French war hero to be laid to rest Monday in Chipley

CHIPLEY — It was journey for Marcel Albert to be laid to rest in Chipley, but then again Albert’s life was quite an adventure. France’s second-leading fighter ace of World War II will be laid to rest Monday at 9 p.m. at Brown Funeral Home Cemetery on Brickyard Road.

Albert and his wife, Freda lived in Chipley for several years and when Freda passed away in 2009 she was laid to rest in Chipley. The couple met when Albert was serving as an air attaché at the French embassy in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Freda worked at the American embassy in Prague. She was a native of Seymour, Mo.

Funeral Director Jimmy Sasser said high French officials would be on hand to honor Albert, who served in three air forces in WW II and tallied 24 kills on both the Western and Russian fronts.

Albert was born in 1917 in France and went to be become a mechanic at the Renault before he was accepted for military pilot training. He flew a variety of French fighters before the war, including the best French fighter of the war the Dewontine 520.

Albert put the plane to good use after the war began, shooting down one Germen bomber and possibly another bomber and a Me-109 fighter. After the French capitulation Albert was transferred to Algeria, according to the obituary from Brown Funeral Home, and after flying a few missions against the British escaped and joined Charles deGaulle and the Free French movement to battle Nazi Germany.

Albert flew 47 missions as a member of the Royal Air Force before he was sent to the Russian Front as a member of the elite Normandie-Niemen fighter squadron that served beside the Soviet Air Force.  Between March 1943 and the end of the war the squadron flew Russian fighters and was credited with 273 enemy aircraft destroyed. By end of the war Albert had 23 confirmed kills in combat, making him the second-highest-scoring French ace behind Pierre Closterman with 33 kills, according to acesofww2.com.

Albert was awarded the highest decorations by the French and Soviet governments, including the Grand'Croix de la Légion d'Honneur (Journal Officiel de la République française dated April 14, 2010), Compagnon de la Libération, Croix de guerre 1939–1945 with 15 palms and 3 silver gilt stars, Médaille de la Résistance with rosette, Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin and Order of the Red Banner, as well as the Czechoslovakian War Cross.

The Alberts came to the United States and ran a chain of restaurants before retirement. Albert passed away August 23 in Harlingen, Texas.

A graceside service will be in Wachob-Forest Lawn Cemetery in Chipley with the Rev. George Sammut officiating. Brown Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.