Major Lionel Guy d'Artois (9 April 1917 – 15 March 1999) was a

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

officer and SOE agent.

Biography

Lionel Guy (generally known by his second name) d'Artois was born in

Richmond, Quebec Richmond, population 3,232 (2016), is a town nestled amidst rolling farmlands on the Saint-François River between Sherbrooke and Drummondville, in the heart of Estrie in Quebec, Canada. History Originally settled by colonists from New England, ...

in 1917. He joined the Militia (part-time army reserves) in 1934, at the age of 16. In 1936, he became a student at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

, but dropped his studies in 1939, to enlist as private. He later joined the

First Special Service Force The 1st Special Service Force was an elite American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, under the command of the United States Fifth Army. The unit was organized in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana i ...

and in 1942 he was commissioned. He served as an instructor in

savate Savate (), also known as boxe française, savate boxing, French boxing or French footfighting, is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques. ...

, and in August 1943 took part in "

Operation Cottage Operation Cottage was a tactical maneuver which completed the Aleutian Islands campaign. On August 15, 1943, Allied military forces landed on Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June 1942. The Japanese, however, h ...

", the reoccupation of the island of

Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is requir ...

in the Aleutians. In 1943 he volunteered for SOE, one of several French-Canadians attached to F section. In April 1944 was parachuted into the department of the Saone et Loire, France, and under the codename "Dieudonné" organized, armed and operated with units of the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

. His service in France during the invasion period were recognised by the award of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

(DSO) from Britain and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

from France. After the war, he was promoted to major and made

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the new Canadian Special Air Service Company. In 1947 there was an unusual episode in which he was tasked with the rescue of a severely injured missionary from a remote district in the Far North. The mission took seven weeks altogether (which suggests that Canon J.H. Turner was himself a pretty tough character!), and resulted in d'Artois being decorated with the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in cir ...

(GM) alongside flying officer Robert Race. He served with the Commonwealth occupation forces in Japan, and then did an operational tour with 1st Bn., Royal 22^e Régiment, the "Van Doos", during the Korean War.

War time romance

One of the fellow students on his SOE course in 1943 had been a 19-year-old

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF ( ...

officer. Already having two years of service under her belt, she had then volunteered for SOE. She was also training for special operations and, like Guy, was parachuted into France before D-Day, though into a different district and 'Reseau', in the department of the

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

. She worked as a courier for Hudson's Reseau 'Headmaster' on the edge of the Normandy Landings. The work was dangerous and she was arrested. However, she managed to maintain her cover and was released, surviving through to liberation by the advancing ground forces. This 20-year-old veteran was herself later decorated. When the couple had both returned to Britain on the successful completion of their separate missions, they were reunited and were quickly married. Assistant Section Officer

Sonya Butt Sonya Esmée Florence Butt (14 May 1924 – 21 December 2014), also known as Sonia d'Artois, code named ''Blanche,'' was an agent of the clandestine Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. SOE agents allied themselves with gro ...

, MBE, war heroine, became Mrs. Sonia d'Artois and quietly disappeared from public view to become a wife and mother. Though not unique, by any means, this must have been one of the most distinguished romances of the war. The couple moved to Quebec and raised a family of six children: three boys (Robert, Michel & Guy) and three girls (Nadya, Christina & Lorraine).

Death

In March 1999, Major L.G. d'Artois, a hero in war and peace, died in the Veterans Hospital in

Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue () is an on-island suburb located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the second oldest community in Montreal's West Island, having been founded as a parish in 1703. The olde ...

References

* * * * * * * https://web.archive.org/web/20081029063628/http://web.mac.com/davedepickere/World_War_II,_analyzed!/Canadian_Secret_Agents_in_the_Second_World_War.html * Horne, Bernd, and Michel Wyczynski. ''In Search of Pegasus''. St. Catherines, ON: Vanwell Publishing Ltd, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Artois, Guy Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian military personnel of the Korean War Special Operations Executive personnel Canadian military personnel from Quebec Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) 1917 births 1999 deaths Recipients of the George Medal Canadian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal 22nd Regiment officers