The “Legio Patria Nostra” Project

By Louis Perez y Cid

This second installment is dedicated to PK0 Solidarity.

There are places we visit, and then there are places we carry within us.

For many legionnaires, Puyloubier is one of those.

Since 1954, generations of legionnaires have passed through the gates of the Capitaine Danjou Estate. Some arrived wounded by life or by combat. Others found refuge, work, a new family. Many returned after years, sometimes decades, to see familiar faces, pay their respects at a grave, greet a comrade, or simply rediscover that brotherhood that never truly disappears.

In Puyloubier, time does not separate legionnaires; it unites them.

In the cemetery lie those who wrote a part of the Legion's history, among them General Rollet. Today, the buildings house residents who, each in their own way, still carry that history within them.

It is for this reason that we wanted to give tangible form to something that, until now, had not been: the PK0 of solidarity.

In front of the Association's headquarters, a one-meter-high white concrete marker now stands.

A simple white marker. Yet it carries a profound idea: PK0 SOLIDARITY.

Why PK0?

Because kilometer point zero is not necessarily the beginning of a story; it is the point of reference, the one from which distances are measured. The one to which we return.

And, for us, Puyloubier has become this point of reference for Legionnaire solidarity.

It is not a matter of claiming that solidarity was born here. It existed long before Puyloubier. It was built through battles, associations, initiatives, and generations. From Camerone to Sidi Bel Abbès, from Auriol to Puyloubier, it has never ceased to live and evolve.

It is therefore not a title we claim.

It is a reality that generations have built.

In Puyloubier, this solidarity now has a face, a domain, memories, and above all, people. This is why this marker became the starting point of the "Legio Patria Nostra" project, led by our Association, in conjunction with the management of the Institution for Invalids of the Foreign Legion and the regional branch of the FSALE (French Federation of Associations of Former Legionnaires).

A marker that travels

But a marker that remains in Puyloubier is not enough. We wanted it to also cross the threshold of the Capitaine Danjou Estate.

May it find its way into a home, an office, a hall of honor, a veterans' association headquarters, and may a former legionnaire look upon it and think of Puyloubier. May a young legionnaire discover it and understand that one day, he too will be part of this history.

This is how the idea for a ceramic replica of the PK0 marker was born. It is made in the IILE ceramics workshop, measures 12 centimeters, and rests on a small base containing soil from Puyloubier.

Only twelve centimeters.

But within those twelve centimeters, there will be a piece of this place where so many legionnaires' destinies intersected. A piece of this earth trodden by those who arrived here yesterday. A piece of this earth that covers those who rest here today, and a piece of this earth that will welcome other generations tomorrow.

Each replica will bear the inscription "PK0 SOLIDARITY," along with the name of the donor or the organization that acquired it, and the distance in kilometers between their home and the Captain Danjou Estate.

Thus, a marker installed hundreds, even thousands, of kilometers from Puyloubier will always tell the same story: that of a bond that cannot be measured in kilometers.

A donation that becomes a gesture

The replica will be given as a donation, starting at €30. Anyone can, of course, contribute more than this amount if they wish. But the amount is not what matters.

The gesture is what matters.

Because behind every donation, there will be a person, a veterans' association, a company, a former member of the French Foreign Legion, or simply someone who, without having served in the Legion, wishes to contribute to this spirit of brotherhood.

Donations will be deposited into a separate account, dedicated exclusively to improving the living conditions of the residents of the IILE.

The use of these funds will be determined in consultation with the director of the Institution, who will have oversight of their allocation. Thus, the donation will not be merely symbolic.

It will directly benefit those currently living in Puyloubier. Because solidarity only has meaning when it translates into action.

From Puyloubier to the world

There will then be something particularly beautiful about this initiative.
The original memorial will remain in Puyloubier, but replicas will be sent to Marseille, Paris, Brittany, Corsica, Europe, Africa… and perhaps much further afield.

Each replica will indicate a distance. But the greater that distance, the more it will paradoxically remind us of a simple truth: wherever we are, there is a point to which we can always return.

Puyloubier. The place where we remember, the place where we meet again.

A land, a marker, a brotherhood

The motto of the French Foreign Legion, "Legio Patria Nostra," accompanies men who have known different countries, wars, borders, and generations.

In Puyloubier, it takes on a special dimension. For brotherhood does not end when service concludes. It simply changes form. It becomes a memory, a presence, a visit, an outstretched hand, a gift.

And now, perhaps also, a small ceramic marker containing a few grams of soil from Puyloubier, a small marker that can be placed somewhere at home, and which will simply say,

"I do not forget." “

PK0 is here.

It doesn’t ask anyone to look back, but it invites us to look around us.

Towards those who are here, those who need us, and also those who will come after us.

“Each replica carries with it a little bit of the soil of the Domaine Capitaine Danjou, the soil of solidarity.”

And, wherever it is placed, it will remind us that Legionary brotherhood is not a thing of the past; it is a story that continues.

The procedures for acquiring the replicas will be presented at the General Assembly in February 2027, and then widely disseminated by the Association and its partner media.

The list of donors will be regularly published on the Association’s website as well as on the Légion’arts website. Because each name on this list will tell, in its own way, a small part of this great story.

From Puyloubier to the ends of the earth.” A starting point, a point of return, and a point of fraternity.

PK0 SOLIDARITY
PUYLOUBIER