Raymond Salisbury was born at Rambervillers on February 18, 1916.
In 1939, when the war broke out, he joined the artillery where he served till October 1, 1942, after which, he was demobilized with the rank of sergeant.
Resenting German Occupation, he joined the Resistance, but was caught on January 31, 1944, and detained at the Vierge à Epinal prison. Unlike his brother Fernand who was shot, Raymond Salisbury was deported to Germany and put in the Oranienburg Sachsenhausen concentration camp, situated thirty kilometres to the north of Berlin, where he was subjected to all sorts of atrocious tortures. This death camp was used by Himmler and the SS to experiment extermination methods prior to their large-scale application in other concentration camps. A hundred thousand souls perished in this hell.
In April 1945, in dire straits, Hitler’s troops were retreating at all the fronts. As the Red Army advanced on the East front, Raymond Salisbury, who had managed to survive all the concentration camp horrors, was evacuated to yet another camp. During the dreadful deadly six-day walk to the latter, 27,000 prisoners perished...
On April 27, 1945, the Red Army besieged the area. Raymond Salisbury, completely exhausted physically and morally, was liberated on June 4, 1945. When the war ended, he picked up a job with Nougaterie, a company based in the Epinal region. He subsequently held some important posts of responsibility within several patriotic associations.
Raymond Salisbury died on August 28, 2006, after a protracted illness.
This great volunteer serviceman was Knight of the Legion of Honour, holder of the Military Medal, the War Cross with two commendations and the Resistance Volunteer Servicemen Cross. PC