Yvonne Renée Manon Tardon, known as Manon Tardon[1] (17 August 1913–23 December 1989) was a landowner and French Resistance fighter from Martinique, who was one of the only women to be present at the surrender of Nazi Germany. She was awarded a croix de guerre with vermeil palm for her military work during the Second World War.
Biography
Anse Couleuvre, Le Prêcheur, Martinique
Tardon was born on 17 August 1913 in Fort-de-France.[2] Her parents were Asthon Tardon (1882–1944) and Berthe Marie Waddy (1887–1961) and she was the third of five children in a wealthy, upper-class, Creole family.[2][3][4] Her father was a landowner and was also Mayor of Le Prêcheur for several decades, and a general councillor of Martinique.[2] Her brother, Raphaël Tardon, was a poet and writer, whose works were inspired by the island.[5] The family lived at Anse Couleuvre in Le Prêcheur.[6]
At the age of 15, three years earlier than usual, Tardon passed the Baccalaureate exams.[2] In 1929 she then moved to Paris with her mother and siblings,[7] where she enrolled at the Sorbonne to study History.[2] During this time she met her future husband, Jack Sainte-Luce Banchelin.[2] They married in 1936, and had two children, one of whom died in infancy.[7] Their surviving son, Pierre, was born in 1942.[8]
Already a lieutenant in the Auxiliaires féminines de l'Armée de terre (AFAT),[8] in 1944 Tardon joined the Free French Army.[3] She participated in the various resistance networks of Free France, she took refuge in Châteaudun in Eure-et-Loir, where she was at the time of the landing of the Normandy invasion in 1944. On 19 August 1944 she welcomed General Bradley's troops, on their way to liberate Paris.[8]
On 8 May 1945, she was part of the delegation, led by General de Lattre de Tassigny, that received the act of capitulation from Nazi Germany.[3] She was one of the only women present.[3][8] During her time in the army, she befriended another Creole Martinican, Simone Beuzelin.[2]
Demobilized on 23 June 1946, Tardon returned to Martinique with her son, dedicating the rest of her life to the preservation of the family's estate.[8] She died at the age of 76 in 1989, due to a fall at home.[8] She had an official funeral, where a military delegation was present, in tribute to her commitment to the Republic.[3] Tributes to her were led by the Martinican poet, Georges Desportes (fr).[9]
Legacy
Tardon's home, Residence Anse Couleuvre, which dates from the seventeenth century, is reportedly available to visit.[10][11]
Rue Manon-et-Raphaël-Tardon, a street in the Didier district of Fort-de-France, is named after Tardon and her brother.[3][12]
