Elderly islander reveals Occupation escape bid

Thursday 25 January 2018

While many people decide to take their secrets to their grave, one elderly islander decided to write down her story of grief and guilt before her death, to reveal the risks islanders took to escape the clutches of German forces.

It’s a story that Eileen Le Sueur found difficult to tell – according to her daughter, St. Saviour Constable Sadie Rennard - as “she was broken-hearted” and “she never forgave herself” for the part she played in a doomed escape.

It depicts the events of 12 November 1944, when Eileen - who was married with a six-year-old son - took a decision to help a family friend attempt to escape the Occupation and reach the freedom of France.

Jersey was in the firm grip of German occupation and life was very tough. Fellow St. Saviour resident 19-year-old André Gorvel would often visit the Le Sueur farm in the hope of some eggs or vegetables. He also would cut Eileen’s son’s hair in return for some spare food.

But one day he asked for more than just food - he asked to have some petrol from the farm’s supplies for a boat he had hidden at Bouley Bay, in the hope of escaping Jersey that night to fight against German soldiers in France. Eileen writes of the desperate pleas from André: “His shoulders shook and looking at me with his eyes pleading through the tears he mouthed the words: ‘Please……please……’ It suddenly become all too much for me and I shouted at him: ‘Oh, for God’s sake, take the damned petrol!”

Picture: Eileen Le Sueur identity card during the occupation (Jersey Archive)

Eileen risked her own life by giving the petrol to André, but she trusted that he wouldn’t tell German soldiers where he had got it from, if he was caught.

She received a letter written by André the following morning, thanking her for her generosity and promising that his spirit would not be broken if the escape failed and he ended up in a German prison instead.

But the actual outcome of the escape bid was more tragic - Eileen heard rumours that screams for help had been heard from the coast; and later that week, a telephone call confirmed Eileen’s worst fears – those screams were from André. His escape had failed and he had died, six months before the Channel Islands were liberated.

Picture: Funeral account for André Gorvel's death which refers to him drowning whilst trying to escape Jersey (Jersey Archive). 

Eileen writes of the grief and guilt she felt, especially when she went to see André’s family.

Her daughter, Sadie Rennard, told Express: “She took ages and ages to write [about the events] as she felt absolutely heartbroken, she felt responsible. She took about a year to write it as she would write down a bit but start crying and my dad would tell her to ‘leave it and put it aside’ then she would go back to it, write some more and start crying again.”

Picture: Eileen included the letter André wrote to her in her manuscript. 

Eileen managed to finish writing down this memory, but she died in 2012 aged 97 before completing the rest of the book about her life. The final manuscript – which includes corrections in Eileen’s own handwriting, and her signature at the bottom – was given to David Siouville’s family, as his late uncle, Ronnie Bisson who was 19  and his 21-year-old wife Madeleine were among the three other people who died in the sea along with André on that fateful night.

With Sadie’s permission, David shared the story on social media saying: “The story is Eileen’s first-hand account of her involvement in my late uncle’s doomed attempt to escape the Island during the Liberation. I think it is an incredibly powerful piece of writing and deserves to reach as wide an audience as possible.”

Picture: David shared Eileen's story on social media as it "deserves to reach as wide an audience as possible."

David told Express: “With [Eileen’s] passing and my mum going too I felt now was the time to post before no-one cared. (...) After we had fulfilled a promise to put a headstone on my grandparents grave, which also contains Ronnie’s and his wife Madeleine‘s remains, that was the push I needed. The story in it’s bare form has been documented but not the part Eileen had in it.”

Talking of his uncle Ronnie, David added: “He was desperate to escape and to join the fight in Europe. Sadly as we know he never made it.”

Picture: Madeleine (21) and Ronnie Bisson (19) also died in the escape attempt along with André Gorvel. 

The post on the ‘Unseen Jersey’ Facebook page attracted many heart felt comments and even a request by a cub leader asking if David and Sadie could read it to the Scout Group as they would like to include Eileen’s story in their ‘local knowledge’ badge, which has pleased Sadie as “children will realise what the occupation was like.”

The ‘Beautiful Jersey’ singer, who was the first female States member to give the Liberation Day speech, told Express that her mother’s memory – as well as all stories from the occupation “should never be forgotten.” 

Read Eileen's full story here.