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Inglorious Bastards

New Tales of the French Foreign Legion—Advance Look

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Henry Allen
Oct 24, 2023
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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
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