Jorge Sanjinez Lenz

Sanjinez died on 24 August 2020 at his home in Pucallpa at 103 years of age due to lung cancer, an ailment that had afflicted him for some time. He was the last Latin American soldier to die who participated in D Day.

He received several recognitions and medals for his participation. The most important is the medal of the Legion of Honor in knighthood by France, awarded in 2017 by the French embassy.

In 1946 he returned to Peru after finishing his volunteering in 1945, he married his third wife Meldín Alava, a native of Pucallpa and had two children. He also had three other children from his previous relationships. He also worked for the airline company Faucett, from the 1940s and 1950s.

His first participation was in August 1944, in the Battle of Normandy, then in the Dutch campaigns. Sanjinez said that during his stay on the Western Front he knew death directly:

The other campaigns of Sanjinez were the advances for the German unemployment in 1944 of France (Cabourg, August 21, Deauville, August 22 and Honfleur, August 24) and Belgium (Brussels, September 3).

In December 1942, in the midst of the Second World War. Sanjinez attended the Belgian embassy in Lima to enroll in the rebel camp that the government of the European country was promoting, along with other governments in exile, to end the Nazi occupation. The Peruvian Armed Forces recognized the decision and provided special training to Sanjinez, the government of Peru was part of the allies.

Jorge Sanjinez Lenz (January 24, 1917 – August 24, 2020) was a Peruvian military veteran of Belgian descent who participated as a military volunteer in World War II, on the side of the Allies for the liberation of Europe from the Axis Powers. He enlisted in the Piron Brigade in the Free Belgian forces.

He was born on January 24, 1917 in Moquegua, Peru. His childhood passed through periods in his country and in Bolivia.