Alexandre Séguin, son of Wilfrid Séguin and Anna Tessier, was born in Montreal, QC, in 1919, but grew up in L’Orignal. After his studies at Hawkesbury High School, he was hired by Bertrand & Frères Construction Limited of L’Orignal. 

In 1942, Alex enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and on September 28, 1943, he became a pilot officer at the No. 13 Service Flying Training School in St-Hubert, QC. Shortly after, he flew to England to join 425 Alouette Squadron, mainly made up of French Canadians. Trained as a fighter pilot, Officer Séguin had to familiarize himself with the Hawkford bomber, twin-engine Wellington, and the four-engine Halifax aircraft which had a crew of seven airmen. As part of their training, the bombing crews ventured over occupied France to drop pamphlets issued by General Charles de Gaulle.

His first real mission was almost his last. At an altitude of 2,500 ft. the plane co-piloted by Alex Séguin was hit by German anti-aircraft fire in Calais: two of the four engines burnt out. Despite the smoke from the aircraft, the pilot and crew landed safely.

At the controls of his bombers, Alex Séguin had many difficulties to overcome: frozen instrumentation, which made it necessary to judge speed by the sound of the wind on the wings while landing, or even worse, landing with a bomb suspended from the fuselage.

Alex participated in several diversionary raids, aimed at luring away pursuing German squadrons in order to increase the chances of success for the main attack. He also took part in surprise raids where fleets of 500 to 1,000 aircraft, spread over a 48-kilometer, flew over Germany to drop bombs from an altitude of 21,000 feet.

On January 5, 1945, Alex Séguin and the crew of the Halifax JIG went missing over Hanover. While returning from a mission, his navigator had altered the bomber’s trajectory, and the Halifax collided with another Allied aircraft. Alex Séguin managed to bail out along with a few other airmen. Upon landing, Alex hid his parachute, burned his English currency and took off his gaiters to look like a civilian. German soldiers, pistols in hand, escorted him to a military hospital and a temporary prison in Dortmund, where he met his crew members. After a lengthy interrogation, he was sent to the Stalag Luft 1 concentration camp in Barth: a three-day trip during which Alex was given some bread, a sausage and a little water.

Alex Séguin lost 50 pounds in four and a half months of detention until liberation on May 1, 1945, at 10:30 p.m. As the German soldiers had already evacuated the camp during the day, the prisoners destroyed the fences and barbed wire before the Russians arrived.

Alex acted as a member of the camp’s special police to deal with the French and American soldiers before leaving Germany for England May 12, 1945. He was 26 years old and weighed 54 kg (121 lb.).

Back home in Canada, despite his attraction to aviation, his civilian job as secretary-treasurer at Bertrand & Frères Construction took priority. In 1948, he and Suzanne Bertrand were married.

Alexandre Séguin worked 48 years for the company and retired as a director and shareholder at age 66. He took advantage of retirement to become involved in local organizations, thereby continuing to contribute to his community and its progress.

Alexandre Séguin died in 2006.