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U.S. Medal of Freedom Recipient Marie Louise Dissard
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U.S. Medal of Freedom Recipient Marie Louise Dissard
Marie Louise Dissard and Andrée de Jongh
being awarded the American Medal of Freedom
Marie Louise Dissard was born in Toulouse in 1880. When France surrendered to Germany in 1940 Dissard joined the French Resistance.
At first Dissard worked under Ian Garrow, a soldier in the British Army, who had missed the Dunkirk evacuation and remained in France where he arranged an escape route over the Pyrenees. Although based in Toulouse it had key stations in Paris, Marseilles and Perpignan.
In October, 1941 Garrow was captured and imprisoned. Albert Guerisse took over at head of the network and when he was arrested, Dissard became the new leader.
Marie Louise Dissard was 60 when she joined the resistance. She became the leader of an escape route with stations in Paris, Marseilles and Perpignan, helping 250 airmen out, 110 of them while she herself was in hiding. Before that, she travelled through France, looking like any other elderly woman, arranging lodgings, accompanying escapees and setting up contacts.
As an elderly woman, the Gestapo did not suspect Dissard was a member of the French Resistance. She was able to travel around France to arrange for Allied airmen to get back to England. This involved escorting them to Toulouse where she arranged their lodgings. They were then moved to Perpignan where they were handed over to the Pyrenees guides.
In January 1944, one of the guides was arrested in Perpignan. Contrary to the rules of the network he was carrying a notebook that contained Dissard's name. She was now forced into hiding and lived in a variety of attics, cellars and garages in Toulouse until France was liberated.
During the Second World War Dissard arranged for over 250 Allied airmen to return to England. Of these, 110 were helped while the Gestapo were looking for her in 1944. After the war Marie Louise Dissard was awarded the American Medal of Freedom .
French Resistance (or simply Resistance) is a general term for the resistance movements--armed and otherwise--that fought military occupation of France by Nazi Germany and the resulting Vichy France during World War II after France surrendered in 1940. French Resistance cooperated with Allied secret services (see Special Operations Executive), especially in providing intelligence on the Atlantic Wall and coordinating sabotages and other actions to contribute to the success of Operation Overlord.
French resistance could claim its origin in Charles de Gaulle's Appeal of June 18 on the BBC where he proclaimed that the war was not over. Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain had already signed the armistice treaty and the formation of Vichy France government had begun. De Gaulle also became a de facto leader of Free France.
In addition, there were Belgian and Dutch resistance networks who cooperated to defeat the Germans. Various groups organized in both occupied France and unoccupied Vichy France. Many of them were former soldiers that had escaped from the Germans or joined the resistance when they were released from prison camps. They hid weapons in preparation to fight again.
Others were former socialists and communists who had fled the Gestapo. Many of them hid in the forested regions, especially in the unoccupied zone. They joined together to form maquis bands and began to plan attacks against the occupation forces. Some groups also had Spanish members who had fought in the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War.
Resistance groups such as the PAT Line established by George Rodocanachi and his wife Fanny Vlasto-Rodocanachi helped Allied pilots who had been shot down to get back to Britain. They minimized the threat of discovery by adopting a cell structure.
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Medal History
