334 lines
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334 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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obituaries
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military-obituaries
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special-forces-obituaries
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7625812
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-----
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# Captain Henry Diacono
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## Captain Henry Diacono, who has died aged 86, was a member of SOE and was
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dropped into enemy-occupied France in 1944.
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6:46PM BST 23 Apr 2010
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[Comments][1]
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On February 6 that year, Diacono was dropped "blind" - that is to say, with no
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reception committee to meet him - into France, landing near Chartres.
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Accompanying him was Rene Dumont-Guillemet, who became leader of the
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"Spiritualist" circuit to the east of Paris.
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![Henry Diacono][2]
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They landed at 3am in a ploughed field some 15 miles from the farmhouse that
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was their destination. They had no time properly to hide their suitcases and
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parachutes, and after crossing fields, ditches and fences were still in the
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open when it grew light. A barn where they might have hidden up for the day
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had a sign on it in gothic lettering and they decided to avoid it. Then, as
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they passed a house in a small village, they heard the sound of a programme
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being broadcast in heavily-jammed English.
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Dumont-Guillemet knocked on the door, while Diacono stood behind him, revolver
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drawn. After a few moments hesitation, they were allowed in. They washed and
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rested and were given directions for continuing their journey.
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After a night in their "safe" house, they returned to collect their belongings
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but found, to their consternation, that they had disappeared. It seemed that
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their arrival had been spotted and that their arrest might be imminent.
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At that moment a peasant appeared; and, after several minutes of verbal
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fencing, he told them that he had watched them hurriedly bury their
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possessions, had recovered them and put them in his house for safe-keeping.
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Using his false papers, Diacono enrolled at the University of Paris. A fellow
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student, Marcel Rougeaux, a cousin of Dumont-Guillemet, acted as his guide,
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introduced him to his friends and served as the liaison with the rest of the
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circuit - in short, as Diacono wrote later, he was his "guardian angel".
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Diacono lived in a flat but never stayed anywhere for long. He connected his
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wireless set to a car battery and spent most of his time coding and decoding
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messages.
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Rougeaux often carried the crystals for his wireless set, and Diacono the
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messages and codes concealed in the tubes of his velo. Diacono preferred to
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operate out of doors, where he would get some warning of approaching danger,
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and often transmitted to London from woods 50 miles from Paris.
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On one occasion he had a very urgent message to transmit. He, Dumont-Guillemet
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and their driver (who was a member of the circuit and was in the uniform of
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the French police) piled into a car and travelled by secondary roads.
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The weight of the set, which was hidden under the bonnet of the front-wheel-
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drive vehicle, caused a breakdown. By the time it was fixed, they were so
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short of time that they had to risk taking the route nationale.
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When they were stopped at a German roadblock, Dumont-Guillemet grabbed his
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revolver and said that he was going to try to shoot his way out. Diacono was
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behind him with the set between his legs. But their driver commanded: "Put the
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gun away," stopped the car, got out and said: "Franzosisch Polizei." They were
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waved through, but Diacono said later that he was never closer to death.
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Henry Louis-Antoine Diacono was born in Algiers on June 20 1923. His father
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was British of Maltese descent and was the manager of the local Barclays bank.
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Henry was educated at a Jesuit school, Notre Dame de l'Afrique, before going
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to the Ecole Superieure de Commerce d'Alger.
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In June 1940 his elder brother, Jean-Baptiste, was killed when the military
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plane in which he was travelling to London with other volunteers to join
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General de Gaulle's forces exploded on take-off at Algiers airport. Sabotage
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by agents of the Vichy regime was suspected, and Henry, who was greatly
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affected by this tragedy, cut short his studies and joined the army.
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Two years later he embarked on a liner to Scotland. After a spell in a
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training camp, some of his companions were posted to the Royal Artillery,
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others to tank regiments. "Because of my slightly darker complexion," he wrote
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afterwards, "as was the custom of the time I was deemed to be cannon fodder
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and sent to the infantry."
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He was commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers and posted to the 17th Battalion;
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but his fluency in French marked him out for transfer to the SOE, and he
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underwent rigorous training as a radio operator at Thame Park.
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At the headquarters in Baker Street, he was given a field name and rehearsed
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in his cover story. He was also given a set of clothes which he was told was
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"typically French" - but which his friends in France described as "typically
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English".
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For eight months Diacono maintained regular radio contact with London but, as
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liberation got closer, he became involved in sabotage missions, using his
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training in explosives to destroy German lines of communications, railway
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lines and roads.
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He once had the task of accompanying a lorry loaded with arms and explosives
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from a parachute drop to Paris; the cargo was concealed under a load of
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vegetables. On the way they were hailed by two Germans who were standing
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exhausted beside their bicycles on the edge of the road. The driver wanted to
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shoot them, but Diacono persuaded him not to and the men were installed on top
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of the vegetables. Their presence allowed the lorry to pass all the control
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points in Paris without inspection.
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The end of Diacono's mission was marked by tragedy. On August 27 1944, two
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days after General de Gaulle paraded down the Champs Elysees following the
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liberation of Paris, the retreating German army was in regular fire fights
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with Resistance members in the region of Meaux.
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Diacono was dispatched with a group of 300 Resistance fighters to secure an
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area prior to a large parachute drop. They were surprised by a German
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detachment and, after a sharp battle, they captured 70 German soldiers,
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including several officers.
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They arrived at Saint-Pathus, where the local population turned out cheering
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and waving flags in the belief that they were being liberated. This was
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exactly what the Resistance wanted to avoid, because the Germans learnt of it
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and dispatched a considerable force, including several Tiger tanks which
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encircled the village.
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Diacono, who was carrying his equipment, ran down the high street but
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encountered a tank arriving from the far end of the village. He dived into a
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farmyard, where he hid his wireless and pistol under some floorboards and his
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microdot code books in a pot of boiling tripe.
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Fortunately for him, he was one of the few Resistance members wearing civilian
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clothes. The tank went into the farmyard, and for the next hour all the
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buildings were searched. Several Resistance members were arrested, but Diacono
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insisted that he was an itinerant farm worker. The farmer supported his story
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and he was released after questioning.
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The Germans set fire to the village and the surrounding cornfields to flush
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out the Resistance members who had gone to ground. They captured almost all of
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them, and massacred more than 100.
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Diacono and a few survivors were able to make their way to Meaux, which was
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liberated by American tanks the next day, but the fate of their comrades made
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any celebration impossible.
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After the war Diacono returned to Algiers, where he worked as a shipping
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agent. In 1952 he moved to Paris to join a firm of carpet importers, finally
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retiring to Sorges, in the Perigord, in 1963. He was active in the Association
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Libre Resistance, which represents SOE members in France, and was its
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treasurer for more than 20 years. He was appointed MBE and awarded the Legion
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d'honneur and the Croix de Guerre.
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Henry Diacono, who died on March 19, married, in 1963, Françoise Michel, who
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survives him with their son and daughter.
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## [Special Forces Obituaries][8]
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[![Eileen 'Didi' Nearne][16] ][17]
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