Jean Reiffers

Jean Reiffers was born in Useldange, Luxembourg, on 20 March 1912. When Luxembourg was invaded on 10 May 1940, Reiffers lived in Mozambique. He immediately wanted to join the Allied Forces, but his first efforts to enter the Free French Forces are in vain. Reiffers then volunteers for the Belgian Army in Pretoria, South Africa. He arrived in Great-Britain on 14 July 1942. In London, Reiffers met three fellow countrymen: Felix Peters and the Neven brothers. With them, he is sent to Belgian Congo, is forced to quit the Belgian armed forces because of his Luxembourg nationality and goes to Brazzaville where he joins the Free French Naval Forces.

Like the Neven brothers and Peters, Reiffers lands in Normandy with the Free French forces of “Commando Kieffer” in the morning of 6 June 1944. Jean Reiffers is severely wounded during the D-Day fighting in Ouistreham. The same day, he is evacuated to Great-Britain where he spends six months in military hospitals. Reiffers never fully recovered from his D-Day injuries. After the war, he spent some time in the Congo and later settled in Belgium, where he dies in 1993.