Date of birth:

October 9th, 1914 (Toulon, France)

Date of death:

January 7th, 2019 (Marseille, France)

Nationality:

French

Feeling the colonial vocation at a very young age, he entered the Military Health Service School in Lyon in 1934. In 1939, he was active in the 49th Colonial Artillery Regiment (49th RAC) in the Saar sector.

Embarked in March 1940 for Upper Volta, he went to the Gold Coast (Ghana) at the beginning of July 1940 then to Cameroon where he joined the Free French Forces in September.

Assigned as a doctor to the Marching Battalion n ° 4 (BM 4) as soon as he was trained, he left Cameroon with him in December 1940 to join Lieutenant-Colonel Génin's 1st Colonel Brigade in Palestine.

Guy Charmot took part in the campaign in Syria in June 1941 with the BM 4 which then fought in Ethiopia before stationing in Lebanon during the year 1942.

In January 1943, the Battalion joined the ranks of the 2nd French Free Brigade of the 1st French Free Division in Libya.

Guy Charmot took part in the fighting in Tunisia, always showing a lot of activity, courage and dedication.

Guy Charmot particularly distinguished himself during the fighting from May 17 to 20, 1944 in Italy, pushing his aid stations as far as possible and thus saving several of his combat comrades by the speed of his interventions on the line of fire. He received the Cross of the Liberation from the hands of General de Gaulle on June 30, 1944 in Marcianise.

He landed in Provence with the 1st French Free Division in August 1944 and was wounded during the fighting for the liberation of Toulon.

He then took part in the French campaign until 1945 ending the war in the Authion massif in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Doctor-captain at the end of the war, he became doctor of Overseas Hospitals and associate professor of the Army Health Service, making numerous stays in Africa until 1965. Research specialist in tropical medicine, Guy Charmot resigned with the rank of doctor-colonel to enter the Therapeutic Research Department of Rhône-Poulenc.

Professor at the Institute of Medicine and African Epidemiology, he also participates in the writing of several collaborative medical books and in 300 scientific publications. Former president of the Société de Pathologie exotique, he was elected in 1994 as a member of the French Academy of Overseas Sciences.

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• - Guy CHARMOT | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée