| Name |
Gaston
GEORGETON |
Aliases |
|
| Date of birth |
8 August
1895 |
Profession |
Head vine-keeper |
| Address |
Maison
Pommery, Sillery, Marne, France
(A few kms SW of Reims) |
Spouse/
Children |
Marcelle
/
Léone (24), Robert (22) & René (14) |
| Position |
Safe
house |
Awards |
Medal of Freedom (US) |
Gaston &
Marcelle Georgeton in October 1943.
(Photo courtesy of Thierry Georgeton) |
|
References |
NARA:RG498/290/55/27/2 Box 172 - Awards' file - Gaston Georgeton
NARA:RG498/290/55/21/6 Box 72 - Awards' file - Lea
Chandelot
Information from Thierry Georgeton (via email)
See text for other references
|
Raymonde Beuré sheltered Val
Johnson (RAF) and Fred
Murray (USAAF) in a three room cabin in woods near Sillery (~10 kms SE of
Reims). After 3-4 days, she moved them to the home of the Georgeton family,
when the Germans began searching the woods for draft dodgers (ie men who didn't
want to get conscripted into the German workforce). They stayed there for 8
days in October according to the Georgeton's (note: Johnson mentions 4-5 days,
from 13-17th October and Murray 15-21st October). They left when Germans moved
into the vineyard buildings opposite them. René Serpe drove them to the
Chandelot's home in Mailly-Champagne (18 kms SE of Reims).
Two other E&E references were found in Georgeton's file -
292 (Charles
Bronner) and 296 (William
Dunning), with no explanatory text. However, in Rémi and Lea Chandelot's
file:
... Mme Georgeton states that she passed to M Chandelot E&E
206 [Murray] and E&Es 292, 296 (Bronner
and Dunning) ....
There is no mention of them spending the night at the Georgeton's
home. Dunning writes:
.... on 19th October [1943] at
16:00 hours we went to Rheims by train .... Bronner, Robert
[Robert l'Heurre, from Bar-le-Duc?] and I got off at Sillery ....
went to a nearby farm. The next night we had dinner with the station master
[Roger Mangenot] ... and then took the train
into Rheims....
Did Mme Georgeton escort them from the station at Sillery to the
"nearby farm"? Whose farm was it?
On 8th June 1944, the Georgeton family was arrested by the Germans,
except for Robert who was away at that time. Marcelle, Léone and René
were imprisoned in Chalons sur Marne for three months. Gaston was taken to Paris
and deported to Dachau on 5th July 1944. He was then transferred to Natzweiler-Struthof
on 22nd July 1944. On 20th September, he returned to Dachau under the "Nacht
und Nebel" edict, where he died on 14th November 1944.
