Pierre LAURENT was born on 13 May 1928.

In 1944, aged sixteen, he falsified his identity documents to be able to participate in the liberation of Paris. He fought right to Dannemarie, in the Sundgau, South of Alsace. He caught pneumonia and was evacuated from the front.

In 1947, he married Helene, his betrothed, with whom he had seven children.

Once more as a volunteer, Pierre LAURENT left for Indochina within the colonial half-brigade of parachute commandos. He was sent to the famous GCMA (groupement de commandos mixtes aéroportés) whose main mission was intelligence. He carried out ambushes and covert missions behind enemy lines and was notably in charge of drawing geographical maps for commando operations in which he too participated.

In 1956, Pierre LAURENT left for Algeria, where he was sent to the mobile police and intelligence unit, and latter on to the 9th regiment of parachute chasseurs (RCP). The mission of this elite regiment was to fight and destroy rebel groups in the Autrès, Kabylie, as well as along the Tunisian border. At Souk-Ahras, in 1958, in one single extremely bloody confrontation, the 9th RCP lost 32 men, and killed 270 rebels.

In 1959, for health reasons, Staff Sergeant Pierre LAURENT left the airborne troops and was sent to the Briançon 44th I.R. In 1970, he became the head of the ACUF-UNP club of St Joseph Street, Paris, a post he held for two years, before moving to settle in Gilhoc-sur-Ormèze, in the Ardèche.

Pierre LAURENT died on January 19, 2008, in the midst of his beloved ones. This "outstanding great soldier", during his military career, was wounded 4 times and commended 5 times, including one bar distinction. He was officer of the Legion of Honour, holder of the military medal, the T.O.E. (overseas operations) war cross and the C.C.V. (volunteer servicemen cross) for the Liberation, the Indochina and Algerian campaigns, in addition to several other French decorations, as well as the Vietnamese cross of valour.

The last eulogy was that of his grandson, François :

"After having taken part in the liberation of Paris and in the Indochina and Algerian campaigns, my grandfather, Pierre LAURENT, has decided  to fly for the last time.
with no plane, no parachute, this time around, the parachute commando will remain up there forever..."