André Zirnheld

Who is André Zirnheld?

André Louis Arthur Zirnheld was born in Paris on to a family of Alsatian Jews. He was a French paratrooper, a member of the Free French Air Force, and a member of the French Squadron, Special Air Service during World War II. He is famous for being the first French paratrooper officer killed in action, and was the author of the poem “Prayer of The Para”.

A licensed and certified graduate of philosophy, he was a college philosophy professor before the war. In 1937 he was appointed professor of philosophy at the Lycee Carnot de Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia. In October 1938 he served as professor at the French Secular Mission in Tartus, Tunisia.

At the outbreak of the war in 1939, Zirnheld was assigned to an Défense Contre Avions unit in Lebanon. He tried to transfer to serve in the Metropolitan Army in France, but the Armistice was signed before he could do so. He then defected to British-held Palestine to join the Free French forces. He was assigned to the 1st Colonial Infantry Battalion as a private and served at the Battle of Sidi Barani. Because of his education, he was reassigned as the Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Propaganda in Cairo.