Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of France's Kieffer Commando — one of the first to come ashore at Normandy on D-Day — has died after being treated for lung issues. He was 100.

FILE - French WWII veteran of the Commando Kieffer Leon Gautier attends a ceremony in tribute to the 177 French members of the "Commando Kieffer" Fusiliers Marins commando unit who took part in the ...

Hubert Faure, who died April 17 at 106, was one of the last two survivors of a 177-man French commando unit that landed alongside British forces under withering German machine-gun, mortar and ...

Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of an elite French unit that joined U.S. and other Allied forces in the 1944 D-Day invasion to wrest Normandy from Nazi control, has died. He was 100.

FILE – French WWII veteran of the Commando Kieffer Leon Gautier attends a ceremony in tribute to the 177 French members of the “Commando Kieffer” Fusiliers Marins commando unit who took part ...

He and his comrades in the Kieffer Commando unit were among the first waves of Allied troops to storm Normandy, beginning the liberation of western Europe. Skip to content. All Sections.

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with Leon Gautier, a French WWII veteran of the Commando Kieffer, during a ceremony in tribute to the 177 French members of the "Commando Kieffer ...