General Vittorio Tresti passed away | French Foreign Legion Information

General Vittorio Tresti, a former commanding officer of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI) and one of the few commanding officers who started their famous careers with the Foreign Legion as simple legionnaires, passed away on February 15, 2024. He was 85 years old.

Foreign Legion: 2021 Camerone Day - General Vittorio Tresti — General *Vittorio Tresti*, in 2021. Born in Italy, he joined the Legion as a simple enlisted volunteer, in 1958.

Vittorio Tresti was born in Italy on January 22, 1939, shortly before the start of the Second World War. At the age of 19, in 1958, he decided to leave Europe and enlist in the legendary Foreign Legion. He was transferred from France to then-French Algeria in North Africa, still the Legion’s homeland at the time. There, he underwent his basic training in Saida, within the Foreign Legion Training Group, 1st Foreign Regiment. Subsequently, he was assigned to the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment (5e REI) and took part in the ongoing Algerian War (1954-1962).

Two years later, Legionnaire Tresti was promoted to corporal and then to sergeant in 1962. Promoted to staff sergeant in 1966, he entered the EMIA military school, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant a year later.

Upon his graduation, Second Lieutenant Tresti was assigned to the Foreign Legion Training Group in Corsica (transferred there from Algeria in 1962) and then to the 3e REI in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean in 1969. In the meantime, he obtained French citizenship and was promoted to lieutenant.

Back in France, now Captain Tresti joined the Foreign Legion Operational Group (GOLE) in Corsica in mid-1974. Commander of the 6th Company GOLE, he deployed with his unit to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in 1976, following the successful 1976 Loyada hostage rescue mission that had been carried out to rescue 31 French children. Unfortunately, eight legionnaires from his company died during that deployment, in the helicopter crash of May 24, 1976. He left the GOLE in 1977 and was assigned to the 1st Selection Center in Vincennes.

From 1980 to 1982, Tresti attended the École de Guerre (War College) and became a senior officer. In 1982, now Major Tresti served with the 3e REI in French Guiana (where the regiment moved from Madagascar in 1973); he commanded the Operations & Training Office. Back in France in 1984, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In 1987, after three years spent with the 6th Light Armored Division’s Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Tresti returned to French Guiana and took command of the 3e REI. As commanding officer, he set up the close security system for the Guiana Space Center (known as Operation Titan nowadays). Promoted to colonel in 1989, he left the regiment and Guiana and joined the staff of the 3rd Military Region. In 1991, Colonel Tresti was assigned to the Army’s Higher Military Education Department, where his teaching skills were widely recognized.

He was promoted to brigade general in 1996. A former simple legionnaire, General Tresti retired the same year, after more than 38 years of service.

Officer of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit, he held several military medals and was a Knight of the Malagasy National Order.

He was also a delegate for the Federation of Foreign Legion Veterans’ Societies (FSALE) in Italy and vice-president of the FSALE.

General Tresti was honored to carry the wooden hand of Captain Danjou during the 2021 Camerone Day ceremony in Aubagne.

A funeral Mass was held in the Saint-Sauveur cathedral in Aubagne, Southern France, on February 23. It was followed by military honors in the Quartier Viénot, home of the 1st Foreign Regiment based in the same town.

Foreign Legion - 1960 - Corporal Vittorio Tresti - Algeria — Corporal *Vittorio Tresti* in Algeria in 1960.

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