Serge Decloitre is the younger brother of Marc-Laurent Decloitre who was a seaman on board the “Président Doumer”. Marc-Laurent disappeared at sea when the ship sank. Serge was only six years old at the time and has only a vague memory of this older brother who had returned to the village on leave. Of his death, he only knew what his mother had told him. « My brother died in the Aegean Sea, I think. His boat was probably heading for the coast of Greece. That’s right, isn’t it? » Strange… Is it his memory that fails him? Did his mother give him a different version of reality? Why would she do that? It’s impossible to know.
« For me, it’s as if my brother had never existed. My mother used to talk about him, but we didn’t even have a grave to remember him by. I don’t know if we were actually informed about the circumstances of his death. My father or mother could have made up the story. Maybe they thought he had died in Greece because they knew he had been there with his boat… don’t you think? ».
Serge Decloitre never left his village. A worker like his father, he was very attached to his corner of the world. He only saw the sea twice and of course never got on a boat. « I didn’t know my brother so I don’t even know why he chose to leave our village. He even went back after his military service. He must have had some adventures but I have no idea who he was… but what you are telling me makes me sad anyway. I have never heard of this convoy SL-125. It’s not fair that he was sent to his death ». Caught up in a past he did not know, Serge Decloitre wishes us good luck in our investigation. When we leave him, he makes us promise to keep him informed. He did not know his big brother Marc-Laurent, but he would still like to know why he died…
