Pierre Ugeux
Michou’s assignment in London doing assorted paperwork for MI9 was extremely boring, and she sorely missed being back in France or Belgium despite the danger involved with her return. If caught, she surely would have been shot by the Germans for her role in the Comet Line’s escape network.
MI9 specialized in, among other things, assisting British and other Allied servicemen behind enemy lines, including the escape of prisoners of war, and helping others evade capture and travel safely to friendly neutral sites.
As D-Day had passed and the massive invasion of Europe into France had been successful, the Germans were struggling to maintain footholds in Belgium as well. Escape networks were now being phased out in favor of escape camps in both France and Belgium, many of them run by members of various escape lines.
Pierre Ugeux was born on January 9, 1913 in Liege, Belgium. He was a paratrooper during the war and a major in the French Special Operations Executive. During his formative years, Pierre was bossed around by an older brother who thought he was the leader of several brothers in the family. The older brother even played a key role in the resistance movement from London during the war. So, while Pierre’s role as a paratrooper was quite important, he somehow always felt that his contribution during the war was never good enough in the eyes of his older brother.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Toward the end of the war, Pierre was asked by MI9 to find some important people from the Comet Line, like Jean-Francois Nothomb(Franco) and Jacque Le Grelle(Jerome) who were known to be held in special camps by the Germans. Such a camp was in Bamberg, where condemned prisoners waiting to be executed were kept alive because they could possibly be exchanged for German prisoners.
When Pierre heard that two Comet Line members were in Bamberg, he confiscated a small plane from a little airport in Germany, and told the pilot to fly to Bamberg, where he picked up Franco and Jerome and flew them safely back to Brussels.
In the summer of 1944, Pierre was assigned to oversee Michou in her role with MI9 in London. As he entered her office to introduce himself, Michou had her back to him and both arms full of files. When she turned toward him, she tripped on a cord on the floor and went flying forward knocking Pierre to the floor, file folders all around them.
“What in the blazes are you doing?” he shouted angrily at her. “Is it necessary for you to try to carry all of the files in your arms at once?”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was walking. How can I help you?” she asked.
“You certainly can help by not being a klutz with these files for a start. Then you can tell me where I can find Micheline Dumon after you pick up this mess,” he answered.
“And who are you to tell me I am a klutz? You are obviously nothing but a very rude and grouchy person.”
“You are Micheline Dumon, aren’t you? Oh, my God, help us. I am Major Pierre Ugeux of the SOE, and I have been sent here to help you do your job right. You may think of me what you wish, but, nonetheless, we will be working together to put these files in order, even the pile you’ve left on the floor.”
“Good afternoon, Major. Yes, I am Michou Dumon. Welcome to my office. I am sure we will get along just fine,” she said with less than a smile on her face. What she really wanted to say was why is this little unpleasant and unattractive man in my life right now? As if my life isn’t boring enough.
“I apologize for the outburst, Michou. I’m not used to being cooped up in an office. I used to jump out of planes into Belgium and France on special assignments. So this is not too exciting to me. But I was told that it certainly was a lot safer. I guess my paratrooper days are over.”
“I know what you mean,” she answered. “ I too am used to being more active. I guess my days of helping airmen escape out of Belgium are over too.”
“Perhaps when the liberation comes, and I do believe we are close to pushing the Germans out of France and Belgium soon, maybe then we can go back there to help people in camps or in hiding. Oh, wouldn’t that be a wonderful day!” Pierre echoed with a warm smile at Michou. She blushed.
This man, a complete stranger to her, brought a smile to her face, even though he introduced himself to her like a charging bull. Her smile brought out the warmth and tenderness in Michou, which she had not felt since she said goodbye to Bob Grimes and Gerry Papineau nearly a year earlier. There had been no time for smiles, no time for personal relationships, just the serious business of all the details necessary to run an escape line over eight hundred miles long, a network beset with betrayals, hundreds of arrests by the Gestapo, and the dealings with people she hardly knew. These events were always under suspicion of treason, and always under the watchful eye of the Gestapo.
Before her stood a veteran of action in enemy territory, a survivor like her, anxious for the ordeal of war to be over, but somehow also knowing how she would miss the excitement and intrigue that came with the danger. And his smile made her smile. She was not accustomed to the feeling that suddenly emerged out of her. This was not like kissing an unknown airman on a train to distract a German soldier’s attention away from the disguised airman. These episodes were staged and meant nothing to her emotionally. They were just part of the charade she had to display, along with her look as a teenager.
Over the next few months, Michou began to enjoy Pierre’s company, although they disagreed often on many issues. His harshness quickly mellowed as their time together increased. She felt safe in his presence, and he in turn realized what a wonderful woman he had found. Pierre Ugeux saw Michou as an attractive and intelligent young woman, not as a mere five-foot teenager with knee socks. She in turn was attracted to Pierre. They began to steadily go to dinner together and to socialize in London quite frequently.
As the months rolled by, they became inseparable, until one day Pierre entered the office at MI9 and placed a small box on her desk while she was retrieving a cup of coffee down the hall. When she returned, she spotted the small box and began to blush uncontrollably. She knew what boxes of this size contained.
“Pierre, are you serious? Do you know what you are doing?” she asked in utter shock.
“Michou, I have never been more certain of anything in my life. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?” he asked as he knelt on one knee before her desk.
Two young people met in anger, mellowed toward each other as time passed, and eventually fell in love, and their love for each other grew more and more each passing day. Within the year, and shortly before the liberation arrived, they were married, still in uniform and still a part of the MI9 team.