Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign Legion, the World's Toughest Army

Description

One of the greatest adventure stories in years.' - Chris Patten 'The drama, excitement and colour of a good guts-and-glory thriller.' - Dr. Henry Kissinger The French Foreign Legion - mysterious, romantic, deadly - is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and on to Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary. Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray's experience with this legendary band of soldiers. Subjected to brutal sergeants, merciless training methods and barbaric punishments - all in the hostile, sun-baked North African desert - Murray and his fellow men were pushed to breaking point, and beyond. Sixty years on, it remains a remarkable account of one of the most notorious military groups, a tale of true adventure and one man's determination never to surrender.

Simon Murray CBE was born in Leicester in 1940 and joined the French Foreign Legion at age nineteen, serving in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment for five years. He fought in the Algerian War against the Front de Liberation National and left the Legion in 1965. He subsequently moved to Hong Kong where he pursued a career as a businessman. In 2004, Murray joined Pen Hadow to trek to the South Pole and became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported. He is married and has three children and six grandchildren. Legionnaire is his first book.

A pleasure to read and nearly impossible to put down * Army Times * One of the greatest adventure stories in recent years -- Chris Patten A fascinating account of life in the toughest soldiering outfit in the world * Sunday Mail * Embodies an experience that many have enjoyed in fantasy, few in reality * The Washington Post * The drama, excitement, and color of a good guts-and-glory thriller -- Dr Henry Kissinger His book is . . . perhaps the best book I remember reading - not just about the legion but about life -- George Thaw, Daily Mirror