Maltese in French Foreign Legion
In his article about the French Foreign Legion (The Sunday Times, August 25) Salvu Fenech has been wondering whether any Maltese has ever joined the French Foreign Legion. He has however been informed about surnames in its ranks that seem to be...
In his article about the French Foreign Legion (The Sunday Times, August 25) Salvu Fenech has been wondering whether any Maltese has ever joined the French Foreign Legion. He has however been informed about surnames in its ranks that seem to be Maltese.
When I lived in Detroit, Michigan, USA, I personally knew a Maltese, to be more exact, a Gozitan from Sannat, who was a Legionnaire for some time. Originally he was an emigrant to Algeria, North Africa, and having had trouble with the law, as it was rumoured, homicide, he joined the Foreign Legion "in anonymity" as he told me.
It was from him that I have come to know about Sidi bel-Abbes, its brothels and the Legion's harsh life. He hated Arabs and spoke about those gruelling marches in the Sahara Desert and the Atlas mountains. But I suppose that he preferred that kind of rough Legionnaire's life to prison life, and ending like some other Maltese in Devil's Island, about whom I have heard.
I used to address him by his nickname; it was customary for club members. He kept much to himself, suspicious, speaking very little either about himself or his past. He was about 90 then, a very tough and rough person indeed, healthy and strong, but short-tempered, a bachelor and, if I remember right, after these 30 years or so, his surname was Vella.
He volunteered for the Front about the middle of the First World War; after that, in lieu of taking French citizenship, he enlisted in some merchantman, jumped ship in Texas and headed for Detroit and settled down in Downtown of that city. He took American citizenship after benefiting from a general amnesty to all illegal immigrants living in the US.
He was a member and a regular visitor to the Maltese-American Benevolent Society Club in Detroit, where I met him occasionally. He lived frugally, and to his credit I have never heard him swear!
This ex-Legionnaire was over 90 when he died; he was taken to hospital ill where he passed away after pulling off his life support equipment, and refusing medication. Once he told me that he knew two other Maltese in the Legion.