Jeannou Lacaze

{{Expand French|topic=bio|Jeannou Lacaze|date=July 2016}} {{Infobox military person | name = [[File:Officier général francais 5 etoiles.svg|50px]] Jeannou Lacaze | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|02|11|df=y}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|08|01|1924|02|11|df=y}} | burial_label = | burial_place = | birth_place = {{flagicon|French Indochina}} [[Huế]], [[French Indochina]] | death_place = | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = {{flag|France}} | branch = {{Flagicon|France}} [[French Army]] [[File:Flag of legion.svg|23px]] [[French Foreign Legion]] | service_years = 1944–1985 | rank = [[Général d'armée]] | service_number = | unit = | commands = [[2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment]] [[List of French paratrooper units|2e REP]] (1967) [[11th Parachute Brigade (France)|11th Parachute Division]] [[List of French paratrooper units|11e DP]] [[Chief of the Defence Staff (France)|CEMA]] (1981–1985) | battles = [[World War II]] [[First Indochina War]] [[Algerian War]] | battles_label = Wars/Campaigns | awards = | relations = | other_work = }}

'''Jeannou Lacaze''' (February 11, 1924 – August 1, 2005), was a French [[Général d'armée]] of the [[French Army]] and [[Chief of the Defence Staff (France)|Chef d'État-Major des armées]] (1981–1985), who also served in the [[French Foreign Legion]].

== Biography == === Preliminary years === Jeannou Lacaze was born in [[French Indochina]], the son of a colonial functionary and an annamite of Chinese origin. He studied in a French school in Bordeaux.

== Military career == === 1944 to 1950 === At the age of twenty, in 1944, he joined the [[French Forces of the Interior]] FFI and participated to the liberation. Received at [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]] in 1945, he pursued the infantry school application at Auvours where he graduated in 1947.

Detached at from his commencement, he was assigned to the [[1st Foreign Regiment|1st Foreign Infantry Regiment]] at Kef in [[Tunisia]], he then joined the [[2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment]] 2e REI in [[Indochina War|Indochina]], where he served until 1951. Section chief of the 3rd battalion, he was severely wounded at the head of his section during an assault on the village of [[Ho Chi Minh]], on 5 January 1948. Repatriated sanitary, he returned to the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment 2e REI and was deployed for a second tour in [[Indochina War]].

=== 1951 to 1979 === Returned to [[France]] in 1951, he was assigned to the Moroccan Tirailleurs Regiment ({{langx|fr|[[:fr:tirailleurs marocains|régiment de tirailleurs marocains]]}}). Following an assignment at the technical section of the [[French Army]], he assumed command of the 129th Line Infantry Regiment in 1958 in [[Algeria]].

In 1959, he was assigned the [[11e régiment parachutiste de choc|11e Régiment Parachutiste de Choc]] ({{langx|fr|[[:fr:11e régiment parachutiste de choc|11e Régiment Parachutiste de Choc]]}}).

Following a passage at the war school, he assumed command of the [[2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment]] 2e REP after [[Ranks in the French Army|colonel]] [[Paul Arnaud de Foïard]] (regimental commander of the [[2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment|2e REP]] in 1965) on 18 July 1967. He led his regiment to [[Tchad]] during Opération Épervier ({{langx|fr|[[:fr:Opération Épervier (Tchad)|Opération Épervier]]}}) in 1969. He operated equally in [[Togo]] and in the [[Ivory Coast]], in order to ensure the permanence of the « pré carré » of France in [[Africa]].

Having left the [[French Foreign Legion]], je joined the secret service before assuming command of the [[11th Parachute Brigade (France)|11th Parachute Division]] from 1977 to 1979. During his commandment, the [[2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment]] 2e REP intervened in [[Kolwezi]] in [[Zaire]], and the [[French Army]] launched exterior theatre operations in [[Lebanon]] and [[Mauritania]].

=== 1980 to 1985 === He won the confidence of the [[List of Presidents of France|President]] of France [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] who named him [[Military governor of Paris]] in 1980, and [[Chief of the Defence Staff (France)|Chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies]] on 1 February 1981, a couple of months before the election of [[François Mitterrand]]. The new President maintained him in his post until his legal retiring age at retirement in 1985, while he totalized forty one years of service.

Titular of the [[Volunteer combatant's cross]] and the [[Combatant's Cross]], général Jeannou Lacaze is a Grand Officer of [[Légion d'honneur]]. He is decorated with the [[Cross for Military Valour]] with three stars and the [[Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures]] with one palm and two stars.

=== 1986 to 2005 === In 1986, he became the special counselor near the [[Ministry of Defence (France)|ministre français de la Défense]] for the military relations with the [[Africa]]n countries having signed defense accords. He became the counselor of the several African Presidents : ([[Mobutu Sese Seko]], [[Denis Sassou Nguesso]] and [[Félix Houphouet-Boigny]]) He went several times to [[Iraq]] before the [[Invasion of Kuwait]] in 1991 to sustain the promotion of French armament and French savoir-faire to the regime of [[Saddam Hussein]].

He acted as a "character witness" during the trial of mercenary Bob Denard in 1999.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://journals.openedition.org/ccrh/512|doi = 10.4000/ccrh.512|title = Jacques Foccart et les mauvais conseils de Félix Houphouët-Boigny|year = 2002|last1 = Wauthier|first1 = Claude|journal = Les Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Historiques|issue = 30|doi-access = free}}</ref>

In 1989, he launched himself into politics. He was a European deputy from ({{langx|fr|[[:fr:député européen|député européen]]}}) from 1989 to 1994, under the etiquette of the [[National Centre of Independents and Peasants]] CNIP ({{langx|fr|Centre national des indépendants et paysans}}) before creating his own political party of the Independent Union ({{langx|fr|Union des indépendants}}) UDI. He exercised as well the honorary presidency association ''Paris solidarité métro'' (struggle against social exclusion). He was surnamed the « le sphinx », from the fact that barely rarely spoke and kept numerous intelligences from him. In 1995, he founded the Franco-Iraqi commercial Council, for armament promotion to Saddam Hussein.<ref>David Styan, ''France and Iraq, Oil, Arms ans, French policy in the Middle-East'', ed I.B. Tauris, London, New-York, 2006.</ref>

He died on Monday 1 August 2005 at the age of 81, his funeral procession took place on 4 August in the cours d'honneur at [[Les Invalides]] in Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/culture/20050804.OBS5400/le-general-lacaze-est-mort.html|title=Le général Lacaze est mort|date=9 August 2005}}</ref>

== Recognitions and Honors == * [[File:Legion Honneur GO ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Legion of Honour|Grand Officier]] of the [[Legion of Honour|Légion d'Honneur]] * [[File:Ordre national du Merite GO ribbon.svg|75px]] Grand Officier de l'[[National Order of Merit (France)|ordre national du Mérite]] * [[File:Croix du Combattant Volontaire 1939-1945 ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Volunteer combatant's cross]] * [[File:Croix de Guerre des Theatres d'Operations Exterieurs ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures]] * [[File:Croix du Combattant (1930 France) ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Combatant's Cross]] * [[File:Croix de la Valeur Militaire ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Cross for Military Valour|Croix de la Valeur Militaire]] * [[File:Medaille d'Outre-Mer (Coloniale) ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Overseas Medal|Medaille d'Outre-Mer]] (''clasps'' « [[Lebanon]] », « [[Tchad]] » ) * [[File:Medaille commemorative de la Campagne d'Indochine ribbon.svg|75px]] [[Indochina Campaign commemorative medal|Médaille commémorative de la campagne d'Indochine]] * [[File:Medaille commemorative des Operations de securite et de Maintien de l'ordre ribbon.svg|75px]] [[North Africa Security and Order Operations Commemorative Medal|Médaille commémorative des opérations de sécurité et de maintien de l'ordre en Afrique du Nord]]

Jeannou Lacaze was cited 6 times out of which one was at the orders of army. He is also the author of a book that appeared in 1991 "Le Président et le champignon" (The President and the "Mushroom"), where he exposed his conception of the defense of [[France]], after the fall of communism.

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacaze, Jeannou}} [[Category:1924 births]] [[Category:2005 deaths]] [[Category:People from Huế]] [[Category:Generals of France]] [[Category:French people of Vietnamese descent]] [[Category:Officers of the French Foreign Legion]] [[Category:French military personnel of the First Indochina War]] [[Category:Military governors of Paris]] [[Category:National Centre of Independents and Peasants politicians]] [[Category:MEPs for France 1989–1994]] [[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite]] [[Category:Recipients of the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures]] [[Category:Recipients of the Cross for Military Valour]] [[Category:French people of colonial Vietnam]]