Guy Normandin - French fisherman who retrieved F/Lt Curle's body
In November 2021, I was contacted by Luis Garrido concerning F/Lt Richard Curle. Luis had visited the communal cemetery on the L'île d'Oléron and found this website when searching for information about the grave (see bottom of this page for information on the cemetery).
Luis undertook some local research after reading the information supplied by the Red Cross regarding the retrieval of the body of Richard Curle in April 1943. This letter mentioned a fisherman named M. Guy Normandin who found the body of an airman in the Pertuis d'Antioche - the strait on the Atlantic coast of Western France, between the islands of Île de Ré and Oléron, on the one side, and on the other side the continental coast between the cities of La Rochelle and the naval arsenal of Rochefort.
M. Guy Normand lived on rue Molière in Chateau-d'Oléron. He was out fishing on the morning of 3 April, 1943 when he found the body of Richard Curle. He returned to the port of Chateau-d'Oléron and informed the local authorities who in turn contacted the occupying German forces. F/Lt Curle was laid to rest the following day, 4 April 1943, in the local communal cemetery.
Luis Garrido was able to contact Maguy, the daughter of M. Guy Normandin. M. Guy Normandin was a 22-year-old fisherman in April 1943 and she has generously shared the following photographs of her father and also of the Montcalm, the boat on which M. Normandin returned Richard Curle's body in.
M. Normandin passed away in 1980.
Luis undertook some local research after reading the information supplied by the Red Cross regarding the retrieval of the body of Richard Curle in April 1943. This letter mentioned a fisherman named M. Guy Normandin who found the body of an airman in the Pertuis d'Antioche - the strait on the Atlantic coast of Western France, between the islands of Île de Ré and Oléron, on the one side, and on the other side the continental coast between the cities of La Rochelle and the naval arsenal of Rochefort.
M. Guy Normand lived on rue Molière in Chateau-d'Oléron. He was out fishing on the morning of 3 April, 1943 when he found the body of Richard Curle. He returned to the port of Chateau-d'Oléron and informed the local authorities who in turn contacted the occupying German forces. F/Lt Curle was laid to rest the following day, 4 April 1943, in the local communal cemetery.
Luis Garrido was able to contact Maguy, the daughter of M. Guy Normandin. M. Guy Normandin was a 22-year-old fisherman in April 1943 and she has generously shared the following photographs of her father and also of the Montcalm, the boat on which M. Normandin returned Richard Curle's body in.
M. Normandin passed away in 1980.
M. Guy Normandin (© Normandin family) |
The Montcalm - M. Guy Normandin's boat (© Normandin family) |
Using the information given in the Red Cross letter, the likely area where M. Normandin was fishing is given in the below map.
The Pertuis d'Antioche where M. Normadin was fishing
The Montcalm
The Montcalm was a fishing boat constructed in La Tremblade in 1933 (La Tremblade is on the mainland just off the southern coast of the to the island of d'Oléron). Aristide Normandin, father of Guy Normandin, sold the boat at the end of the 1940s.
On the morning of the 7th April 1951, the boat set off from the port of Château d'Oléron. Unfortunately, the Montcalm was caught in a storm and sank off La Coubre (close to the entrance to the Gironde estuary).Of the crew of five, three were reported missing and only the body of Emile Charrier, the ship's captain, was found on 21st July 1951.
On the morning of the 7th April 1951, the boat set off from the port of Château d'Oléron. Unfortunately, the Montcalm was caught in a storm and sank off La Coubre (close to the entrance to the Gironde estuary).Of the crew of five, three were reported missing and only the body of Emile Charrier, the ship's captain, was found on 21st July 1951.
