He was a leading World War II resistance fighter who helped U.S., Canadian, and British troops invade France, which was then occupied by Nazi Germany.

At the start of World War II he enlisted in the French Army and was taken prisoner, but was later freed and returned home under the German occupation in 1941.

By informing Allied forces of German movements between the towns of Caen and Bayeux, he contributed to the success of the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944.

Following the reinstatement of a legitimate French government, Charles de Gaulle appointed him the first local governor of liberated France, in the Normandy town of Bayeux.

He served as a minister in the governments of Michel Debré and Georges Pompidou from 1959 to 1966 and then became a member of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.