FO8AD 1955 French Polynesia

Operator: Roland d'Assignies, also RV2/FO8

By 1940, Roland d’Assignies, age 35, had been in Indochina (The area between India and China, including Vietnam, Thailand) for some time. He worked for the French Government. In September of 1940, the French Government opened the ports of Indochina to the Japanese who immediately occupied the territory. Roland was taken prisoner and spent the duration of the war in jail. It wasn’t easy time, it was ruthless and cruel wartime incarceration. Besides the Japanese, the French were under attack by the Communists. They were slowly losing their grip on Indochina.
After the war, and Roland’s release, they sent him to Tahiti. Roland’s assignment was to the island of Raivavae, in the Tahiti group, where he would provide weather information by radio. With the assistance of Joe Bourne, FO8AB, Roland assembled a modest station, a small Hallicrafters S-38 receiver, a Hartley oscillator using two 6L6’s, running about 25 watts, a doublet antenna. Using his commercial callsign, RV2, Roland got on the Amateur bands. His income from the French Government was small, supplemented by income from crops of oranges and coffee. He was befriended by John, WK6E, then W6UCX, and Marv, W6FR, then W6VFR. These generous southern Californians provided Roland with parts and encouragement and more. In their contacts, Roland bemoaned his lost years, as if a major part of his youth had died in that Japanese prison.
Roland finally got his callsign, FO8AD. He provided many contacts throughout the world. He dreamed of opening a small radio shop. In 1959, he emigrated to the United States. In those years, it was not possible to obtain an amateur license without US citizenship, which would explain Roland’s initial silence. Marv and John helped Roland to obtain a job with Hughes, where he remained until his retirement. He lived modestly and raised a daughter. He was never to be heard on the air again.

FO8AD at his station in French Polynesia

Two section 8JK 14 Mc beam fed with a 115' feedline.

Pictured above was Roland's niece, Eliane Assignies, an Artisan, joined her uncle and became the second operator of FO8AD, and became very active.

Roland d’Assignies sk 1905-1996
On October 17, 1996, a story in the Orange County Register told of a grinding five vehicle crash. A 91 year old driver ran a red light in his blue Subaru and died. Roland d’Assignies didn’t make it home, only a block away. Marv said, "Roland would never ‘run a red light.’ He probably just didn’t see it." Considering the hardships Roland faced in his life, he held on tenaciously to his vitality, driving at age 91, and making up for those lost years by living every moment until it ultimately was his last.

Courtesy of F6BLK
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First two photos from Don Chesser W4KVX DX Magazine #173, September 29, 1962