Francois Salluyts
Some time last year I was asked by a friend of the family, the widow of Francois, to write up a short piece based on Francois's diary entries - of his service in the 1st Belgian Armoured Car Squadron. Francois had fled to England in May 1940 with a group of teenagers - he himself was only 17. The small group were taken on board a ship at Dunkerque and succeeded in reaching England. He eventually joined a Belgian armoured car unit which was forming in Beccles and saw action in Normandy. As well as liberating the village of Dozule, his unit was also involved in the liberation of Brussels and the freeing of the Dutch Queen - whom Francois said; "hugged and kissed every one of us."
The newspaper article which covered the commemoration events in 2004
Cynthia was Francois's second wife, and was herself a widow when she met him. They eventually married, but they only had four years together when Francois passed away. It was then that Cynthia moved up to Warrington. I only got to know her through her involvement with the local disability awareness where she helped out - and where my daughter and son-in-law dealt with the PR side of the organisation for free. I finished the piece on Francois for her and sent it to her computer as a file for her to do as she wished. We kept in touch and phoned each other occasionally, and then for a few months I heard nothing from her. And then last Thursday she got in touch and asked me if I could send the file to her again. Well I did better than that and I printed it off for her, added photographs to it and made it into a small booklet. We arranged to meet last Friday at the local primary school where my granddaughter was taking part in the school sports. The offices where Cynthia helped out were only next door to the school, so it was no big problem for her.
I arrived at the school with my wife and gave her the document and she handed me a large bag and said: "This is for you." When we got home I had a look inside. There was a bottle of 'Jura' 10 year-old malt whisky and a bottle of Francois's favourite red wine. There was also an old (faded) blue kit bag.
Inside was Francois's medals, a civilian award and the 'Belgian Army In United Kingdom' medal. Apologies for this, but I forgot to photograph the reverse - which has the outline of the south coast and northern France with 'London' and 'Brussels' indicated on the map. The gold commemorative medal was presented to Francois at the 60th anniversary celebrations at Normandy. Francois was also given the honour of dedicating the memorial erected at the village he helped liberate in 1944. The picture below shows him giving his speech at Dozule. The other picture is of the meal held in their honour later that day. The book was presented to Francois (in the 1980's) by Lieutenant-General Roger Dewandre - who also signed and dedicated the copy.
The cut-throat razor just visible in the picture of his belongings was one he carried throughout his military career. Francois moved to the Belgian Congo after the war where he settled with his first wife. He used to tell Cynthia of some of his involvement with the mercenaries who were operating in the area near his farm in the 1960's. And after his first wife's life was saved by Jean "Mad Jack" Schramme during an attack by rebels, he started to help the mercenaries by smuggling 'important people' in and out of the country. There were other things he did too, but he never revealed what it was to Cynthia. Schramme presented Francois with a shoulder patch of 'COMMANDO KANSIMBA' which I am informed is an extremely rare and sought-after item. The provenance of this patch is absolutely cast-iron. Since receiving it last Friday I have done a little research, and apparently it is of the first type. These are heavily faked, and even the so-called 'genuine' examples I found on the internet, lack the detail of this patch. This has spent all its life in a small plastic frame and was displayed with great pride by Francois on his mantlepiece. I have to say that I was quite taken aback when Cynthia gave me these treasured items.
Cheers,
Steve.
.
by stuka f
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