2e REP: 50 years in Corsica and Saint Michael Day | French Foreign Legion Information

Last weekend marks the culmination of the commemoration of the 50 years the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) has already spent in Corsica. The 2e REP also celebrated its regimental holiday, Saint Michael Day. French Minister of the Armed Forces participated in the celebrations and decorated the 2e REP’s flag.

Since March 2017, several ceremonies and events has occurred in Corsica to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the installation of the only airborne unit of the French Foreign Legion on this island in 1967. The culmination of the commemoration took place at the Camp Raffalli, the home to the 2e REP located near the town of Calvi, between September 22-24.

On Saturday of the 23rd, the large ceremony was held inside the camp in the presence of Florence Parly, French Minister of the Armed Forces, to end the celebrations and to mark Saint Michael Day, the regimental holiday usually held on September 29. Saint Michael is the patron of French paratroopers. During the large ceremony, Florence Parly decorated the standard of the regiment with the Military Valor cross for its participation in Operation Barkhane in the Sahara in 2015.

Between February-June 1967, the 2e REP’s elements were moving from the French joint base of Bou Sfer in northern Algeria to Calvi, Corsica. They were placed at then Camp Fiume Secco, where the Parachute Training Center (CES) of 2e REP had been stationed since early 1964. In 1968, the camp changed its title and became Camp Raffalli, in memory of Major Rémy Raffalli, killed at the head of 2e BEP (Parachute Battalion, the 2e REP’s predecessor) in French Indochina 15 years earlier, in September 1952.

2e REP has been moved to Calvi - 1967 — 2e REP legionnaires arriving at future Camp Raffalli, May 1967

2e REP: 50 years in Corsica and Saint Michael Day — French Minister of the Armed Forces *Florence Parly* rendering homage to the 2e REP’s standard during the celebration at Camp Raffalli, September 23, 2017.
**© Photo credit**: *2e REP – Légion étrangère*

See other nice images from the celebration which occurred at Camp Raffalli on September 23 (wait a few seconds for loading the video, please).

50 years of the 2e REP celebrated at Calvi

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More photos:
2e REP fête les 50 ans de son installation à Calvi
Calvi: La croix de la Valeur militaire au drapeau du 2e REP

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