Raymond Triboulet, 99; Resistance Fighter During World War II

Raymond Triboulet, 99, a resistance fighter during World War II who helped Allied troops invade France and became the first civilian administrator of his liberated homeland, died Friday in Paris, his family announced.

A law graduate, Triboulet was a lieutenant in the French army when the Germans captured France in 1940. After serving in a prisoner-of-war camp, Triboulet joined the French Resistance and was charged by Gen. Charles de Gaulle with establishing plans for a French regional government after the invasion.

Just days after Allied troops landed on the Normandy coast, Triboulet was appointed deputy governor for the area that included Bayeux, the first town liberated in the invasion.

“We had to give the Allies the impression we had things under control,” he told a reporter years later. “I requisitioned all the motorcycles and told some brave people, ‘Follow the troops and in each liberated village find a guy who isn’t too dumb and make him mayor.’ ”

Triboulet was later elected to Parliament and became veterans minister. He pushed a law through the National Assembly making D-day an annual commemoration.