Patrick Hovelacque

Sometimes the story has a mind of its own and can be quite a bully. Recently I was writing a chapter about the creation of the Kummel escape network in February 1944. I had only minimal information on the founder of the network, Patrick Hovelacque. Despite several attempts to get more information, I found only a few references to him on the internet. I wasn’t even sure of his nationality. I only knew he was operating out of London. Because of this, my intent was to give him a footnote and move on with the story. But a little voice in my head kept nagging me. Surely, he deserves more. I decided to give him a brief appearance in a meeting with Georges Jauneau, who became the local leader of Kummel. I Googled Hovelacque once more because I am a compulsive “Googler.” This time I found a little mention of the enrollment of foreign exchange students at the University of Georgia on page 15 of the student newspaper from September 23, 1938! How obscure. Was it possible that the student from Paris France mentioned in that article could be the same man I have been searching for? He would be about the right age.

https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1179162/1938-09-23/ed-1/seq-15/

So, I called upon researcher extraordinaire Franck Signorile. He sent me the records gathered from the US National Archives (NARA) on Hovelacque and the Kummel line. Et voila! Just like that, I have enough information for three, maybe four chapters featuring this hero. After serving in the French Army and being de-activated after the Fall of France in June of 1940 this guy joined de Gaulle’s Free French in London. In February of 1944, he parachuted back into France to organize an Allied Escape line in the northern French region of Picardy. If you want to know more about this one-time Georgia Bulldog and genuine World War 2 hero, read The Duty of Memory - coming in January 2022.