Happy New Year 2023

Again a particular year is behind us, this time marked by geopolitical turbulences instead of health restrictions. However, the year of 2022 also marked ten years that have successfully passed since the launch of the FOREIGNLEGION INFO website in September 2012. How many legionnaires got their first info on the Legion here and then proudly completed their five years? Who knows. Nevertheless, I am glad to see that you, the readers, are still enjoying the work that has already been done. Thank you.

Now, with a new year upon us, is a suitable time for another annual review.

Read moreHappy New Year 2023

DOCUMENTS: 1959 1er REP Honorable discharge certificate of SCH Rutecki

Besides the PHOTOS series, I would like to create more similar categories and share within them other interesting items related to the French Foreign Legion, often hidden in personal archives. Thus, the next category to appear will focus on historical documents of all kinds. Here is the first such document, the Honorable discharge certificate (Certificat de bonne conduite) of a member of the famous 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er REP), very rare to see.

Read moreDOCUMENTS: 1959 1er REP Honorable discharge certificate of SCH Rutecki

Andrew J. Mitchell: Collecting French Foreign Legion Insignia – Parachute Units 1948-61

Right in time for Christmas 2022, a new English-written book dedicated to the French Foreign Legion was released: Collecting French Foreign Legion Insignia, Volume III – Part I, Parachute Units 1948-61. This is a new original work of Andrew J. Mitchell, an Irish amateur historian and a Foreign Legion insignia collector.

Read moreAndrew J. Mitchell: Collecting French Foreign Legion Insignia – Parachute Units 1948-61

70 years ago: A successful battle in an entrenched valley in French Indochina

In late 1952, an important confrontation between the French and the communist Viet Minh took place in then French Indochina, in a valley transformed into a well-fortified camp. A direct predecessor to the sad 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu, the confrontation ended with a clear French victory, thanks to a significant role of the French Foreign Legion men.

Read more70 years ago: A successful battle in an entrenched valley in French Indochina