Fighting for the French Foreign Legion

by Alex Lochrie

  Back at work I soon settled into the daily routine of life in the REP. Like everyone else, I was unaware of the amount of stress we had all been under. I felt good but it was only those around us who could see the changes. For me the biggest change was in the colour of my hair - it had gone from fair to almost pure white.

  A couple of months after our return, it was announced that, apart from the UN Medal for Service to Peace in Bosnia awarded to everyone, some of us were to receive additional honours. To my surprise I was to be amongst those to be decorated. Like everyone else, I felt that I had done no more than was expected of me and in fact felt that I could have done more.

  A medal ceremony was held in private with only the Regiment present. I, along with nine others, were presented with La Croix de la Valeur Militaire avec Etoile de Bronze (French Military Cross with Bronze Star) at Brigade level. The citation reads:

  While serving within the French Battalion in Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force since the 13th January 1993, in the course of a mission at the airport, came under fire from a sniper. Despite this, he continued the mission with calm determination.

  On the 23rd March 1993, while in the Battalion Command Post, was injured when fired on by an automatic weapon. His attitude while under fire warrants being cited.

  I was also awarded a medal for being injured while on active service.

  I am obviously proud to have been honoured in this way but every Legionnaire who risked his life while performing ‘crossing’ duties every night deserved it more than I did.

  A few weeks later, the Minister of Defence, Francois Leotard, visited the Regiment and made a speech on behalf of the President of the Republic, thanking the Regiment, on behalf of the nation, for its contribution and human sacrifice, in the name of the peace process in Bosnia. He presented the Regiment with its eighth Legion d’honneur.

  Several other honours were presented during the course of the ceremony, every one merited. The bravest and most moving sight of all was seeing Legionnaire Novokouski standing to attention, in full dress uniform and on his crutches, throughout the ceremony. This despite having lost his leg just six months before during the attack on the ambulance at the airport in Sarajevo. He refused to use the seat which had been provided for him. In honour of his personal sacrifice and courage, he was given French citizenship, a post at the French Military Headquarters in Paris and his family were brought from Poland to live with him in a flat provided by the Army. I wonder what would have happened to him if he had been in the British Army.

  CHAPTER 17

  Life Continues

  Life goes on and I was soon off to complete my 17th and final GR20. There is nothing like the purity of the Corsican mountains to make you realize that it is man who creates all his own problems on this planet.

  At the beginning of January 1994, the French government was looking at ways of reducing costs within the military. This led to them offering a financial package to anyone with more than ten, but less than fifteen years military service. They offered to pay a generous tax-free, one-off premium to anyone who wished to leave before they qualified for a full military pension, and the offer was extended to anyone in the Legion. I felt that as I was approaching fifty, it was getting harder for me to keep up the standard of fitness expected within the REP. Although I was still very fit, I did not want to keep going to the point where I could not keep up with the eighteen year olds. The incentive on offer was so attractive that I decided to accept it. The money would help me to set up in business in Calvi where I had been thinking about opening an art gallery.

  My existing contract was up at the end of June 1994, so when the time came I headed off to Aubagne where my adventure had first started. I felt like I was leaving something that was more than just a job – it was like leaving my family behind for good. I had very mixed feelings about retiring and despite being offered a posting to the Legion magazine, Le Kepi Blanc, I had made up my mind. I was looking forward to my new life with my partner, who I knew was more than pleased that I would no longer be heading off on some dangerous destination. She would not have stopped me if I had decided to stay, but I had turned the page and I was ready for my next adventure.

  We had rented a shop before I left for Aubagne and I still had my beautiful flat overlooking the port. I could visit the Regiment any time I wished and still had lots of friends in it. As already mentioned the old hospital in the Citadel was partly used by various clubs. One of these was a painting club for the wives and partners of legionnaires which was also open to the families of the Gendarmerie. I was asked to take over the club which met every Friday and was paid a retainer by the Regiment to teach at the club.

  The Legion is a family like no other and this was illustrated the following year under very tragic circumstances. My American friend Joe, who had been the other victim of the shooting incident in the office in Sarajevo, fell ill. Joe was only in his late thirties and worked as a secretary in the Colonel in Chief’s office. The Regiment was taking part in the Bastille parade on 14 July 1995 in Paris when Joe began to feel unwell. He couldn’t keep his food down and a month later was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. His health went downhill very quickly, requiring him to be transferred to the top military hospital in Paris. Our Colonel in Sarajevo who had left the Regiment, had just been promoted to the rank of a two-star General and was now based at the French Military Headquarters in Paris. When he heard about Joe’s illness, he immediately arranged for Joe’s mother to be flown from California to Paris to be at his bedside. The expense was covered by the Legion and I was asked to go to Paris by the Regiment to help his family at this difficult time.

  It was clear that Joe was not going to survive more than a couple of months and the family were asked if they would like to take him home for the last few weeks of his life. He was flown to the States on a French military flight, accompanied by a male nurse who used to be in the REP. Joe knew him, which was a great help during the difficult journey. The flight was destined for Tahiti but was diverted into Los Angeles which was the nearest airport to Joe’s family home.

  When Joe died three weeks later, I flew to California for the funeral, accompanied by a Caporal who had worked with him in the office at Calvi. All our expenses were paid by the Regiment and the French Military Attaché to the US flew from Washington to represent the French Army officially. It was a moving experience and a further example of what it meant to be a part of the Legion family.

  I know of no other military organization that shows this kind of loyalty and respect for its men, regardless of rank. A few years later General Pullet, our former Colonel, died suddenly of cancer while still a young man. His funeral was attended by active and ex-legionnaires of all ranks, who showed him the same respect and affection he had shown to his men. When you have served in the ranks of the Legion you are a Legionnaire before everything else, regardless of rank.

  It is always difficult to adapt to the civilian way of life after years of military service. You miss the discipline and organization which seem to be missing in civvy street. Many find it impossible and fall on hard times. The Legion never turns its back on a comrade under such circumstances. They are taken into the safety of the Legion retirement home at Puyloubier in the south of France near Aubagne, where they are kept for as long as it takes to get them back on their feet. Some never leave.

  Puyloubier is a small farm with residential accommodation. It produces red wine on a commercial basis in its vineyards and the residents manufacture Legion souvenirs which are sold in every camp shop and in the Legion Museum in Aubagne. The money raised goes towards the upkeep of the facility. A visit to the museum at Aubagne is well worthwhile.

  I spent another seven happy years in Calvi running our art gallery before we returned to Scotland to help look after our elderly parents. I still look on Calvi as my home. I made many Corsican friends during my eighteen years on the island.

  Like all professional soldiers, many legionnaires find it hard to ge
t a job in civilian life which can provide the job satisfaction or excitement that they are used to. The qualifications and job skills you pick up in the military tend not to be on the list of qualifications being sought by civilian companies. Because of this, many find themselves seeking employment with the so-called security companies that have sprung up in recent years. Most offer jobs protecting commercial companies working on contracts in areas of armed conflict such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

  When I joined the Legion in 1983, five of us trained together, joined the same regiment, served together over the years and have remained lifelong friends. Our little group was a mini United Nations on its own, being made up of a South African, a Canadian, a Japanese, a Vietnamese and myself. We did everything together and are, or rather were, like brothers. I use the word ‘were’ because one of them was killed doing what he did best - protecting the lives of others while risking his own. Akihito Saito was killed in Iraq in May 2005. Aki was part of a security team protecting a civilian group of workers near Hir, just west of Baghdad. The convoy was ambushed and a fierce battle erupted between the attackers and those guarding the convoy. Many in the convoy were killed during the initial attack but Aki fought on despite being severely injured. Before reinforcements arrived he was captured by a group of terrorists called Ansar al-Sunnah. They posted details of his capture on their website, but despite efforts by the Japanese authorities to negotiate his release, his body was found by the roadside on 28 May 2005, nineteen days after he was captured. Knowing Aki, he would have fought to the end to save those under his care without a thought for himself. He was employed by one of the better UK private security companies and was only forty-four.

  Of the four of us remaining, the South African works in the security industry, the Vietnamese is a senior nurse in a military hospital in Paris and the Canadian has spent some of his time commercial diving in the Far East.

  There comes a time in everyone’s life, even the most adventurous of us, when you have to accept that it is time to move on and leave all the physical stuff to the young guys. There are always other ways of using your expertise.

  CHAPTER 18

  A Little Bit of History

  I cannot finish my story without including a brief history of the operational activities of the 2éme REP. The first Legion parachute battalions were formed in Algeria in 1948 immediately after the Second World War – the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions.

  In Indochina (Vietnam), on the evening of 6 May 1954, after the battle of Dien Bien Phu, from the sixteen Legion battalions engaged in the action, 9,714 men were dead and 10,201 taken prisoner. This included the three parachute battalions and effectively led to them being disbanded.

  On 1 September 1955, in Algeria, the 1st Parachute Regiment was formed, to be known as the 1er Regiment Etranger de Parachutists, or 1er REP. The 2eme REP was formed in December the same year.

  The biggest changes in the history of the Legion took place in 1962. After almost ten years of civil unrest in Algeria, General de Gaulle told the people of Algeria that they were as much a part of France as was Brittany, and that France would never abandon them. Four days after his famous speech he gave the order for the total withdrawal of all French forces and administrative authorities from Algeria with immediate effect. This included the Legion who considered Algeria to be their home.

  This did not go down well with the French military forces in Algeria, and in particular the Legion, who felt that they had shed their blood over the years for nothing. This gave rise to the famous ‘Night of the Generals’, when the five top French generals in Algeria led an open revolt by the Armed Forces. Plans were even made for the Legion Parachute Regiments to jump into Paris as part of a military coup. A compromise was reached at the last minute as a result of which the Legion was reduced in strength from 200,000 men to 10,000, and all of the regiments were dispersed throughout the French dominions: French Guyana in South America, Tahiti, Djibouti, Mayotte and Corsica. The headquarters were moved to Aubagne near Marseille in southern France.

  The officer structure was reorganized and from that time no foreign officer could command a regiment, thus ensuring that control of what France still considered to be its best fighting units, stayed firmly under the control of Paris. The Paras were reduced to one regiment, the 2éme REP. The Regiment moved to its present base in Calvi on 17 December 1963. I can’t say that I was aware of the upheaval in France at the time, but in those days news wasn’t beamed into our living rooms in the same way it is today.

  DJIBOUTI, 1976

  We all think that Islamic terrorism is something new, and that what we are experiencing today is the fault of our leaders in the Western world interfering in the Middle East. That may help to aggravate the situation, but it is not the cause.

  On 4 February 1976, the first terrorist attack by a Fundamental Islamist group called the Somali Coast Liberation Front (FLCS), took place in Djibouti. Thirty-one foreign children (mostly French) on board a school bus were taken hostage and driven to the frontier with Somalia, where their passage was blocked by the border guards. In exchange for the lives of the children, the terrorists demanded that all foreign forces and businesses leave the country, and that all political prisoners be set free. They also demanded that Djibouti should be declared a Fundamental Islamic Republic.

  When the Republic of Djibouti gained its independence from France it maintained a military agreement with France to support and train its army. France also kept the right to have its own military bases within the Republic, which was home to the 14eme Demi-Brigade of the French Foreign Legion (14éme DBLE). 2nd Company of the REP was in the country on a four-month deployment when the hijacking took place. They were immediately sent to assist the local troops and a specialist unit of the Gendarmerie who had been flown out from Paris.

  On the second day of the incident the situation began to deteriorate and it was decided that an intervention would have to take place before the children came to any harm. The order for the attack on the bus was given and the snipers from the Regiment simultaneously shot dead the hijackers without injury or loss of life to the children. Unfortunately one child was shot dead by a gunman from the Somalian side of the border.

  This was a long time ago but nothing has changed. Nobody, it seems, saw the red lights flashing. I don’t even think that the incident got more than a passing mention in the UK.

  KOLWEZI, ZAIRE, 1978

  Two years later in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), on 17 May 1978, the town of Kolwezi fell into the rebel hands of a group led by a Major Mufi. The city of Kolwezi is on the Benguela Railway which links it to the port of Lobito in Angola. Kolwezi was a centre for a major copper and cobalt mining operation. Uranium, oxide ores and lime deposits were also plentiful. In the city were plants for processing the ores which were then shipped by rail to Likasi to the east, for exporting. Kolwezi was also the trade centre for the surrounding agricultural area.

  Shaba Province, under the influence of Katanga, had attempted to break away from the newly independent Congo, which was formed in 1960. The breakaway movement had been defeated, but relations between the province and the central government remained poor. Sporadic fighting continued until 1978 when the province was invaded by separatist rebels who took over the city. Kolwezi was inhabited by over 3,000 Europeans, mainly mining experts and their families.

  Zairian parachutists jumped into the city on 16 May but were quickly defeated. The Zairian leader, President Mobutu, asked for international assistance from the American, Belgian and French authorities which formed the majority of the foreign nationals trapped inside the city. The REP were alerted at their base in Calvi and, under the command of Colonel Philippe Erulin, the first elements of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Companies, plus part of HQ Company, took off in five DC-8 aircraft on the night of 17 May. The 4th and Support Companies flew out the following day.

  Once in Kinshasa, the legionnaires were equipped with American parachutes borrowed from the Zairian Army, befo
re leaving the following morning in four Hercules C-130s and one Transall, in very hot and cramped conditions for the four-hour flight to Kolwezi. Their arrival caught the rebels off guard and when they jumped on the outskirts of the city they met little initial resistance.

  Although the REP were greatly outnumbered, nothing could halt the ruthless momentum of their attack. As the legionnaires started to clear large areas of the city, the Europeans began to emerge from cover, most of them hungry, thirsty and suffering from shock. Tragically, those being held in the Impala Hotel were killed before the legionnaires could reach them.

  Within two hours the REP were almost in complete control of the city. A second wave of aircraft carrying the 4th and Support Companies, plus the remainder of HQ Company, were ordered to fly on to Lubumbashi to avoid a night drop. On the ground, the legionnaires continued to patrol and engage the enemy, killing many rebels. Unfortunately this success came at a price and the Regiment suffered half a dozen casualties.

  The second wave jumped in during the early hours of the 20th but there was little fighting until the 4th Company ran into heavy resistance near Metal Shaba, a district on the outside of the city. The rebels mounted an attack but were beaten off by Support Company’s 81mm mortars and 89mm anti-tank rockets. The rebels fled leaving more than eighty bodies behind.

  This was the last major action in Kolwezi and the Paras conducted a mopping-up operation. This operation confirmed the status of the REP as an elite force, but the Regiment went home with five dead and fifteen injured. It was later discovered that there were Belgian soldiers at an air base less than 20 miles from Kolwezi, and the Americans were still planning for the operation.