Jean Thurel

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Jean Thurel 1788. You can see the three veteran medals, the cross of the Legion of Honor was added in 1804.

Jean Thurel , also Jean Theurel (born September 6 or 8, 1698 in Orain , Département Côte-d'Or , France , † March 10, 1807 in Tours ) was a fusilier in the French army and the oldest active and longest French soldier on duty. He was a member of the Régiment de Touraine during his more than 75 years of service . Born during the reign of King Louis XIV , he died during the First Empire under Napoleon I. Thurel lived in three different centuries and served under two monarchs.

Military career

Thurel entered the "Regiment d'infanterie de Touraine" on September 17, 1716, and retired on January 29, 1792 from active service. In this unit he served for 75 years without interruption.

Siege of Bergen op Zoom 1747. French troops under the Comte de Lowendal defeated the Dutch under Governor General Cronström

He was wounded in two battles during his career: at the siege of Kehl in 1733 a musket ball hit him in the upper body and at the battle of Minden he received a total of seven saber blows, six of them on the head.

Three of his brothers died in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 . One of his sons was a caporal and a veteran in the same company as his father; he fell at the battle of Les Saintes .

Thurel was a disciplined soldier who was reprimanded only once in his entire service. During the siege of Bergen op Zoom he was separated from his troops during the storm over the ramparts, so that he was not present at roll call. He gave proof of his discipline and physical ability when his regiment was about to be embarked on the coast and he refused to drive the considerable distance in a cart because of his advanced age. 88-year-old Thurel rejected the offer, announcing that he had never been driven on a cart and had no intention of doing so in the future. So he walked all the way. His modesty culminated in the fact that he refused promotion all his life and was still a soldier at the end of his military career.

He fought in:

Honors

Thurel received three such veteran medals.
The Order of Légion d'honneur was awarded to Thurel by Emperor Napoleon

In the hope of increasing the rate of re-signing, King Louis XV. 1771 by decree the Médaillon Des Deux Épées (medal of two swords). It was the first military award in France that could also be given to members of the crew.

The medal was awarded to soldiers and sailors who were in the service of the French army, it was intended to be a recognition of many years of loyal service.

The Médaillon des Deux Épées was awarded for a twenty-four year service. Thurel was first awarded the medal in duplicate in the year it was founded in 1771 - for his service from 1716–1740 and 1740–1764.

On November 8, 1787, Thurel was presented to the king at the court of Versailles. The 33-year-old king respectfully addressed the 88-year-old common man with “mon père” (father) and informed him that he would honor him. When asked which decoration he preferred, the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis (Order of St. Louis) or a third Médaillon des Deux Épées for the period of service from 1764 to 1788. This was a highly unusual offer, since the Order of St. Louis in France was only awarded to officers, and Thurel in particular was missing four months from completing his third period of service. He then opted for the third service medal, provided that the king would personally attach it to his uniform.

Louis XVI fulfilled his wish. The Comte d'Artois presented Thurel with his saber and the ladies-in-waiting put a carriage at his disposal during his stay in Paris. The king also granted him a pension of 300 livres a year.

Few soldiers received a second veteran medal after 48 years of service, Thurel was the only one to whom it was awarded three times.

On October 26, 1804, at the age of 106, he was one of the first to be awarded the Legion of Honor by Emperor Napoleon , the highest honor in France. Napoleon continued to grant him a pension of 1,300 francs a year. Thurel was later known as "the oldest soldier in Europe". He remained in good physical and mental health and died on March 10, 1807 in Tours after a short illness as a veteran of the "33 e régiment d'infanterie de ligne".

Thurel is listed in the French National Archives with the date of birth September 6, 1698. The award of the Legion of Honor, which only existed since 1802, is also proven.

Death certificate of Jean Thurel with the entry 108 ans (108 years)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Profile Thurels. In: Base Léonore . Retrieved July 23, 2013 (French).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h La Sabretache: Carnet de la Sabretache: revue militaire rétrospective . tape III . Berger-Levrault et Cie, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France 1895, Le médaillon de vétérance, p. 264–73 (French, limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Lucien Decombe, Jean Thurel: episode du séjour à Rennes du regiment de Touraine 1788, vol. XIV, Rennes, Société archéologique du département d'Ille-et-Vilaine, 1880, p. 334 .
  4. ^ A b c d Charles Brockden Brown, Robert Walsh: The American register: or general repository of history, politics and science. Part II for 1807 . tape II . C & A. Conrad and Company, Philadelphia 1808, Foreign literary and philosophical intelligence, p. 408 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ n ° 329, 29 thermidor at IX (French) . In: Le Moniteur Universel , Charles-Joseph Panckoucke , August 17, 1801. 
  6. ^ A b Marc Champenois: Médaillon Des Deux Épées ( French ) In: Les Décorations . France Phaleristique: Le site des ordres, décorations et médailles officielles de France. 2011. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012.
  7. ^ A Mazas, T Anne: Histoire de l'ordre royal & militaire de Saint Louis, depuis son institution en 1693 jusqu'en 1830 ( French ) 1860.
  8. ↑ Thurel In: culture.gouv.fr .
personal data
SURNAME Thurel, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theurel, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French soldier
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1698
PLACE OF BIRTH Orain (Cote-d'Or)
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1807
Place of death Tours