MARY ROSE CORKERY REPORTER
A 6-year-old French resistance agent that passed messages behind Nazi lines during World War II was honored for Veterans Day, The Associated Press reported.
Marcel Pinte’s name was engraved last week on a war monument in the French town of Aixe-sur-Vienne, near where he served as a message carrier for the resistance, the AP reported.
Pinte was tasked to bring messages to fighter leaders after people shockingly learned of his strong memory, according to an interview with a relative published in euronews.
“At the start, he probably considered it to be a game but then he quickly understood how risky it all was,” Marc Pinte, the boy’s nephew, said, euronews reported.
Pinte brought messages, while undetected, to other farms close by, according to published accounts by Alexandre Bremaud, a family member, the AP reported. Pinte had a variety of responsibilities, the AP reported.
“He understood everything at once. Naturally, no one noticed him, no one was going to pay any attention to a boy,” Pinte’s nephew said, euronews reported.
Pinte died in August 1944 when a Sten sub-machine gun went off by accident, fatally shooting him several times, euronews reported. Soldiers, heavily armed, had parachuted to the farm before an anticipated battle.
The nephew said Pinte was “buried in the presence of numerous battalions,” and the “coffin was covered with the tricolor flag” just hours before the French town was freed, euronews reported. High-ranking fighters attended his funeral, and Pinte’s father assisted in bringing freedom to the town in the evening of the same day Marcel died.
Pinte is considered a hero that died for France even though his death was accidental, euronews reported.
Pinte’s family was heavily involved in efforts to free their town from the Nazis, usually having secret meetings in a rented barn, euronews reported. Pinte’s father lead the town’s resistance movement and connected with important people in the nationwide efforts to free France.
He was a 6-year-old French Resistance agent. Now he's finally being honored https://t.co/qPuv98Vxd9
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 11, 2020
Pinte’s name was scheduled honored in a town ceremony after Bremaud was persistent in getting recognition for Pinte’s actions, euronews reported.
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