Family of celebrated French WWII veteran Léon Gautier refuses the commercialisation of his legacy

80th anniversary of D-DayLéon Gautier was famous in France as the last representative of the "Kieffer Commando", the only French unit to take part in the Allied D-Day landings on Normandy beaches in June 1944. As the 80th anniversary of D-Day approaches, some are seeing opportunities for financial gain. His descendants have decided to seek legal assistance to prevent any abusive or commercial use of his image.French WWII veteran Leon Gautier attends a ceremony in tribute to the 177 French Fusiliers Marins of the "Commando Kieffer" who took part in the Normandy landings in Colleville-Montgomery, Normandy, northwestern France, on June 6, 2019, as part of commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day.Advertising Read moreGautier, who died on July 3, 2023 at the age of 100, was a nationally celebrated figure and a near-constant presence at World War II commemorations who used his stature to make sure the lessons of the war were not forgotten.Having joined the French navy in 1940 at 17, he was one of 177 French green berets of the Kieffer Commando unit to storm the beaches defended by Nazi forces on June 6, 1944.His passing was marked by a ceremony with military honors presided over by President Emmanuel Macron which took place on the beach in Ouistreham, Normandy, as he and his family had wanted.Gautier’s life was a remarkable one that inspired a lot of interest, not all of it purely intentioned, as revealed by the France Bleu radio network at the end of February.Less than a year after his passing, his family has had to take legal steps to protect his image. “We have hired a lawyer specialised in the protection of personality rights,” Gautier’s grandson, Gérard Wille, told FRANCE 24.“Everything took off after the publication of fake biographies about my grandfather containing things that were completely inconsistent and unverified. And all of this was distributed without the family’s authorisation.”Commando Marine Special forces ("Berets Verts" – Green Berets) of the French Navy stand by the flag-drapped coffin of late Leon Gautier, French WWII veteran and the last surviving member of the Commando Kieffer, during a ceremony on the beach in Ouistreham, Normandy, on July 7, 2023. Pascal Rossignol, AFPFaux biographies generated by AILast December, Wille was astonished to find that two books for sale on Amazon told his grandfather’s story, but were riddled with inaccuracies.The Kieffer Commando unit Gautier

served in was part of the Free French Forces, but he is described in the faux biographies as having fought for the French Resistance.The books mention his captivity in Germany, but Gautier was never taken prisoner.The first of these “biographies” was published on July 5, 2023, just two days after Gautier’s death. The speed of publication suggests that it was generated by artificial intelligence software, which explains why so little care was taken to fact-check.“I pity people like that,” said Gérard Wille of those responsible for the fakes. “It’s deplorable. I just couldn\'t let that go.”The family managed to have the two books removed from sale on Amazon, but as the 80th anniversary of D-Day approaches later this year, Wille has received other dubious commercial requests: “Some people want to make figurines, posters, or even T-shirts displaying a photo of my grandfather. One can imagine that during the D-Day commemorations, there will be this kind of thing for sale all over the public sphere. I even saw that his signature is being sold for €300 on the internet. People are trying to make money off our family’s history.”One of D-Day\'s 177 FrenchmenThe story of Léon Gautier does have great appeal for World War II enthusiasts. Born in Rennes on October 27, 1922, he was an apprentice auto-body worker when the war broke out in 1939. He felt compelled to help defend his country and joined the navy in February 1940, as the army did not allow 17-year-olds to enlist.He served as a gunner aboard the battleship Courbet when it was sent to defend the English Channel port of Cherbourg from German forces. But as the military situation deteriorated, the Courbet’s officers chose to find safe harbour in England.Housed in a camp for French sailors in Sheffield, England, Gautier heard that General Charles de Gaulle’s government-in-exile, Free France, was recruiting volunteers to continue the fight against the Nazis.“Of course I enlisted,” the Gautier recalled in an interview with France 3 Normandie. He took part in the march in London of Free French troops on Bastille Day, July 14, 1940, in the presence of de Gaulle and King George VI.In the summer of 1943, he served aboard the merchant ship Le Gallois in the Atlantic and later joined the French 2nd battalion of marine riflemen sent to serve around Africa and then as far as Syria and Lebanon.In the summer of 1943, Gautier joined a battalion led by Lieutenant Commander Philipp