Moussey – The Spirit of Resistance Story Board |

Memorial Text
The Spirit of Resistance
On the 5th June 1941 the Cross of Lorraine was officially prescribed by General Charles De Gaulle as the emblem of French Resistance during the 2nd World War.
The Memorial Cross honours all those of the French Resistance who fought against tyranny and all those who helped liberate France during World War 2.

The Kings Award for Courage in the cause of Freedom
.Instituted on 23 August 1945 by King George VI, the medal was an award to foreign nationals for acts or courage in furtherance of the interests of the British and Allied cause during the Second World War.
Many were awarded to members of the French resistance groups who operated during the German occupation.

Mr Rene LEQUEUX, living in Celles-sur-Plaine, made his isolated house in the forest a shelter for the British.
He was arrested; he escaped. But his house and sawmill were burned.

Rose COLMONT, of La Bourgonce, although she had Germans on her farm, hid seven British soldiers for fifteen days.

In Epinal, in the large room of the Chamber of Commerce, in the presence of many personalities including Mr. Jean MANSUY, Mayor of Saint-Die, ten Vosgians received from the hands of the British Consul the Kings Medal that his Majesty George VI awarded to them for the services they rendered to the Allied Troops and especially the English Units. Reme Lequeux, Rose Colmont and Roger Souchal were just three of the ten.

Sgt. Len Owens MM and Roger Souchal
In 2005 Sgt. Len Owens MM “The Lanst Phantom” from Lichfield met up with Roger Souchal who as a young student in Saint-Die served as a courier and guide to the Special Air Service in the Mountains above Moussey.
For his acts of resistance Roger was deported to Haslach concentration camp in Germany. Len and Roger are pictured outside the Church in Moussey. Len was very nervous about returning to Moussey having thought that he and others caused so much damage and loss of life as a result of their actions in the forests.
He was quickly reassured by all in Moussey that he and the other soldiers represented the start of their freedom from Occupation!

Dachau Concentration Camp
A rare picture of some of the men who were deported from Moussey and the Rabodeau Valley taken after they were liberated from Dachau Concentration Camp in May 1945.

The Moussey Memorial Cross of Lorraine
The Moussey Memorial Cross of Lorraine depicts the strength of the French Resistance in the face of overwhelming odds by the citizens of Moussey and those in the Rabodeau Valley and honours their protection of the soldiers of “Operation Loyton” that led to a great many lives lost but eventually helped them be free from tyranny in 1944, and as they been ever since.
This memorial was designed and created by Bromley O’Hare and the Friends of the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove 2025.

"Where Nature Greets Remembrance"