Jean Henri Sassi was born in Tunis on June 11, 1917. Called up for military service in October 1938, he took part in the Battle of France in 1940. Demobilized, he returned to North Africa in 1942 as a radio operator in the Algerian Sahara, before joining the FFL for the Tunisian campaign. Assigned to the 45th RT in Algiers in 1943, he volunteered for a clandestine mission in occupied France and joined the Jedburgh plan in training at Milton Hall, north of London.
On the night of June 29-30, 1944, Lieutenant Sassi parachuted into the Drôme region, with the “Chloroform” team of which he was radio officer. He armed and organized maquis, carried out sabotage operations and took part in the liberation of the region.
Volunteering to fight in Indochina, he joined Force 136 in Calcutta and underwent special training. Captain Sassi parachuted with the “Vega” team into Laos on June 4, 1945, where he harassed Japanese troops until October 23, when he returned to France.
In 1949, he was posted to the 11th Parachute Shock Battalion. On 10 August 1953, Sassi embarked for a second tour of duty in Laos, where he joined the Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aéroportés (GCMA). It was here that he forged his reputation as a specialist in unconventional warfare by recruiting Méos mountain people. In May 1954, he mobilised 2,000 combatants to support the French soldiers entrenched at Diên Biên Phu. On 7 May 1954, the operation became a rescue mission for around 200 French soldiers who were exfiltrated through the jungle.
He returned to France in April 1955, then spent some time in Algeria between 1959 and 1960. He left the army in 1971 with the rank of Colonel and died on 9 January 2009 in Eaubonne (Val d’Oise).
Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre 1939-1945, Croix de Guerre des TOE, Croix de la Valeur militaire, Croix du combattant volontaire, Officer of the Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol, Laos’ highest distinction.
Some objects that belonged to him from the exhibition Indochina: French paratroops from 1944 to 1954 below.
