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I Joined the Foreign Legion
words | Richard Cartwright
Patrolling in the jungle of French Guyana in South America, serving in the Central African Republic and on the island of Mayotte (off Madagascar in the Indian Ocean), Germany and France... Five years of hard graft in the French Foreign Legion fulfilled — recruit No. 172867 (the number of legionnaires who had signed up, since WW2), Clive Baker describes it as “a thrilling adventure!” As a child, Clive loved watching 7th Cavalry films and, as he lived near the Convent in Main Street, he often knocked on the Guard Room door to ask for cap badges and other army memorabilia and enjoyed listening to the bugler at sunset. However, Clive was unsuccess-
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ful when he travelled to the UK to apply to join a British Light Infantry regiment. He returned to the Rock, where he joined the civil service but that career wouldn’t last long. While on the Rock Clive read a book on the French Foreign Legion by Simon Murray, himself a recruit in the 1960s, titled The Legionnaire. He had heard of other Gibraltarians who had tried to join the Legion and one in particular who served during WW1. Couple that with his love for army related topics and his mind was made up and so he set off again, ending up in Marseille knocking on a door of one of the French Foreign Legion’s little ‘first contact’ posts scattered around France and open day and night. Clive recalls, “You are invited in, given a track suit and asked to wait for maybe a day or two until there are eight or ten of you. Then you’re sent to the main HQ in Aubagne for an interview. It’s like a Gestapo grilling to find out who you are and then you’re in! “You’re shaved to zero — that’s bald — your passport is taken and your clothes are given to the poor, then four months of solid training begin in earnest.” Commanded by French officers, only about a quarter of Legionnaires are French citizens. The rest come from any country, regardless of origin, nationality, religion, qualifications, social or professional status, married or single.
The Legion, founded in 1831, offers a new start in life. Historically the American film industry portrayed the Foreign Legion as having a reputation for cut-throats, crooks, fugitives from justice and men escaping failed romances. The Legion had asked few questions of its new recruits, but since 2008, that image changed and the Legion now conducts extensive background checks via Interpol. However, after signing your contract you can still choose to serve under a ‘declared identity.’ Clive remembers Poles, Czechs, Russians, South Americans, Spaniards, English and other individuals at the time he joined. “Yes, these days the Legion is an elite unit of the French armed forces just like the Royal Marines but has traditionally recruited foreigners. There is no racism allowed to go on whatsoever. You treat your fellow Legionnaire as a brother. The Legion becomes your family and there are no civilians in the units. Every task, from clerical, laundry, cooking to refuse collection and disposal is undertaken by the Legionnaires. “As a basic soldier there are no luxuries; while training we were allowed out once, for a couple of hours. When I became a corporal things were slightly better but it’s hard work and a lot of training. Patrolling the jungle in French Guyana for example was tough. You
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • JULY 2013