This was a hero: French WWII resistance hero Raymond Aubrac dies aged 97

[DFW]

2. I lost a friend a few years ago who was one of those guys

He had Dutch ancestry, and was as blond as he could be, although he never spoke anything but French. The Nazis never suspected a 14 year old blond kid could ever be any threat, but while he was in school by day, he was firing machine guns at the Nazi occupiers at night.

Ironically what finally killed him was sidestream smoke in the small travel agency he operated in later life. Though he never smoked, everyone in that small office did, including his wife, and from a robust 70, he withered away, eaten alive by lung cancer at age 72. One of the best friends I ever had, despite the age difference.