Commando News Winter Edition10 June17
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Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association<br />
VIC Inc.<br />
www.austcdoassocvic.com<br />
65 Ashburn Grove, Ashburton VIC 3147<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
1941 - 1946 1955 -<br />
President: Doug Knight Secretary: Glenn MacDonald Treasurer: Chris James<br />
president@austcdoassocvic.com secretary@austcdoassocvic.com treasurer@austcdoassocvic.com<br />
0400 877 323 0414 311 093 0438 987 136<br />
RETURN HOME OF AN INDOCHINA LEGION PARA RELIC<br />
On Sunday 18 September 2016 Doug Knight, a member<br />
of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association (Victoria) visited the<br />
Museum of the Foreign Legion located in Augbane, France<br />
to deliver home a relic from the famous battle fields of Dien<br />
Bien Phu in northern Vietnam.<br />
In 2008 while participating in an Australian Government<br />
funded project with the Vietnamese Government, Doug<br />
visited the famous battleground of Dien Bien Phu for a week<br />
to study the battleground and in particular the locations<br />
where paratroops and legionnaires fought.<br />
He had a great interest in this battle as it involved<br />
significant numbers of French Army and Foreign Legion<br />
paratroops and he had studied this battle several times<br />
during his officer training throughout his career. Also as a<br />
static line, freefall and HAHO/HALO parachutist, within the<br />
1st <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment, he was very keen to visit this<br />
historic paratrooper battleground.<br />
While visiting Dien<br />
Bien Phu in an area he<br />
believed to be the<br />
former bastion named<br />
Anne-Marie 2, which<br />
was the last fighting<br />
position of former 1st<br />
Battalion of Foreign<br />
Legion Paratroops (1<br />
BEP) he recovered one<br />
beret badge from the<br />
ground in an old<br />
fighting pit and another<br />
The beret para badge recovered was given to him by<br />
from the battleground local villager who<br />
Doug presenting the badge to Captain Seznec.<br />
claimed to have found it several years after the battle whilst<br />
clearing his fields.<br />
Both of these badges have been retained since in Doug’s<br />
extensive collection of French parachute badges.<br />
The purpose of Doug's visit to the Foreign Legion<br />
Museum was to deliver one of the para beret badges to the<br />
curator of the Legion Museum, Captain Geraud Seznec as in<br />
Doug's words 'he was returning the badge to its’ rightful<br />
home'.<br />
Captain Seznec was exceptionally pleased to receive the<br />
badge on behalf of the Museum and assured Doug that it<br />
would take pride of place in the display cabi net of the Indo -<br />
china War.<br />
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COMMANDO NEWS ~ Edition 10 I June 2017 55
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