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Born in 1888 in Lacroix-sur-Meuse, Adrien Henry had to take over the family farm from his adolescence simply to provide for his loved ones. Called up to the 69e régiment d'infanterie in Nancy in 1909, he graduated top of his class to become an officer.

Having returned to the farm, he was mobilised at the very start of the First World War with the 161e régiment d'infanterie, as a sergeant, not having had the means to purchase his officer's uniform.

Very quickly, his human qualities revealed a remarkable personality, as he led his men into combat in all the great battles of 1914-18: the Marne (on the Côtes de Meuse side), Champagne, Verdun, the Somme, the Chemin des Dames, Bois le Prêtre and others. He fought in his native village and in the surrounding woods he knew so well; there he was wounded, and thirteen more times during the war. He re-enlisted several times in the infantry; taken prisoner at Verdun, he escaped despite a broken leg.

At the end of the war, he followed the French army to Poland, facing the Bolsheviks, then took part in the occupation of the Ruhr.

Having transferred to the gendarmerie, he was posted to Châlons-sur-Marne, then took command of the gendarmerie of the Indre department before the Second World War. It was there, in 1940, that he led his gendarmes into combat, just as the armistice was declared. He then organised aid for refugees. Forcibly retired because he refused to accept the policies of Marshal Pétain, whom he knew well, he took a position at the Prefecture. With access to a wealth of information, he waged a true resistance struggle, under the benevolent eye of the prefect, and despite opposition from the Germans, the militia and, at the time of the Liberation, the last-minute resisters...

He spent his final years in Commercy (d. 1963), in Lorraine, surrounded by his family, devoting himself to numerous activities: veterans' associations, hunting, weapons collecting, family life...

It was with an upright, courageous, determined and resolute character that he led a life out of the ordinary.

After each of the wars, he wrote his memoirs — stories that are inscribed in History. Simple and gripping accounts, examples for future generations.

He was made Grand Officer of the Légion d'Honneur by Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny. A commemorative plaque stands on the square of his native village in Lorraine: Lacroix-sur-Meuse. Upon his death, General de Gaulle reached out to his family; he had known Colonel Henry since Verdun, and later had cited him in army dispatches.