Jean Gilles (French Army officer)

Jean Marcellin Joseph Calixte Gilles (14 October 1904 – 10 August 1961) was a French Army general. He was born in Perpignan, France on October 14, 1904. His father, Joseph Gilles, was killed in the First World War.

At age 12, Jean enrolled in a military school and later studied at the renowned Saint-Cyr Military Academy, where he lost an eye in an accident during training, replacing it with one made of glass. He fought in the Battle of France in World War II. He was later arrested in Spain for trying to join the French resistance forces and so spent the rest of the war in a Spanish prison. He commanded all French Airborne forces during the First Indochina War, most notably at Dien Bien Phu (1954). He later commanded the 11th Demi-Brigade Parachutiste de Choc (Shock Demi-Brigade) in the Suez Crisis (1956).

His son, Michel Gilles, died in Algeria on February 2, 1961. Jean died of a heart attack in August of the same year.

Decorations

 * Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur