Albert Guérisse

Albert-Marie Guérisse
Concentration Camp portrait drawn by Brian Stonehouse
Nickname(s)	Lt. Cdr. Pat O'Leary, RNVR
Born	5 April 1911 Brussels, Belgium
Died	26 March 1989(1989-03-26) (aged 77) Waterloo, Belgium
Allegiance	Belgium  United Kingdom
Rank	Major General
Commands held	"Pat Line" Belgian medical detachment, Korea Belgian medical component
Battles/wars	World War II Korean War
Awards	George Cross Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (honorary) Distinguished Service Order

Major General Comte Albert-Marie Edmond Guérisse GC, KBE, DSO (5 April 1911 – 26 March 1989) was a Belgian Resistance member who organized escape routes for downed Allied pilots during World War II under the alias of Patrick Albert "Pat" O'Leary, the name of a Canadian friend. His escape line was dubbed the Pat Line.

Guérisse was born in Brussels, and qualified in medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles before joining the Belgian Army. At the outbreak of World War II, he was serving mainly as a conducting officer, escorting agents ashore in small boats through the surf, whilst the large vessel lay some distance offshore. This was skilled work, exposed to physical dangers from the sea-conditions and operational dangers from the Vichy security services.

On 25 April 1941, during a mission to place Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents in Collioure, on Roussillon coast in southern France, Guérisse was in the skiff on its way back to the ship when it turned over and he had to swim ashore. To the Vichy French coast guards, Guérisse claimed he was a Canadian airman named Pat O'Leary. The "Canadian" identity attempted to explain his not-quite British accent in English, and his not-quite French accent in French, without compromising his relatives in occupied Belgium.

He was taken to Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort near Nîmes, where he met 'fellow British' officers, including SOE operative Ian Garrow who got him released and took him to Marseille. In this roundabout way, Guérisse was inducted into the clandestine work on escape-lines. Both for security in Vichy France and for consistency in his story, Guérisse decided to continue with the O'Leary alias while he remained ashore in France. At this point he might still have assumed that his work in France was a temporary measure and that he would, in his turn, make his way to Gibraltar and resume his original naval service. Events were to dictate otherwise.