Mar. 11, 1963 - Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry (pictured), who tried to assassinate President de Gaulle, was executed at dawn today. Bastien-Thiry, a 35-year-old former lieutenant colonel of the French Air Force and officer of the Legion of Honor, was shot in an old fortress built more than 100 years ago for the defense of Paris. He was buried in an unmarked grave. Two of Bastien-Thiry’s fellow plotters were saved from execution at the last moment by President de Gaulle. They were Alain Bougrenet de la Tocnaye, a former lieutenant, and Jacques Prevost, a veteran of France’s last battle in Vietnam at Dienbienphu. Bastien-Thiry contended to the end he and his co-plotters never intended to kill President de Gaulle but to arrest him and bring him before a high court, charging him with betraying French interests. By “betraying French interests,” Mr. Bastien-Thiry meant the granting of independence to Algeria.
