out for such a birth in or near Wrexham towards the end of 1944 and was then extended to include early 1945. The birth of a Marsella [sic] M L Oldfield to Elsie Oldfield was found, registered in Wrexham in the first quarter of 1945. This finding seemed to be a good candidate for Marcel’s child, but obviously it would need to be confirmed.

A further search revealed that this birth was the only one in the UK within a plausible timeframe with the name Marsella.

Then came a breakthrough. I discovered that I had a digital copy of all five pages of Marcel’s letter which had lain forgotten in my files for more than ten years.

On comparison with the published transcripts, it was confirmed that it was indeed the same letter. But what it also revealed was that the published transcripts had omitted two crucial elements, one at the head and one at the foot of the letter.

At the head of the letter was the date, 4th May 1944, and there was a note to the effect that Marcel was with the 1er Bataillon fusiliers Marins 4 Commando, and that he was in the machine-gun (ie K-Gun) section. That this latter revelation escaped notice of the censors is another matter, but it goes to confirm Marcel’s deployment at that time.

At the foot of the letter Marcel gave his parents his fiancée’s name and address, presumably so that they could contact her in the event of his death. Marcel seems to have had a premonition that he would not survive, and the letter bears all the hallmarks of a farewell message to his parents.

And the fiancée’s name was Elsie Oldfield, the same as in the birth register.

A further check was made by reference to census results. In the UK censuses are carried out every 10 years, 1921, 1931, etc. There was no census in 1941 on account of the war, but an extraordinary census, called the 1939 Register, was carried out at the start of the war in September 1939. This confirmed that Elsie Oldfield lived with her mother and stepfather at the same address as in Marcel’s letter. Elsie was 19 years old and her occupation was described as household duties.

It was later discovered that she already had a daughter, born to an unknown father in 1941. This was not mentioned by Marcel in his letter, perhaps for obvious reasons.

It only now remained to confirm absolutely that Marsella was born to Elsie Oldfield, and so a copy of the full birth certificate was obtained, a transcription of the key details of which is reproduced in Appendix 3.

The birth certificate confirms that Marsella Maria Lorraine Oldfield was born on 26th November 1944 in Croes Newydd Hospital, Wrexham to Elsie Oldfield, of 23 Bryn Offa, Adwy, Bersham, Wrexham. No father’s name was given, and the birth was registered on 11th January 1945.

The choice of forenames is interesting. Marsella is clearly in recognition of her father, and the unusual spelling (inadvertent mistake or deliberate?) is almost unique in the UK civil registers ⁽²⁾. Marcel’s mother was Marie, and Lorraine may be nod to French origins.

So the enigma of Marcel’s fiancée and child has finally been solved after 82 years.

⁽¹⁾Commando Kieffer 177 Visages du Jour J, Benjamin Massieu, Jean-Christophe Rouxel. Ed. Pierre de Taillac.

Parcours de Vies dans la Royale, Jean-Christophe Rouxel

⁽²⁾Although her birth certificate (see Appendix 3) has the spelling “Marsella”, she has adopted the spelling ”Marcella” throughout her life, and at the request of her daughter this latter spelling has been used in this account, except where specific reference to the birth certificate is being made.

Family in the UK

The research described above which led to the discovery of the birth of Marcel’s daughter was carried out in the broader context of a project to trace the families of Free French commandos who had married English girls during the war and had stayed in the UK and raised their families here.

So the question now was: what happened to Marcella and did she have children of her own?

An initial search of UK civil registers found no record of the marriage or death of a Marcella Oldfield.

It was considered whether Marcella might have been adopted – Elsie Oldfield was by now a single mother with two young children. This would have presented a severe obstacle to further research, as details of adoptions are normally only made available to blood relatives.

Further research on Elsie revealed that she married in 1946, divorced and had another relationship from about 1956; she had three children from each of these relationships. She died in 1989. But no information about Marcella.

A speculative search was then carried out, that there might be a published family tree on Ancestry which could provide additional information. It is usual to be very sceptical about relying on such evidence, and furthermore most tree owners do not respond to messages, as their accounts have been dormant for years. However, to great surprise two trees were found which included Elsie Oldfield, Marcel’s fiancée. In both trees her details seemed to match those already held, and one tree owner was active, and he lived in Wrexham!

His tree revealed that his grandmother was born of an unknown father in 1941 to Elsie Oldfield. So Marcella was his great-aunt.

The other family tree was by Marcella’s sister-in-law, which provided some additional background information.

Following a series of messages on Ancestry contact was made the same day with one of Marcella’s two daughters (Marcel’s granddaughters), who had sought unsuccessfully for many years any information about her grandfather.

It transpired that the reason it had not been possible to find any further information about Marcella is that she moved to Jersey, whose civil registers are not available through the usual genealogy sources such as Ancestry. A subsequent search of Jersey civil registers confirmed that Marcella [sic] Maria Oldfield married Michael John Daly in Jersey, and her two daughters, Kate and Laura, were born there. She has a grandson (Marcel’s great-grandson) with Laura.

Michael died in 2015 in London.

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APPENDIX 1

Appeal to join the Free French

This is a translation of Marcel’s letter addressed to the Free French office in New York, requesting that he join the Free French forces.

Dear Officers,

I am a sailor and I left the Richelieu yesterday evening, Wednesday the 10th.

I come here to the Free French committee with the firm intention of enlisting.

Therefore, I respectfully request the kind consideration of the officers of Free France in granting me authorization to enlist.

Here are my reasons.

First, I want to fight and participate in the liberation of my country, but I want to fight for a cause that is truly mine. That is why I have one great regret to express: not having come here before to enlist.

Another very profound reason is that I want to one day, upon returning to a liberated France, to say these simple words to my father: "Your son did his duty."

Now I formally acknowledge that I have not been subjected to any propaganda and that I wish to enlist of my own free will.

I am from Nanterre, near Paris. I enlisted in April 1941. I left there after spending nine months with the Germans, and I crossed the demarcation line as an act of rebellion with the intention of joining the Free French Forces. However, I was arrested in Marseille with two comrades who had escaped from Germany. The police arrested us and first sent us to Toulon, where we were forced to enlist in the navy.

I had already thought everything through, but I know one thing for certain: these two years I spent in the French Navy have left me quite demoralized.

Now I'm feeling better, and that's why I desire and wish to obtain a very dangerous post, where I can finally do my duty.

However, if my application to enlist in the Free French Forces is refused, I will request to join the American army, because I no longer want to return to my ship.

Done in New York on Thursday, March 11, 1943

Signed Labas Labas Marcel

324

APPENDIX 2

Letter to his parents

This is a translation of Marcel’s letter to his parents. It is assumed that this letter eventually reached his parents in France; otherwise it probably would not have survived. It may not have been received until normal postal services were resumed after the war, and therefore probably after the birth of Marcella. It is not known if the letter has survived to this day, nor, if so, in whose hands it may be.

1st Marine Fusilier Battalion

No. 4 Commando

Machine Gun Section

May 4, 1944

My dear father and mother, and my dear brother

On the eve of the great decisive battle for the liberation of our country, I am writing you this letter because, being in the front lines, I may not reach you before the end of the war. Nevertheless, I wanted to write this letter so you would know what I have done.

I received my last interzone postcard from you on November 3, 1943¹, six days before the liberation of North Africa by the Allies. I was still on the Richelieu; we too were awaiting the battle, but I assure you that I would have fought against my will because, despite being commanded by Vichy officers, I had renounced Pétain and his clique. After North Africa, Equatorial Africa rallied to General Giraud without a fight. The Richelieu sailed for the United States for repairs, which it desperately needed.

I didn't stay long on board, because I had learned that there was a Free French delegation in America, led by General de Gaulle. Without hesitation, I joined the Free French and entered General de Gaulle's army. I left for Canada from New York and arrived in Halifax. From there, I went to England, where I am now.

I arrived in London, where I stayed for a while before embarking for the Free French Naval Academy, but I didn't like the job. There was no real danger involved, and above all, I didn't want to be stuck in hiding. I made several requests to join the company of the Naval Fusiliers, but each time my request was refused because, they said, I was needed on board my ship, since, as you know, I'm a rangefinder optician. Without hesitation, I did something very foolish and got 60 days in prison. As soon as I arrived, I made another request, which this time was accepted because I told them that if they didn't want to send me to the Free Corps, I'd rather stay in prison. This request was accepted, and after rigorous training, I joined a company, which we call "Commandos" here in England. I am proud, that it doesn't matter if I die, I am not afraid of bullets, but I want you to be able to speak your son's name and blush [with pride] after the war.

Hatred of the Germans is in all our hearts, because we know they tortured you, murdered many of our people, weakened France, and want us all dead. That's why we must put an end to them and the traitors among us.

Dear mum and dad, I'm leaving with a heavy heart too, because I'm going to share the story of my heart with you.

I love a young English girl I met during my stay in England. I am going to have a child with her, and I am very sad because my marriage application was refused as no papers can be issued to me before the second front². And yet, I love this young girl. I would have wanted the child to bear my name if I were to die. What can you do? It's fate. But if I return, I swear she will be my wife. In the meantime, I bequeath to her my estate, which amounts to approximately 10,000 francs³. At least when the child arrives, she will be able to begin raising it.

Dear parents, I will send this letter to this young girl, who will then send it to you. She is my official fiancée. I could not make her my wife, but she is my fiancée. She is the only woman I have truly loved in my life.

Dear parents, I am often very saddened when I think that you have been in this prison called France for four years, what suffering you must have endured! Ha! The bastards, they will pay for it.

Dear parents, I would like to make one more request: if the English ever come to our house, please do not turn them away. For whatever is said about them, all of us French people in England have been welcomed like brothers: in the house where I am now I am like a son of the house. They have understood the misfortune of France. They all know that a good Frenchman cannot stoop to the shame of collaboration and accept money from the Germans, for it would burn his hands.

Dear mum and dad, I'm finishing my letter now because, as you can see, I still have so much to tell you, but I need to see you. I'm also including my photo so you have a little memento of me. As I finish this letter, I have tears in my eyes because I'm thinking I may never see you again, but it's my duty; I must do it. Nothing can take precedence over duty. I still have hope of seeing Paris and our home again.

Dear mum and dad, I'm ending my letter with a big hug, and a big hug to you too, my brother Jean. Give my love to the whole family and the neighbours as well.

Marcel

My fiancée's address here in England is: Miss Elsie Oldfield, 23 Bryn Offa, Adwy, Coedpoeth, Wrexham (North Wales), England

¹ This should read 1942. Marcel had received no news from his parents for 18 months.

²An account attributed to commando Maurice Chauvet suggests that after Kieffer had refused Marcel permission to marry, he appealed to Kieffer’s superior, Colonel Dawson, who granted him permission. However, there is no independent evidence that they married; no British marriage certificate has been found.

³In the Tables de Succession et Absence for Nanterre, Marcel’s entry, dated 8th August 1947, states that he had no assets (“Sans actif apparent”). It is not known whether his fiancée ever received anything from his estate. His address is given as 44 rue du Vieux Pont, and place of death Hermanville-sur-Mer. He was described as a bachelor.