«I am a mother who does not receive news from her son Roberto Balzano, who. An expatriate in Belgium for work, he found himself somehow dragged into this accursed Legion. I entrust my hope to you ...

ROUND TWO, 1946-49 The Local War. Through 1947 and 1948 the Indo-China war indeed seemed to be little more than another colonial war. In February 1947, the French drove the Communists away from Hanoi.

For one thing, desertion is, and always has been, rampant in the Foreign Legion. As far as modern, 21st century armies are concerned, the Legion has some of the worst desertion rates in the world.

It’s Earth’s version of taking the Black and heading for the Wall, the way Jon Snow does in Game of Thrones. Joining the French Foreign Legion granted men a safe haven for many for decades.