Lebanon Public Figure Directory
Fouad Abdallah Chehab was born on 19 March 1902, in Ghazir (Kesrouan, Lebanon), to a Christian Maronite family. He was the eldest son of Emir Abdallah Chehab and Sheikha Badiaa Hbeich. His family was of noble ancestry - His great-grandfather is no other than the eldest brother of the Great Emir Bachir II, ruler of Mount Lebanon from 1788 to 1840. But in 1907, due to poverty, Emir Abdallah left the country like many Lebanese men looking for work opportunities abroad. The family never heard back from him. It is believed that he probably died on the ship transporting him from Marseille to North America. Fouad and his two younger brothers Farid and Chakib were thus raised by their mother and maternal uncles, in Jouniyeh.
In 1916, when Fouad Chehab was just 14, due to financial needs, he had to leave school and work at the Jounieh Court to help support his family.
In 1919, he enlisted for one year in the French Army as a soldier - before the French Mandate was proclaimed over Lebanon in 1920, following World War I.
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