Description of the Foreign Legion Memorial

The Engraving

The memorial in tribute to the French Foreign Legion has been done on the same base as that of the French Aviation. The engraved representation concept gives a prominent place to the image compared with the text.

Presentation concept of the panels

The French Foreign Legion Command did not want to follow a chronological representation of some of the heroic deeds accomplished throughout its history, but they rather adopted the Legionnaire Code of Honor as a guide, for the monument to keep a timeless quality.

THE LEGIONNAIRE CODE OF HONOR

1. Legionnaire, you are a volunteer serving France      faithfully and with honor.
2. Each Legionnaire is your brother in arms      irrespective of nationality, race or religion. They are your family.
3. Respectful of the Legion’s traditions and      honoring your superiors, discipline and comradeship are your strength,      courage and loyalty are your virtues.
4. Proud Legionnaire, your uniform is always      elegant, your behaviour modest but worthy, your quarters impeccable.
5. Elite soldier, trained rigorously, your      immaculate weapon is your most precious possession. Your physical fitness      is your constant duty.
6. The mission is sacred. You will fulfill it      enterily at any and all cost, within international law.
7. In combat you will act without passion or      hatred, respecting the vanquished enemy. You will never abandon your wounded,      your dead or your weapon.

Heroic deeds or figures, significant in the history of the Legion, illustrate each of these sections of the code. It is mentioned, for example:

The handover of the Legion to Spain in 1835, the conquest of Algeria, Crimea, the conquest of Tonkin, the battles of the Great War, Lyautey and the pacification of Morocco, Indochina and Algeria, Kolwezi and Bosnia.

Among the figures, we can find General Bernelle, General Rollet (the "Father of the Legion"), Mac Mahon, Cole Porter, Edouard Daladier, Lieutenant-Colonel Amilakvari, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeanpierre and Pierre Messmer.

In addition, in the middle of each side of the monument there is an illustration of the Legion parade on the Champs-Elysées, in Paris.

In conclusion, on the latest panels of the wall and as a summary of the Code of Honor, the legendary battle of Camerone!