Yves Meudal
1923-2016
Troop 1
1er Bataillon Fusiliers Marins Commandos
Commando N°4
1st Special Service Brigade
Yves Meudal was born on February 26, 1923, in Pleubian (Côte-du-Nord). At the age of 14, he enlisted as a novice on a coastal vessel and worked in the maritime field throughout his adolescence. At 19, while the coastal vessel he was serving on called at Dakar, Yves Meudal decided to join Free France by enlisting with a ship of the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL). This was the beginning of a long adventure that took him first to Scotland.
March 5, 1943, marked the day of his actual enlistment in the FNFL, and Yves Meudal received the service number 287FN43. Through word of mouth, he heard about a French unit carrying out raids along the Channel coast: the commandos. A volunteer, he completed his commando training at Achnacarry and then joined Commander Kieffer’s Troop (Section) 1 on May 6, 1943.
At 5:00 p.m. on June 5, 1944, he boarded the LCI(l) 527 craft, which dropped him off at Colleville-sur-Orne (Sword Beach) on June 6, 1944. Yves Meudal participated in the assault on the German strongpoint nicknamed the “Casino” in Ouistreham (coded Wn 10), then marched across Calvados, first towards Bénouville and then Amfreville. Along with the survivors of Commando Kieffer, he held his position for many weeks: he was one of the 24 commandos not to have been wounded during the entire period spent in Normandy.
Yves Meudal took part in the assault on Flushing on November 1, 1944, at 5:45 a.m., but was sent back to England shortly afterward. Having left his combat post to rescue a wounded soldier, this action earned him a reduction in rank and the opportunity to begin a career as an instructor in the United Kingdom.
After the war, he joined the Merchant Navy as a baker and galley cook. He spent his entire career there before retiring in 1978. He was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor in July 2014.
He died on September 9, 2016.
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