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Joseph Michel
JOURDEN
Was
born on March the 29th, 1911 in Le Conquet (Finistère).
Son of Joseph Jourden and Marie Yvonne Lannuzel, farmers in Kéronvel,
Joseph Michel Jourden was a Navy sailor in Brest in 1940.
Telegraphist Petty officer, he was made prisoner by the Germans in
the building of the port authority of Brest whereas it destroyed his
radio sets. That was worth a fracture of the jaw to him. Imprisoned
in Germany in the stalag IV F in Hartmannsdorf close to Dresden in
Lower Saxony, he was employed as farm hand.
Released in 1941, he returned to the Navy in Toulon to be affected
on board the "Condorcet". A leave enabled him to visit Le Conquet on
August 7, 1942. At the end of its leave, he did not return to Toulon
but the Admiralty of Algiers. On November 8, 1942, the
Anglo-American troops landed in North Africa; Joseph Michel Jourden
decided to join the Free France. He succeeded in passing to England,
where he followed an intensive training in the School of Praewood
House in Saint Albans to perform intelligence missions in France.
He was engaged within the framework of the Sussex Plan under the
name of Jean-Marie Stur. Integrated into the "Proust Plan", mission
Giraffe. On June 25, 1944, He was clandestinely debarked by a MTB
with J.M. Robleu (of its true name R. Reitzer) in the area of
Morlaix, close to the point of Beg year Fry, to transmit to London
the information collected on the ground on the forces, the
positions, the equipment of the German troops likely to be opposed
to the allied forces already landed in Normandy on June 6.
“The giraffe got a laryngitis” such was the coded sentence of London
Radio to inform Joseph Michel Jourdren that a message was going to
be addressed to him. It succeeded in escaping the German goniometers
until August 9, 1944. The canon Pérenes wrote in "Allied aviators
and tragic days of the liberation in some localities of Finistère"
(1946) the tragic events which resulted in the death of Joseph
Michel Jourden (written starting from the testimony of Mr Ruppe
chaplain in Ploujean): "The American troops had crossed Plouigneau
without any problem on August 8, 1944.
On August 9, an isolated column with two hundred Germans with guns
and others weapons emerged in the borough of Plouigneau. The FFI
fought but they were not numerous enough. Five patriots (Joseph
Michel Jourden and four people (Jean-François Coz, Jean-Yves Ropars,
Albert Perrot and X which had arrived by car) holding up the allied
flags and the Lorraine cross were arrested and shot on the church
square". The official French and American versions specified in
connection with Joseph Jourden “Taken by a German detachment on
August 9, he was tortured during four hours on the place of the
village and in spite of abominable sufferings, he refused to speak,
showing a very high heroism. Being unable to manage to put him in
the upright position, the Germans shot him with a bullet in his
head".
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The very same day of the drama, R. Reitzer, team-mate
and friend of Jourden, informed his family of his death
and his body was transported to his sister’s house in
Morlaix. In front of the door of the burning chapel was
standing an armed American soldier. A detachment of
American soldiers and FFI accompanied the hearse to the
cemetery where the military honours were presented to
him. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (on a
purely posthumous basis), awarded with the Military
Cross with bar and the medal of French Resistance. The
US Distinguished Service Cross was given on June 1, 1945
by an American officer to his father Joseph Jourden on
the square of the town hall of Le Conquet.
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Certificate of
memberships in
the fighting French
strengths
file pdf - 440 ko
clic ...
Distinguished Service Cross (US)
file pdf -
589 ko
clic ...
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A commemorative plaque can be seen close to the war memorial of
Plouigneau. |
Monument
in memory of
Joseph
Jourden to Plouigneau (29610)
(see lower
link)
Clic ...
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The main street of Le Conquet bears his name by decision of the
municipal council of June 6, 1945.
He was a Navy officer and Second Lieutenant in the Resistance (BCRA).
His unit: Intelligence mission for the US Office of Strategic
Service.
He was awarded:
-
Chevalier
of the Legion of Honour
-
39-45
Military Cross with bar
-
Medal of
French Resistance
-
US
Distinguished Service Cross
He was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, and then
of Le Conquet.
His
death was registered with the Registry office of Le Conquet with the
mention MPLF (Dead for France).
Source :
Biography produced with the assistance
of Roger
Coguiec, nephew of
Joseph Jourden.
Links :
http://www.francaislibres.net/liste/fiche.php?index=75817
http://auxmarins.net/fiche_marin/6950/Jourden%3Chttp:/auxmarins.net/fiche_marin/6950/Jourden
http://www.plaques-commemoratives.org/plaques/bretagne/plaque.2011-05-07.8531814156/view
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