Charles Hargrove, a long-standing AAPA member who took part in the D-Day landings, died at his Paris home on Sept. 19 aged 92.
Charles was foreign correspondent for many years with The Times of London in a career spanning 34 years, with postings in Germany, Japan and France. He retired in 1982 after a 16-year stint as the Times’ Paris bureau chief, and served as president of the AAPA in 1968.
Born on May 30, 1922 in Genoa, to a British father and a French mother, Charles Hargrove joined the British Army in 1942. Drawing on his bilingual skills, he acted as liaison officer and interpreter for General Sir Alexander Stanier, Commander of the 231st British Infantry Brigade when British troops landed on Gold beach at Asnelles on the Normandy coast on June 6, 1944.
In a recent French TV interview, and with his typical British understatement, Charles said that his role on D-Day “wasn’t very heroic. I wasn’t scared. I never really thought that I could be riddled with bullets after I got on to the beach. I was worried about more basic things, like getting my feet wet.”
After his retirement, he wrote several books, including two on Queen Elizabeth II, one on Valery Giscard d’Estaing, and a volume of his memoirs.
He also published a book about his D-Day recollections at Asnelles, a town for which he developed a strong affection and which made him an honorary citizen. Indeed, one of his last wishes was to be buried at Asnelles, alongside Maurice Schumann, an eminent French politician and foreign minister who took part in the Normandy landings alongside Charles 70 years ago.
Among his many decorations, Charles Hargrove was Commander of the Légion d’Honneur and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
He is survived by his wife Françoise, sons Charles and Paul, and two grandchildren, Edward and Eleanor.
-David Pearson