Georges Louis TAYLOR, fondly called “Bill” by friends, was born on August 25, 1924, at Salles en Gironde, to a French mother and an English Father.
In June 1940, at the beginning of the Second World War, young Taylor was not yet sixteen when he landed in England. He was still too young to be enlisted as a soldier then, but in December 1942, he changed his age and was admitted into Ecole Militaire des Cadets de France Libre, the Bir-Hakeim batch.
Emerging first at graduation two years later, he participated in the parachute test jumps and recorded the shortest time in the air before touching the ground: 11 seconds.
After having been certified by Polish training officers, he joined the 2nd RCP where he was the youngest officer. On board military jeeps, they harassed the enemy and participated in the liberation of France. After having fought in the Cher and the Nièvre, they forged towards Briare in the Loiret, which they delivered. They liberated the major cities of southern Loire: Bourges, Issoudun, Gien, Vierzon and intercepted the SS division “Das Reich”.
Subsequently, during the harsh winter of 1944, Bill took part in the operations in Belgium within the framework of the operation Amherst. The spring of 1945 witnessed the eruption of operations Holland. Lieutenant TAYLOR was one of the parachutist "leaders" who jumped at Arnhem. Thereafter, Lieutenant TAYLOR was dropped in the Groningen region, a few kilometres off the German border.
In the afternoon of April 8, 1945, Taylor led a reconnaissance mission along “Oranjekanal” and clashed with the enemy near Orvelte, a small village of 250 inhabitants in the Drenthe region of Holland. Hit the first time in the stomach by a bullet, Bill Taylor rapidly destroyed the secret codes he had on him, before succumbing to a second bullet that hit him in the head.
By the time Lieutenant Bill Taylor was killed at the front, he was barely 21 and had been awarded the Liberation cross and made Knight of the Legion of Honour. He received the war cross with bar and got several commendations, the English Military Cross, the American Silver Star, as well as the Dutch Bronzen Kruis.
Georges Louis TAYLOR is resting in peace in the military portion at the SALLES cemetery of his hometown.