Pavel Knihař (1931)

Vendredi, 13 Avril 2012 08:45

When you are up to your neck in manure see how you can get out from it without smelling its stench. – Karel Hora, Legioner 1949

Pavel Knihař, commander of bataillon in retirement and holder of the high French accolade, Foreign Officer of the Legion of Honour, was born in the town of Třešť in Moravia in 1931. In the 1930s he lived with his parents in Slovenia, after the occupation they all had to escape back to the Czech Lands. During the War he relocated to Prague, Studied at the High Technical School. At High School he and his school-mates founded the ‘Union of Freedom of Students', and distributed pamphlets. In the Summer of 1948 he was arrested, regardless of being a juvenile and spent fourteen days in a Remand Home. At the end of that Summer, in August 1948, he escaped to Germany. Determined to fight against the communists therefore entered the Foreign Legion. From April 1949 took part in the fight in Indochina. Later served in the garrison at Algeria, Madagascar and the French Polynesia. In retirement departed with the rank as Officer. In the year 1978 he was awarded Knight of the Legion of Honour, in the year of 2000 be became Officer of the Legion of Honour and finally in 2009 he became Commander of the Legion of Honour. He presently lives in France near Marseille.