Birth: 17 mai 1898
Death: 13 mai 1943
Companion of the Liberation – Decree of 28 May 1945
He was only 18 when he joined the army in October 1916. He was attached to the 1st Aviation Group and earned his pilot’s licence in May 1917. He became a specialist in hunting Drachen, the observation balloons that the Germans called “dragons” and the French nicknamed “sausages”. These tethered hydrogen balloons were fitted with a basket from which an observer guided artillery fire and provided information about the opposing army’s movements. They were essential and therefore well defended by the anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes, so attacking and destroying them was a particularly dangerous undertaking. For his courage and skill, Warrant Officer Dumont earned the Médaille Militaire and 4 citations.
Mobilised in 1939, he joined the Resistance in July 1940. He contributed to the success of the British raid to capture a German radar on the Bruneval cliff in February 1942. Actively sought by the Germans, he was denounced, soon arrested and shot a year later at Fort Mont-Valérien in Suresnes.
Légende : Roger Dumont during the First World War. © Famille de Roger Dumont
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