At heart, Elie Castelain was just like you and me, a young man from Saint-Omer like any other. A good son, a good friend, and a serious young man. Born in Arques in 1922, he lived there on Quai du Commerce, now known as Quai de Wadgassen.
During the Occupation, he joined the Garde de Guéret military school. However, the French Army was quickly defeated. Following an attack by a German column in the summer of 1944, under threat, he went underground and became a member of the Resistance. He fought to the very end against the horrors of the Nazis. He would, in fact, fall victim to them.
Arrested and then deported to the concentration camps at Sachsenhausen, Kochendorf and Dachau, Elie Castelain died of exhaustion on 1 April 1945, aged just 22.
