Colette Flandrin Dronne, daughter of the liberator of Paris is dead

Colette Flandrin Dronne’s funeral took place on Wednesday March 17, 2021 at the cemetery of Cassaignes (Gers), the village of her maternal family. A religious ceremony was celebrated on Tuesday March 16, 2021 in the Church of Notre-Dame de Versailles (Yvelines).

Colette Flandrin Dronne, daughter of Captain Raymond Dronne and former elected representative of Ecomnoy (72) died on March 10. She was 84 years old.

Who was Raymond Dronne?

Captain Dronne liberated Paris on August 24, 1944 at the head of the « Nueve », the 9th company of the Chad regiment and the 2nd AD battalion made up of Spanish anarchist volunteers.

Coming from a family of farmers, Raymond Dronne was born on March 8, 1908 in Mayet (Sarthe). He studied at the Lycée du Mans then at the universities of Leipzig and Berlin. Back in Paris, he became a Doctor of Law, graduated from the School of Political Sciences and graduated from the School of Journalism and the Colonial School. During his military service, he took EOR courses at Saint-Maixent and was appointed second lieutenant.

Military career

From 1934, he held various management positions in Cameroon. In 1939, he was mobilized as a lieutenant and assigned to the Cameroon Police forces. In August 1940, he participated in the rallying of Yaoundé to Free France. Enlisted in the Free French Forces, he took part in Gabon’s operations with the Cameroon Tirailleurs Regiment (RTC). Seriously wounded in 1943 and treated in Egypt, he joined the Chadian Marching Regiment (RMT) of which he commanded the 9th Company, the « Nueve ». The Colonne Dronne liberated the capital on August 24, 1944. It then distinguished itself during the campaigns of Alsace and Germany in Berchtesgaden. He then commands an armored infantry battalion in Cochinchina and Tonkin. Promoted colonel in 1947, he left the Army and devoted himself to politics and writing.

Political career

From 1947 to 1983, he held various important positions:

Mayor of Ecommoy (Sarthe) from 1947 to 1983.
Senator (1948-1951). Member of the Sarthe (1951-1962 and 1968-1978).
President of the National Defense Commission in the Assembly (1976-1978)
Raymond Dronne died in Ecommoy on September 5, 1991.

His daughter Colette takes over by becoming first assistant from 2001 to 2008 at Ecommoy

His decorations
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor
Companion of the Liberation – decree of December 29, 1944
Croix de Guerre 39/45 (7citations)
Cross of War of the TOE (2 citations) Medal of the Resistance
Colonial Medal
Medal of the Wounded
Commander of the Black Star (Benin)

Who was Colette Flandrin Dronne?

Born in 1936 and daughter of Captain Raymond Dronne, Colette Flandrin Dronne, left Sarthe for Gers (Cassaignes) when she was 9 years old. The family returned to Ecomnoy in 1947.

She joined Sciences Po in 1960. She is very proud of it because there were few women at that time. It was there that she met her future husband, Jean-Louis Flandrin.

She also accepts the office of vice-president of the community of communes and a seat in the Pays du Mans. From the 1970s, it joined various ministries (Defense, Equipment and Transport) for the construction of new towns. She was a Chevalier in the National Order of Merit before becoming an Officer in 2001.

His municipal career

Between 2001 and 2008, retired from the civil service, she became elected municipal to the town hall of Ecomnoy, a village managed by her father for 36 years. At the same time, Lionel Jospin appointed her project manager for the new towns. Alongside Joël Esnault, former mayor of Ecommoy, she is in charge of development and town planning. It provides multi-reception, extracurricular care, obtains one more class in kindergarten, develops sports facilities, etc. by defending the need to adjust local taxes to inflation, which his opponents blame him for. She participated in the development of the local urban plan from 2004 to 2007.

Regionally, she became a member of the Pays du Mans office. Community vice-president of the Orée de Bercé-Belinois, she defended the maintenance of the music school, for example.

Thanks to her attachment to her city, she has participated in 2 local history books, including one on the resistance member Hélène Crié.

Colette Flandrin Dronne is the « Nueve »

She was proud to say: “The men of the ‘Nueve’ are My Family!”. Having become a member of « Their » family by memory, Colette Flandrin Dronne was always present at the tributes paid to the Spanish republicans of the « Nueve ». As long as her health allowed her, her presence showed everyone, especially the young people, that her father’s struggles for freedom should be remembered. Inexhaustible, she did not hesitate to intervene in a high school or to make the route of entry of the troops in Paris, in company of pupils of classes.

In August 2018, she welcomed at the headquarters of the Spanish CNT (National Confederation of Labor), the family of Miguel Campos. The Canarian anarchist, found in North Africa in work camps before joining the French army, had disappeared during the Alsace campaign. Without military experience, he played a key role in La « Nueve ».

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