It is with deep sadness that the Foreign Legion Veteran association in Poland (A.A.A.L.E.P.) announces the death of their comrade and honorary member Zygmunt Jatczak. He served in the Foreign Legion in 1947-1952 and was one of the last few survivors of the First Indochina War (1946-1954). Zygmunt Jatczak died last week, on 9 February 2021, in Olsztynek, Poland. He was 97 years old. R.I.P.
La version française de cet article: Décès du légionnaire Zygmunt Jatczak
Born in Poland in 1924, Zygmunt Jatczak had spent some time during WWII in a concentration camp in German-occupied Poland before participating in the well-known 1944 Warsaw Uprising as a member of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army, a resistance movement). In 1947, young Zygmunt left Poland and joined the Foreign Legion. After the training in North Africa, he was sent to French Indochina to fight within the ranks of the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (13e DBLE) in 1948-1951. Honorably discharged from the Legion in 1952, after his prescribed five years of service, he settled in France where he would live and work until the mid-1960s.
Several times wounded, Zygmunt Jatczak was awarded with many decorations, including a mention in dispatches in the order of the Army (the French highest mention) the Légion d’Honneur, the highest French order of merit, the Combatant’s Cross, Military Medal or the Colonial Medal.
On Saturday 13, 2021, a cold and windy winter day, a funeral ceremony to pay him last respects was held in Olsztynek. Along with the family, the members of the A.A.A.L.E.P. and soldiers of the Territorial Defence Force (WOT), there was also an honor guard of the JWK, Poland’s special forces unit carrying out several missions alongside US Navy SEALs. This unit is referring to the legacy of the Polish Home Army which Zygmunt Jatczak belonged to. The A.A.A.L.E.P.’s clairon (bugler) played the Foreign Legion anthem Le Boudin. Thereafter, the veterans sang the Legion farewell song J’avais un camarade, as well as Sous le soleil brûlant d’Afrique, the regimental song of the 13e Demi-brigade in which Zygmunt Jatczak served in Indochina.
In July 2020, we informed about the second edition of his book, Niczego nie żałuję (I do not regret anything), published with the help of Krzysztof Schramm, the historian of Poland’s Foreign Legion veteran association. An English edition of this exceptional book is currently prepared to be released within the coming months.
