The Legion Unvarnished
The Pirates of the Tuamotu Archipelago in Polynesia

By Christian Morisot
Our company in Mururoa was commanded by Captain Jean-Paul Blanchard. The company's color was black, displayed on the flagpole as a black pennant, and this was also reflected on our sports T-shirts.

I was a lieutenant, head of the 2nd section, and we were looking for ways to transform our shelter into a more pleasant place where we could gather after grueling days under the blazing sun on our work sites, and also during the heavy tropical rains.

The idea came to me to create an original T-shirt that we would sell. I started with several essential elements:

• The Company insignia, composed of a crossed shovel and pickaxe,

• The abbreviated letters of the section: 2S,

• The Company color,

And that's how my section's pennant was created, with the design that would later be used on our shirts. The illegal trade was a miraculous and fabulous success, enough to set up our "Meatbox" project without any problems. We were surrounded by amenities: TV, bar, refrigerators, cooking area, and comfortable armchairs.

In a matter of minutes, a terrible wave during an impressive cyclone swept everything away. Everything had to be rebuilt. We had lost our enthusiasm; there was so much to do to rebuild our living quarters.