Death Of Tahiti Soldier
p. 14 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent v TAHITI, September 15.
THE passing of Sergeant Charles Spitz, at Damascus, on June 21, is a per sonal sorrow to everyone in Tahiti.
Taro (his Tahitian name) was a favourite with each of us: he was endowed with those qualities which inspire affection
and esteem, and he was the son of a well-known resident of Papeete, Mon sieur Georges Spitz.
The Governor of French Oceania pub lished a tribute to the memory of our dead citizen.
Sergeant Spitz was in the first French Pacific contingent that left for the Middle East on April 21, 1941. He was one of the defenders of Bir-Hakeim, and there received a bullet in the spine that was eventually to cause his death.
He was captured by the Italians, and held for 10 months before being repat riated to Damascus.
In his last letter to his father he wrote: “If the world knew what we went through, no one would ever declare another war,”
Sergeant Charles Spitz.