I was born on 27 April 1942 in Montpellier, but my story is inseparable from that of my father, François Jubin, whom I scarcely had the chance to know.

Before the war, he had been a student at the Naval Health School in Bordeaux, training to become a Navy doctor. When France was drawn into conflict, he was mobilised and sent to Boulogne-sur-Mer, trapped inside the Dunkirk pocket as German forces closed in around the town. He fought there on 25 May 1940 until the defenders, exhausted and without ammunition, were forced to surrender. Captured by the Germans, he escaped only a few weeks later.

My father returned in secret to Boulogne, where he obtained false papers and civilian clothes before travelling south. He hoped to reach England through Spain, but his mother persuaded him to remain and complete his studies. He returned to Montpellier, where the Naval Health School had relocated, qualified as a doctor, and married my mother.

We later moved to Lauzerte in the Lot, where he worked both as a country doctor and had also joined the Resistance. By the end of 1943 he had organised a local maquis group. Weapons arrived by parachute drop, and danger grew with every passing month. In May 1944, when Das Reich entered the village, he narrowly escaped.

After the Allied landings, my father was determined to fight openly. On 28 June 1944, returning in uniform near Gourdon, he was caught in a German encirclement. He was brutally beaten before being killed by machine-gun fire. After the war, I received the Legion of Honour in his name, carrying forward the memory of his courage.