Vasseur, Jacques H. (1920-1953) | Oberlin College Archives

Jacques Henri Vasseur was born to Henri E. and Simone Lechêne Vasseur in Casablanca, Morocco, on June 28, 1920. Following his father’s death in Morocco, Jacques was raised by his mother and stepfather, Lucien Hauser, in Paris, France.

Jacques joined the French Navy in 1937. He trained at École des Mécaniciens, Rochefort-Soubise, and the Naval Academy in Lanvéoc-Poulmic. In June of 1940, Jacques joined the Free French Forces.

As part of the Free French Naval Air Forces, Jacques served in England, on the Westernland, and in several French colonies. In October 1940, he was sent to the U.S. Naval Training Base at Jacksonville, Florida, where he began a pen-pal correspondence with Oberlin College student Mary Burmeister. In 1942, Vasseur was stationed at Bir Hakeim for two months. In March of 1944, Jacques was stationed in Agadir, Morocco, where he would remain for the duration of the war. In total, he served in the French armed forces for 99 months (just over eight years).

Jacques returned to Paris in the summer of 1945. He worked as a car mechanic until 1946, when he was hired to work at the control tower at Le Bourget airport. After exchanging letters with American Mary Burmeister for several years, Jacques and Mary married in June of 1950. They had a son, Dominique, in 1951.

Jacques Vasseur was diagnosed with cancer in 1951 and died on August 4, 1953.