Monumento

Monument to the memory of the General Practitioner Count Albert Guérisse

Belgio

Preferiti

Condividi

Indicazioni stradali

This monument honours the General Practitioner (GP) Comte Albert Guérisse. During the Second World War, he led an escape route that enabled hundreds of Allied airmen to return to England.

Born in Brussels on 5 April 1911, his parents came from Saint-Hubert. When war broke out, Albert was a military medical student at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He was sent to the Front with his unit, the 1st Lancer Regiment.

After the 18-day campaign and the surrender, he changed course and escaped to England. On arrival, he became an officer in the Royal Navy and changed his identity to Pat O'Leary. He subsequently took part in a number of covert operations, including the embarkation and recovery of agents on the French coast.

In March 1941, an operation failed and General Guérisse was arrested and sent to an internment camp in the Gard region. He managed to escape and made his way to Marseille, where he changed his identity once again to Adolphe Cartier.

Betrayed in 1943, he was captured and tortured. From there, he ended the war first in Mauthausen and then in Dachau. During his imprisonment, he used his skills as a doctor to help other prisoners. He was released in 1945.

After the war, he became Albert Guérisse again and resumed his position as a doctor in the Belgian army. Sometime later, in 1951, he enlisted with the Belgian Volunteer Corps for Korea. He then returned to Belgium and became Head of the Health Service of the Belgian Forces in Germany and then Director General of the Health Service of the Armed Forces.

Thanks to his commitment and acts of bravery, Albert Guérisse was made an honorary citizen of the town of Saint-Hubert (1947) and received a total of thirty-five decorations from different countries. In June 1980, the Queen of England Knighted him, giving him the title of Knight Commander of the British Empire. In 1986 King Baudoin made him a Count. Albert Guérisse died a few years later in 1989 at the age of 77.

Contenuti creati con il nostro partner

Indirizzo

Place de la Libération, 6870 Saint-Hubert