Foreign Legion: 2021 Camerone Day | French Foreign Legion Information

On April 30, as every year since 1931, the French Foreign Legion celebrated their most important holiday, Camerone Day. This day marks the anniversary of the Battle of Camerone, the famed action which occurred in Mexico 158 years ago, in 1863.

Annually, all officers and legionnaires of the Legion commemorate this eight-hour battle, in which a Foreign Legion company of 65 men faced almost 2,000 Mexican infantrymen and cavalrymen. The battle is portrayed as a pure example of bravery and determination of fighting to the finish. It became a crucial moment in history of the Foreign Legion, and a successful means of integration of men from around the world into the institution and their mental transformation into legionnaires.

Camerone Day is a two-day holiday for all members of the Legion. The celebrations are usually open for public as well. Nevertheless, due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, 2021 Camerone Day (as the previous one) was once again celebrated intimately, within closed gates of the Legion units’ military bases.

As an inseparable part of the ceremony in Aubagne, the wooden hand of the company commander at Camerone in 1863, Captain Jean Danjou, is presented to public, usually carried by a former member of the institution. Assignment to carry the wooden hand is seen as the most deserved honor for any veteran of the Foreign Legion. This year, General Vittorio Tresti was appointed the official bearer of Captain Danjou‘s wooden hand. Born in Italy in 1939, he enlisted in the Legion in 1958, as a simple legionnaire. Corporal in 1960, sergeant in 1962 and second lieutenant in 1967, he served in Algeria, France, Corsica, Madagascar and French Guiana, where he commanded the 3e REI in 1987-1989. He retired in 1996 and was promoted to Brigadier general.

By Monday, May 3, only three units of the Legion have posted images from their Camerone Day, so, here they are: