The TimesThe liaison agent was held in high esteem by members of the French Resistance in the Haute-Vienne département of central France On many occasions he passed through enemy lines with messages for fighters seeking to liberate France from German control during the Second World War Yet when peace came he was omitted from the monument to the war dead in Aixe-sur-Vienne, his home town; probably because of his age. Marcel Pinte was just six years old when he was fatally injured by a bullet fired accidentally by a Resistance fighter on August 19, 1944, in what was then Vichy France. Next week, the wrong will be righted. In a ceremony on November 11, the child’s name will be inscribed on Aixe-sur-Vienne’s war memorial, alongside those Special Armistice Day ceremony lauds contribution of wartime courier who died in 1944 France has paid tribute to a six-year-old boy regarded as its youngest resistance hero as part of the nationwide Armistice Day ceremonies in memory of those who died in the first and second world wars the name of Marcel Pinte was inscribed on the war memorial of Aixe-sur-Vienne Marcel, known as Quinquin after a children’s song, acted as a courier for resistance fighters who opposed the Nazi occupation during the second world war, slipping past enemy patrols and carrying messages under his shirt. His father, Eugene Pinte, was a local chief of the “army of the shadows” led from London by Charles de Gaulle, who set up an operations centre at a farm outside Aixe-sur-Vienne. His farmhouse received coded messages from London, and parachute drops of supplies in a field nearby. Marcel died, aged just six, on 19 August 1944, when a large deployment of resistance fighters arrived by parachute ahead of an expected battle around Aixe as allied forces began to liberate France. They were heavily armed and Marcel was hit by several bullets when a Sten submachine gun went off accidentally. “People who pass by this monument to the dead will notice his name and particularly his age,” said a family member, Marc Pinte. “It’s an honour. It throws a light on those who remained in the shadow but who fought for freedom.” Read moreSeveral days after Marcel’s death containers fell in the field in a final drop “The British knew that the little Marcel played a real role This parachute was the calling card sent to the family,” Pinte told Le Monde Marcel was posthumously awarded the rank of sergeant of the resistance he posthumously received an official card for “volunteer combatants of the resistance” from the National Office of Former Combatants and War Victims You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed crossing enemy lines to pass messages if needed likely France’s youngest member of the Resistance fighting occupying Nazis during World War II Marcel Pinte has only recently been getting his due Just last week his name was inscribed on a monument to the war dead in Aixe-sur-Vienne a town of less than 6,000 in central France He is among the fallen being honored Wednesday 1918 armistice ending World War I and pays homage to all those who have died for the nation The little boy lived at the heart of the “army of the shadows,” as Resistance fighters were known Charles de Gaulle and on the ground in his patch of France by his father a local Resistance chief who set up an operations center at a farm outside Aixe-sur-Vienne His farmhouse received coded messages from London and parachute drops of supplies in a field nearby four years ago for leading the liberation of the town was put to work helping fighters with an array of tasks slip away to nearby farms to pass messages according to accounts published by a relative from a children’s song in northern France where he was born “There was a bit of carefreeness because of his age A resident told his father to be careful because Marcel sometimes sang songs learned from fighters,” the newspaper Le Figaro quoted Bremaud as saying But songs weren’t what would take his life A sensitive Sten automatic pistol dropped from a parachute of arms and munitions into a field let off a spray of gunfire when the arms were being distributed on Aug his father had led a rout of the enemy converging on Aixe-sur-Vienne “Very touched by the disappearance of his son … the commander did not change plans and continued encircling (nearby) Limoges with his troops,” read a speech delivered by Bremaud and another family relative for the inauguration in 2016 of the street named Eugene Pinte Top Resistance commanders attended the funeral of the child on the morning of Aug His father helped liberate Limoges that evening This parachute was the calling card sent to the family,” said Marc Pinte who gave the newspaper Le Monde a guided tour of the area An official card for “volunteer combatants of the Resistance” was delivered on Aug in the name of “Monsieur Marcel Pinte” by the National Office of Former Combatants and War Victims Stay secure and make sure you have the best reading experience possible by upgrading your browser!