2e REP: 2026 Saint Michael’s Day | French Foreign Legion Information

On September 29, 2026, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) of the French Foreign Legion celebrated Saint Michael’s Day, honoring the archangel who is the patron saint of all French paratroopers. This year, the regiment left its home base at Calvi and took the celebration into the mountains of Corsica.

The festivities began on the evening of September 28 with a traditional evening gathering long cherished by Legion paratroopers, held in Calacuccia, a village in the island’s mountainous interior. At dawn the next morning, the legionnaires set out on foot up the mountain slopes to Lac de Nino, a lake at an elevation of more than 5,600 feet (about 1,700 meters).

The ceremony at the lake was presided over by Brigadier General Christophe de La Chapelle, Commander of the French Foreign Legion, who himself commanded the 2e REP from 2018 to 2020. A group of Legion paratrooper veterans (anciens) also attended, led by General Alain Bouquin, who commanded the regiment from 2000 to 2002 and the Foreign Legion from 2009 to 2011.

Legion paratroopers have honored Saint Michael every year since 1948, when the Legion’s first airborne units were formed.

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