Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny ( 11 February 1928 – 30 May 1951 ) was a French Army officer , who fought during World War II and the First Indochina War . Bernard de Lattre received several medals during his military career , including the Médaille militaire . He was killed in action at the age of 23 , fighting near Ninh Binh . At the time of his death , his father , General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny , was the overall commander of French forces in Indochina . Bernard ' s death received widespread newspaper coverage , with headlines drawing attention to the death of the son of a general . His mother worked to preserve the memory of her son , as well as that of her more famous husband who died in 1952 . Their legacy includes an open - air memorial chapel and centre in Wildenstein , Alsace , France . The death of Bernard de Lattre is mentioned in histories of the First Indochina War , and it has been compared to the deaths of other sons of generals and military leaders . Early life and World War II . Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny was born on 11 February 1928 in Paris , France . He was the only child of the French soldier and future war hero and general Jean de Lattre de Tassigny , and his wife Simonne de Lamazière , both French aristocrats . Bernard was 12 when France was conquered by Nazi Germany in July 1940 during World War II . His father fought in the army during the invasion , later commanding forces in the " free zone " in Montpellier and Tunisia , but he was arrested for resisting the German military occupation of Vichy France in November 1942 , and sentenced to 10 years in prison . Bernard de Lattre , then aged 15 , aided his father ' s escape from Riom prison on 3 September 1943 . His father went to Algiers via London , while Bernard and his mother went into hiding . Bernard eventually escaped France through the Pyrenees , and crossed Spain to reach North Africa . There , like his father , he joined the forces of the Free French . Still only 16 , Bernard received special dispensation from General Charles de Gaulle to join the army being assembled to invade France , and subsequently fought in the liberation of southern France and also in Germany . He was seriously wounded on 8 September 1944 , at Autun , returning later to fight again in Germany . It was for his actions in these campaigns that he received the Médaille militaire , the youngest to receive that medal , and his first Croix de guerre . Following the war , Bernard de Lattre studied at the French military school ( the EMIA ) from August 1945 , training in the armoured cavalry section . He was promoted to Lieutenant on 26 November 1948 . First Indochina War and death . Bernard de Lattre served in the French army during the First Indochina War , embarking at Marseille on 1 July 1949 . He became a platoon and then squadron leader , and took part in the Battle of Dien Mai . He received his second Croix de guerre during this campaign , being awarded the medal by his father on 11 May 1951 . He was killed in action 19 days later , near Ninh Binh , during the Battle of the Day River . The citation for his actions concluded : Following his son ' s death , his father arranged for a Catholic mass to be held in the cathedral in Hanoi . Two days after the battle , Bernard de Lattre ' s body was flown home to France , accompanied by his father , and the young soldier was buried with military honours . The graves of all three de Lattres are now located side - by - side in the cemetery in Mouilleron - en - Pareds , the birthplace of Jean de Lattre . Bernard de Lattre ' s death received widespread press coverage at the time , including articles in " Le Figaro " , " Le Monde " , " The New York Times " and " TIME " magazine . His funeral was featured in " LIFE " magazine as ' Picture of the Week ' . Legacy . Bernard de Lattre ' s death greatly impacted his father and mother . His father in particular was said to have been deeply affected , and he died of cancer less than eight months later . His mother , now entitled to call herself Madame la Maréchale following the posthumous promotion of her husband , is described in an obituary published in 2003 , as having " devoted herself to the memory of her son and to the history of her husband and the armies that he had commanded " . In 1952 , a 308 - page book titled " Un destin héroïque : Bernard de Lattre " ( A heroic destiny : Bernard de Lattre ) , was published . The book is a collection of stories of Bernard ' s life , along with letters that he wrote . The book was written and edited by the French professor of philosophy Robert Garric . A further written response to Bernard de Lattre ' s death was provided by his mother in her two - volume work on her husband : " Jean de Lattre : mon mari " ( Paris , 1972 ) . In this work , Madame de Lattre writes about her husband ' s response to the death of their son , but also writes about her own feelings , and the idealism of a generation of French soldiers dying as her son had . One of the lasting memorials to Bernard de Lattre is a small open - air chapel in the commune of Wildenstein , in the Haut - Rhin département in Alsace in north - eastern France . Now known as the Chapelle Saint - Bernard , this structure was inaugurated in 1955 . It consists of an altar and a small shelter beside a hiking trail . Construction at the site began in 1954 , using plans approved by Madame de Lattre . The building material used was pink sandstone from nearby Rouffach . The site is dedicated to the memory of Bernard de Lattre , his father Jean de Lattre , and the French forces that fought in the area in 1944 to liberate Alsace from the Germans in World War II . The chapel later fell into disrepair , but was renovated and reinaugurated during a service on 20 August 2004 , the day dedicated to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux . There is an annual service held here in honour of Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny , attended by veteran associations , local dignitaries and relatives of the de Lattres . Also located in Wildenstein is the Centre Bernard de Lattre , which includes a memorial to Jean de Lattre . This memorial was originally located in Algeria , but was moved to Wildenstein in 1962 after Algeria gained independence from France . Additional commemoration of Bernard de Lattre ' s name came when the 1984 - 1985 class of the Ecole Militaire Interarmes , the military school at which he had studied , was named ' Promotion Lieutenant Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny ' in his honour . An annual service also takes place at the graves of the de Lattres in Mouilleron - en - Pareds . Historians and other authors writing about the First Indochina War have commented on the symbolism of Bernard de Lattre ' s death . In " Soldats perdus : de l ' Indochine à l ' Algérie , dans la tourmente des guerres " ( 2007 ) , French journalist and author Hélène Erlingsen says that Bernard de Lattre ' s death was symbolic " of the modern world devastated by war " and that his life was " representative of our time " . Bernard de Lattre ' s death has been placed in context in relation to other deaths in this war , with Brian Moynahan , in the 2007 work " The French century : an illustrated history of modern France " , noting that " in all 21 sons of French marshals and generals died in Indochina " .