2

cookiecrumble

Me too.What fantastic loyalty,integrity and bravery these people possessed.

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4

Graeme

Harold Le Druillenec was my headteacher at St Johns School, he was a firm and good headteacher whose bravery should have been rewarded whilst he was still alive. I salute him too.

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6

Susan Marsh

I was at JCG with Mr.Le Druillenec’s daughter, Mary. Many times I collected her from their house to cycle to school. Both him and his wife were a very charming and friendly couple. No one would ever have guessed what he’d been through in Belsen. In 1979, whilst visiting Germany, I went to see Belsen and was moved to tears at what I saw and felt. Also, deported with him was the Vicar of St. Saviour, who’d Christened me. It was dreadful to know that his Sister, Louisa, was murdered in the Gas Chambers. Some of my own Relatives were also Deported and my Father, who was in the Army was in a P.O.W Camp in Poland. He’d been wounded at Dunkirk; but lucky to have been treated by the ‘Stalag Doctor’. I’ve just obtained his Book. I’m pleased that, at last, they’re being honoured and glad that Mrs.Le Druillenec will receive the Award. I now live in New Zealand and read the JEP on-line every day and subscride to the JWP. Susan.

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8

Sean Reynolds

I would like to express my congratulations to Mrs. Le Druillenec and her family upon receipt of this wonderful posthumous honour for Harold. I am the grandson of Harry and Janet Jarrett, who ran Central Stores during the Occupation, and my family has been deeply appreciative of Mr Le Druillenec’s critical role both during the war and during his wonderful stewardship of St John’s School as its headmaster. Your husband, Mrs Le Druillenec, as if you didn’t know, was a national treasure, and I was honoured to have known him.
Like Graeme, above, Mr Le Druillenec was also my headmaster when I attended St John’s School from 1967-1974 (that long ago!) I have two enduring memories of him. On the day that I started school, my mother brought me across from Central Stores, and headmaster greeted me with delight that I was attending the school. As anyone would know, there was no other school to attend in the parish, and at the time, I recall my mother shushing me from pointing this out to him. We might, however, ‘read’ this interaction as a coded message to my mother (another survivor of the Occupation) that another post-war generation child was successfully starting school in a free society. While I do not recall him talking about the war, I think this was as close as he came to ‘politics’. I learned much from my grandmother, only later on, about his wartime experiences, and really wished that he had told us kids his story, but I sense he just wanted to shield us from the horrors.
When he retired, I remember a parish hall that was busting to the seams with parishioners who came to bid him farewell. For a man who was quite reserved, he was deeply moved by the event. He momentarily forgot to salute the incomparable Miss Rose Thompson for her years of service to the school. Before Ron Smith had uttered more than a few words as the new headmaster, Mr Le Druillenec ‘interrupted’ him – to much hilarity – and publicly thanked a “magnificent teacher” for her work over the years. It was the last time I saw him; but his willingness to share the spotlight with a wonderful educator was testament to his selflessness. As I read with delight about the award ceremony today, these two stories about my headmaster came flooding back. Mr Le Druillenec, I salute you sir.

Sean Reynolds Ph.D.,
Dublin.

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10

Israeli in St Helier

Jews living in Israel and throughout the entire world owe an enormous debt to all the “Righteous Among the Nations”, and to the le Druillenec family, Albert Bedane, Louisa Gould and Ivy Forster.

My parents were incarcerated in Auschwitz and in Mathausen respectively, and thanks to God’s good grace managed to survive.

On behalf of them, and all the other Holocaust survivors, may I thank those men and women of Jersey who risked their very lives to save Jewish people.

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