IN MEMORIAM

[WIL TERRY]

Captaine Danjou
Sixty Legionairres,
At Camerone,
30 April1863

And so it went...

 

[frustrated middle child]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Danjou

a quick trip back into history...

 

[Rick Courtright]

does this mean something to ANYBODY?

Hi,

Probably not to anyone so provincial as to ask such a question.

To some of those who'll be drinking beer on Saturday celebrating Cinco de Mayo, it might. No, that day is NOT Mexican Independence Day (it's Sept 16), but marks an important battle, at Puebla outside of Veracruz, in Mexico's quest to get the French out of their country. It was a turning point, basically: it took the French nearly a year to regroup, and as the OP notes, at the Battle of Camerón, also near Veracruz, they were back and at it again! War went on until the capture and execution of Emperor Maximilian in the summer of 1867.

To a US Marine, there are famous battles indelibly inscribed in the memory of the Corps. To a Texan, there's the battle of the Alamo. To the French Foreign Legion, this is one of their sacred memories. It involves elements of all the above. And like the US Civil War, whether one died fighting for one side or the other, he died fighting for what he thought was right, and a little respect is due that death.

Rick C

 

[Bob Wright]

does this mean something to ANYBODY?

To a US Marine, there are famous battles indelibly inscribed in the memory of the Corps. To a Texan, there's the battle of the Alamo. To the French Foreign Legion, this is one of their sacred memories. It involves elements of all the above. And like the US Civil War, whether one died fighting for one side or the other, he died fighting for what he thought was right, and a little respect is due that death.

Rick C

Well said, Sir! SALUTE!


Bob Wright

 

[rugerguy]

Amen to that, some of us DO care, and DO remember........... 8) :roll: :wink:

 

[cpt-t]

((( IMHO ))) There is no better way to pay the ultimate selfless sacrifice than in the company of your trusted Comrades in Arms. To serve in Combat with other Soldiers usually forms a friendship and a bond that can never be broken. This deep seated trust and unwavering loyalty is very hard, and most of the time impossible to explain to someone that never served. Or even to someone that served, but stayed behind the wire, and never had his manhood tested or even really wanted too. ((( To really live you must almost die, for life has a sweetness the protected shell never know. )))
ken

 

[Critch]

Captain Danjou's wooden prosthetic hand is still displayed to new Legionnaires as a sort of relic. The French Foreign Legion is in a class all of it's own...

One of their early commanders told them: You are looking for a place to die and I will give you one.