Lt Colonel Zlatko Sabljic has passed away | French Foreign Legion Information

On September 29, 2020, Lieutenant Colonel Zlatko Sabljic, director of the Home of Legionnaire (a veteran retirement home in Auriol, southern France) has passed away. A famous figure, he spent 38 years in the French Foreign Legion and 8 years with legionnaires-veterans.

Born in Croatia in then Yugoslavia, Zlatko Sabljic joined the Foreign Legion in 1974 and chose to serve as a paratrooper with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) in Corsica. He went through all ranks there, from a simple legionnaire to a company commander, and participated in a number of operations (e.g. 1978 Battle of Kolwezi) and deployments with the regiment.

During his long career in the Legion, Zlatko Sabljic spent also several years in French Polynesia with the 5th Foreign Regiment (5e RE) or in Djibouti with the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (13e DBLE). He finished his active service in the Legion in 2012, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Immediately afterwards, Zlatko Sabljic took over the Home of Legionnaire (La Maison du Légionnaire), a veteran retirement home based at Auriol, close to Aubagne. The institution was established by the Legion’s famous officer and its first commander, General Rollet (called “Father of the Legion”), in 1934. It is a retirement home with some 70 elderly former legionnaires. Although administratively independent of the Foreign Legion, the home is supported by a COMLE department running within the 1st Foreign Regiment.

Officer of the Legion d’Honneur, an emblematic figure of the Foreign Legion, he was chosen in 2014 by the Foreign Legion’s commanding General to carry the hand of Captain Danjou on the occasion of the commemoration of the 1863 Battle of Camerone. This is the highest recognition a member of the Foreign Legion could get. Zlatko Sabljic has died unexpectedly on September 29, 2020. Rest in peace, mon Colonel.

2 REP - Battle of Kolwezi - 1978 - Kolwezi - Legionnaires - Sablek - Sabljic — *Zlatko Sabljic* (then Sergeant *Sablek*) with a rebel suspect during the 1978 Battle of Kolwezi, as a member of the famous 2e REP.

Camerone 2014 - Zlatko Sabljic — *Zlatko Sabljic* carrying the hand of Captain *Danjou* during 2014 Camerone Day in *Aubagne*.

4e RE: Remise de Képis blancs at Auriol 2016 — Lt Colonel *Zlatko Sabljic* as the director of Home of Legionnaire in 2016 (here, with Colonel *O’Mahoni*, then a deputy to the Chief of the Legion).

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