This Métis WW II veteran survived a deadly raid in Dieppe and 3 years as a POW. He died at 101

A celebrated Métis veteran of the Second World War taken prisoner in 1942 after a failed raid on Dieppe recently died.

Paul DeLorme was 101.

In 2019, he became one of the first Métis veterans to receive a belated $20,000 compensation payment, part of $30 million the federal government set aside in a "commemoration" package after it apologized to Métis veterans for discriminatory treatment in how benefits were distributed to returning soldiers.

DeLorme is one of the 30 known veterans, or their descendents, who received the acknowledgment, said David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation. Following DeLorme's death on March 24, only eight of the other veterans who received the compensation are believed to be alive.  

Chartrand travelled to Essex, U.K., where DeLorme settled after the war, to deliver the recognition payment — and to hear the man's story, he said.   

Escape attempts

DeLorme served with the South Saskatchewan Regiment. He was captured in Dieppe, France, at the age of 21 after taking part in a failed raid on the fishing port on Aug. 19, 1942, in which more than 900 Canadian military members died.

The Métis soldier was wounded by a grenade in battle, then taken as a prisoner of war with roughly 1,900 other Canadians.

Twice, DeLorme tried to escape.

On his first attempt, he spent several days walking the countryside by night, in prisoner overalls, trying to get to the French border. But he was caught, spending almost three years in all as a prisoner of war, before finally going home after the Allied victory. 

He would eventually celebrate his 100th birthday on July 23, 2020, during the pandemic, with family standing outside his window at the Vancouver long-term care home where he lived.

"We're very proud," Chartrand said of the sacrifices made throughout DeLorme's life. "He was friendly, very happy, very appreciative to be recognized [with the compensation] and remembered. 

"For us, it was an honour to have such a great man." 

Condolences from Canadian Army and France

DeLorme wrote a book about his experiences called A Métis Man Goes to War, cataloguing his time spent with comrades and later in the salt mines and a stone quarry as a prisoner of war.

The Canadian Armed Forces praised DeLorme's service. 

"I was saddened to learn of the passing of Paul DeLorme," said a statement from Major-General Michel-Henri St-Louis, acting commander of the Canadian Army. 

"As the defence team champion for Indigenous peoples, I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family as we honour his legacy and service to Canada."

DeLorme is also remembered by the French government and was nominated last fall for France's highest honour, "The Legion d'Honneur," a spokesperson for the French consul general in Vancouver said in an emailed statement to CBC. 

A ceremony to bestow the award by the consul general was to be held in Chilliwack at the legion, as per the family's wishes, but DeLorme died just days before, the statement reads. 

The distinction can only be bestowed upon recipients who are still living when the nominating decree is issued, the statement said. Instead, France will pay its respects at DeLorme's funeral.

"The Consul General of France [in Vancouver], Mr Nicolas Baudouin, will be attending the funeral to pay homage in the name of his country. France remembers the sacrifices made by all Canadians who came to liberate French soil and it will always remember the personal involvement of Canadian soldiers in the liberation of his country," the statement continues.