A Dedication to Francois Marie Scornet 1921 to 1941
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends"
John 15 verse 3
"I believe the end of my existence has come, I will die for France, bravely facing the enemy. In an hour it will be finished...be assured that I will die a good Christian...for the last time I embrace you..."
The above testimate was taken from the last known letter to his parents.
In 1939 at the outbreak of the second world war Germany having invaded Poland, followed shortly afterwards by invading France. The Allied Forces resistance collapsed, against the initiatives of the German armed forces and their Blitzkrieg tactics. On the 5th June, 1940, the French prime minister, Paul Reynaud, sacked Edouard Daladier and appointed General Charles de Gaulle as his minister of war. De Gaulle also visited London but when he returned to France on 16th June he discovered that Henri-Philippe Petain had ousted Paul Reynaud as premier and was forming a government that would seek an armistice with Germany.
In danger of being arrested by the new French government, General Charles de Gaulle returned to England. The following day he made a radio broadcast calling for French people to continue fighting against the German Army. On the 13th December 1940, 16 young Frenchmen, members of France Libre, a movement of French army cadets dedicated to escaping France during the war, set sail in an open sailing boat escaping from the port of Dourduff (near Morlaix in Brittany, France) to join General Charles de Gaulle in London. Their aim was to reach England where they could join the Free French forces that would one day return to liberate their motherland.
General Charles de Gaulle, BBC radio broadcast London (18th June, 1940)
The 16 young men set sail in a small boat and encountered bad weather which destroyed some of their navigational equipment and the rest was washed overboard. After several hours on the rough seas, together with their poor navigational skills, they were mistaken into thinking Guernsey’s coast was that of the Isle of Wight. They sailed jubilantly into Vazon Bay, Guernsey, beached the boat and ran up the beach singing the Marseille's, only to be immediately captured by the German sentries. The young men were interrogated, and as Jersey was the German Command Headquarters, six of them were sent to Jersey for trial.
The trial took place in the Old Committee Room in the States Building. After more interrogations seeking a ring-leader, François Scornet and four others were condemned to death. Their trial was held in the old Committee room in the States of Jersey building in the Royal Square St. Helier this resulted in François Scornet and two others being condemned to death, (some accounts have recorded four of them were sentenced to death) the other two later had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment and the others in the party received severe sentences and were sent to German Concentration camps. Scornet, considered the ringleader, was in the event the only one executed. At the time François’s parents were sent for and attended as witnesses. François Scornet was held in the Grand Hotel under guard.
In the early hours of the 17th of March 1941, the Rev. Père Maré a Catholic Priest from St. Thomas's church in Jersey received a message from the Germans to the effect that a member of his religion required the last holy rites. At 05:00HRS that morning the Priest went to the Grand Hotel, there he was informed by a German officer that " François Scornet" a twenty-one year old French Patriot had been sentenced to death by the German War Court in Jersey and the young Frenchman was to be shot that very morning because of his favouring the actions of the enemy by wilfully supporting England in the war against the German Empire. At his request Père Mare, performed the last rites, and Scornet was then allowed to write a last letter to his parents. The following excerpt was recorded "I believe the end of my existence has come,I will die for France, bravely facing the enemy. In an hour it will be finished...be assured that I will die a good Christian... for the last time I embrace you"..François Marie Scornet 1941
Roman Catholic Priest Père Mare
The priest then recounted this story, saying that he, Scornet, and 12 German soldiers who were to form the firing squad, together with a coffin were placed into a lorry and driven to St. Ouen’s Manor. It is said that the Priest tried to take the place of the young Frenchman but was denied this opportunity to save him. François was tied to the stump of an ash tree and he kissed the Crucifix of the French Priest before Père Maré retired. The firing squad then took aim, while Scornet continued to call out - “Vive Dieu! Vive La France!” (“Long live God! Long live France!”).
German Military firing squad WWII
It is said that he was executed by the German Military firing squad at 8.20 a.m. One of the surviving witnesses to the events that took place was a local employee of an undertakers. His written testimony reads slightly differently for the time of execution but is provided here; "On the 17th of March 1941 Mr. J B Le Quesne was called at St. Ouens Manor. Mr. J Clarke and myself Nelson Le Quesne to pick up the body of François Scornet executed at St. Ouens manor. We arrived at 5.00p.m. he was still tied to the tree, he was shot at about 10.00a.m. I untied him off the tree, and placed him in the coffin, made by myself at our workshops"... The late Nelson Clement Le Quesne The tree which François Scornet was tied to was struck by lightning some time after and destroyed. A piece of the wood from the tree was used to make a crucifix which is used by the Priests and Deacons of St. Thomas church when they attend the annual memorial service for François Scornet. Four years after Scornet’s execution, on the 24th of August 1945, two months following the liberation of the island, his remains were exhumed from Almorah cemetery in St. Helier and taken to a private chapel where it lay in state, covered by the French Tricolor.
Francois Scornet funeral held at St Thomas's Church
On the morning of 18th of September 1945 the casket which was enclosed in a leaden shell was taken to St. Thomas's Roman Catholic church in St. Helier where a solemn requiem mass was celebrated by Père Maré, for the brave young Breton. Père Messager delivered an inspiring funeral oration to the large congregation in the church and to the overflowing large crowd of loyal people gathered outside to pay their respects to the young Frenchman. As the cortege left the church the Bailiff of Jersey, and the acting Consul de France followed immediately behind the tricolor draped coffin, the members of the Fire-service, St. Johns Ambulance service, and the representatives of all walks of Island life. The coffin was then brought to the St. Helier harbour for transference to the motor yacht "Cailou" that took it to Morlaix Brittany. It was met by the relatives of the deceased, and the internment with full military honours took place in the little cemetery at François Scornet's native Plougean Brittany.
