Why would a man join the French Foreign Legion? For some, it is to hide, to escape a wife, a prison sentence, bad debts. For Simon Murray, at the age of twenty, it was simply because he could not think of anything else to do with his life. Thus, he signed a contract for five years in what is often considered the most disciplined military in the world. The Legion needs to be disciplined given the nature of the recruits, the location of its bases, the brutality of the wars it wages and the harshness of its discipline.
There were few Brits in the Legion; most of his comrades were from Germany, Italy, and Spain and were often combat veterans from World War II and other local combats. With no practical knowledge of French, the opportunity to be punished for not understanding orders were many but the harshness of punishments created a great incentive for rapid learning. Failure to respond immediately could lead to the lucky individual having to dig a hole much like a burial plot, being stripped of all clothing and then having to lie in the hole for one or two days, regarding of the heat, rain, snow, etc.
Mr. Murphy served after the French defeat in Indochina but during the brutal war in Algeria against the Muslim population who desired independence and at times, against the French settlers who wanted to keep Algeria a part of France. Long marches in the barren lands, ambushes both by and against the natives, poor food, etc., lead to some desertions which either led to recapture and an additional prison system or capture by the rebels with a painful death.
As time went on, Mr. Murphy began to adapt to the Legion and eventually went to the school for Corporals where he graduated at the top of his class. Shortly before his discharge he was even offered a shot at officers’ school, but he realized after a leave to his native land that there was too much of the world to enjoy. Leaving the Legion, he married and became a managing director of Jardine Matheson’s engineering company in Hong Kong.
At times, this book can be long and boring, but his descriptions of actions against the rebels and the attempted coup by the OAS make for fine reading. The most horrific chapter covers his time at the Corporals school; brutality for the sake of brutality and his sheer determination to succeed make the read well worth your time.
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