By Louis Perez y Cid

Some Foreign Legion Veterans Associations are based near a regiment, while others are located far from any unit, sometimes even abroad. Yet they all share the essential goal of fostering, maintaining, and passing on the solidarity that unites those who served under the white kepi.

The Puyloubier, Pays d’Aix, and Sainte-Baume Veterans Association has a unique characteristic: its headquarters are located at the Capitaine Danjou estate in Puyloubier, at the very heart of the Foreign Legion Veterans' Institution.

This location is not merely geographical. It carries significant meaning.

For the Puyloubier Institution is not like any other. It was founded in 1954, in the aftermath of the Indochina War, when the French Foreign Legion had just paid a heavy price: nearly 12,000 dead, in addition to thousands wounded and disabled... Read more...

Declaration:
Veterans reject and condemn:

- The blind conservatism or indifference of those who believe it possible to maintain certain privileges, to freeze economic and social development in its current state.

- The incitement (not the provocation) to violence, hatred, and passions.

- They unanimously agree to cry out to the nation, in these grave times it is going through, that the French, by dividing themselves, are making a mistake and would be guilty of a crime by... Read more...

By Christian Morisot
Rust leaves little room for the original paint; an open wrought-iron gate is frozen on its hinges. A few memories, however, still offer the illusion of a radiant past. The gray facade of a large building rises to its full height above an overgrown garden.

It does not attract the sun; the light struggles to illuminate the wild, dense, and persistent vegetation, teeming with dark shadows as much as with mysteries. Clouds drift by in the distance, a languid caravan returning from a long journey. When you pass through the gate, a curious emotion leaves you uneasy. A strange feeling emanates from here… as if gazes buried in the shadows of the trees or behind the dark, dirty, and icy panes of windows were leaving behind the fleeting and implacable image of a recent past that vanished all too quickly. Everything will be destroyed for new buildings, for new things, they say!... Read more...

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By Christian Morisot.
Each of us has the opportunity in our lives to experience moments of small joys and others of dramatic significance. It is always worthwhile to share them, even if they are primarily personal matters, kept deep within our very selective memories.

I enjoy frequenting antique shops, and my priority in my research is old books, particularly those written by former legionnaires. We once asked some of our veterans to recognize that they are veritable living memories and, therefore, to write about their past as legionnaires before embarking on their final journey. This request was not acted upon for numerous reasons that don't seem necessary to mention; it's an undeniable fact. However, many books have been written and remain little known.

Today, they are no longer published or are out of print or unavailable, as is the case for many of these books found at secondhand bookstores... Read more...