Inglorious Bastards

New Tales of the French Foreign Legion—Advance Look

Oct 24, 2023

∙ Paid

I saw the French Foreign Legion just once, marching slow, dire and perfect at the end of a Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysees. They marched at the funereal legion pas, 88 steps a minute instead of the standard 120—carrying not rifles but polished axes, and wearing buffalo leather aprons as if intending fabulous and deliberate carnage in their whi…

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A guest post by

Henry Allen

Marine in Vietnam, Washington Post, critic and feature writer, Pulitzer Prize, novelist, poet, artist