May 11, 2005

John F. "Jack" Hasey, 88, an American captain in the French Foreign Legion during World War II and a senior operations officer with the CIA, died May 9 at Virginia Hospital Center of complications from a stroke.

An Arlington resident, he was one of four Americans -- including Dwight D. Eisenhower -- decorated with France's highest World War II honor, Companion of the Order of the Liberation.


In the 1941 Battle for Syria, the 24-year-old American sub-lieutenant's right jaw and larynx were shot away by enemy machine gun fire when he led French troops in a bayonet and grenade charge against strong positions outside Damascus.

He was personally decorated by de Gaulle as "the first American to shed his blood for the liberation of France." Earlier, he had received a war cross with palms for bravery in the battle of Ceren, Eritrea. In 1996, French President Jacques Chirac named him an officer of the Legion of Honor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...051001415.html

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