DOCUMENTS: 1921-1929 1st Foreign Regiment certificates

A new part of the DOCUMENTS series. Today we present four interesting documents issued by the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE) in North Africa in the 1920s.

The documents were issued for Legionnaire Wasyl Tuhaj. Only few details are known about him. He was born in March 1891, in what was then considered Poland by the French (although no sovereign Polish state existed between 1795 and 1918). He was native of Olesza, a village that is now part of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in Ukraine (Olesha).

Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly when Wasyl Tuhaj joined the Legion. It must be during World War I or shortly afterward. Following his instruction in Algeria, North Africa, he was sent to neighboring Morocco, to serve with one of the Foreign Legion autonomous units (several battalions and mounted companies) which criss-crossed the country and defended the already pacified territories. For this deployment, he was awarded the Colonial Medal in 1921.

From 1925 to 1926, now Corporal Tuhaj participated in the Great Syrian Revolt, opposing Druze rebels. He was member of the 5th Battalion 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment (V/4e REI) which became the 1st Foreign Regiment’s 8th Battalion a few months later. The battalion was led by famous Major Kratzert. For this action, Corporal Tuhaj was awarded the Syria commemorative medal with the LEVANT 1925-1926 clasp.

When serving with the 1st Foreign Regiment back in Algeria in 1928, he was naturalized and became a French citizen, changing his name to romanized Basile Tuhaj. In 1929, Corporal Tuhaj left the Legion and settled in France. In 1972, he still lived there, in Montbard.

Follow the four documents issued for him: two medal certificates, a naturalization decree, and his honorable discharge certificate. As usual, the documents were published with the kind permission of Krzysztof Schramm, historian of Poland’s Foreign Legion veteran association (A.A.A.L.E. de Pologne) and author of Zygmunt Jatczak: I Regret Nothing.

Click on the images to enlarge them:

Documents - Foreign Legion - 1921 - 1st Foreign Regiment - Colonial medal certificate - Morocco - 1er RE — The Morocco colonial medal certificate issued for Legionnaire *Tuhaj* in May 1921.

Documents - Foreign Legion - 1926 - 1st Foreign Regiment - Commemorative medal certificate - Syria - 1er RE — The Syria commemorative medal certificate issued for Corporal *Tuhaj* (now spelled as *Touhay*, a French phonetic transcription of his original name) in 1926.

Documents - Foreign Legion - 1928 - 1st Foreign Regiment - Naturalization decree - Tuhaj — Naturalization decree issued for Corporal *Tuhaj* in March 1928.

Documents - Foreign Legion - 1929 - 1st Foreign Regiment - Honorable discharge certificate - Tuhaj — Honorable discharge certificate issued for Corporal *Tuhaj* by Colonel *Rollet* (future “Father of the Legion”) in 1929.

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