Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born in Lyon on 29 June 1900, was a French writer and aviator. In 1921, he began his military service and trained as a pilot, and at the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the French Air Force flying reconnaissance missions. Later, he joined the Free French Forces, but while flying a mission in Rhône valley on 31 July 1944, he disappeared and was never seen again. It was assumed that he was shot down over the Mediterranean. An unidentifiable body wearing French colours was found several days later and buried in Carqueiranne that September.