Christmas and the Legionnaire 3/3

Christmas is about sharing. And to truly mark this sincere brotherhood, every legionnaire receives a gift. Whatever it may be, it is the intangible token of the leader's appreciation for his subordinates. Presenting gifts to legionnaires represents a powerful moment of humanity and camaraderie. It is given from the heart.

The two photos that follow are characteristic of the enduring spirit of this immortal Legion. General Philippe Rollet at Christmas, speaking with a legionnaire, and a few decades later, General COMLE, Alain Bouquin, presenting a legionnaire with his Christmas gift.

Do you believe in coincidence? To bring things full circle, as they say, I chose these two photos because General Bouquin is from the same graduating class as…General Rollet.

Merry Christmas to all our legionnaires
This article will be published on Wednesday morning, December 24th. For many of us who have left the Legion, we will celebrate Christmas this evening, sometimes alone, alas, but often, and I hope, with family, surrounded by our children, grandchildren, perhaps even more, and our friends.

But no doubt many of us will find ourselves thinking, though our thoughts wander, sincerely, of those places where legionnaires will gather, in universal communion, for Mass, a meal, the distribution of gifts, and an evening that will be etched in stone as an exceptional moment spent among fellow legionnaires. In our Regiments or on operations.

Some will be in the cold, perhaps, others in sweltering heat. The Place des Palmistes in Cayenne will not be white with snow. On Mount Choungui in Mayotte, there are no eternal snows.

For us city dwellers, a magnificent sky awaits us, right on our doorstep, in our garden. Go outside for some fresh air after your meal, to refresh your lungs… and your spirits.
In front of you, due south, the magnificent constellation of Orion beckons. To its right, above, is Taurus with its Pleiades star cluster. Take this opportunity to test your eyesight. If you see six or seven stars, fantastic, good eyesight!

If you can't count them, if everything seems blurry, either the Alsatian wine flowed too freely to accompany the oysters, or you absolutely must consult the Yellow Pages and stop by the ophthalmologist to make an appointment.

To the left of Orion is Cancer, which is currently hosting a beacon of light that you can't miss: Jupiter.

If we still have the right to dream, and if we have only one day, one evening to do so, it is now. At the time of Camerone, we commune throughout the world with those who carry and have carried, even unto the ultimate sacrifice, the seven-flamed grenade high and proud.
How can we imagine that it is not the same tonight with our legionnaires, our non-commissioned officers, and our officers who make up the Legion of today?

At each Christmas Mass, the Padre would request that a group of legionnaires come to wish everyone a Merry Christmas in their native language, the only time they were allowed to do so.

Tonight, with a deep thought for them, it seems only natural to reverse the roles and wish them, in their own languages:

Merry Christmas (English)
Feliz navidad (Spanish)
Feliz natal (Portuguese)
Wesolych Swiat (Polish)
Frohe Weihnachten (German)
Buon Natale (Italian)
ΤΕ्रिस्मसको शुभकामना in Nepali