Show “But times always come back…” — 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (1991) by Emmanuel Di Rossetti on Vimeo .
On August 31, 1991, the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment celebrated its 150th anniversary during an exceptional cinéscénie, the battle of El Moungar and its return from Operation Daguet, the first Gulf War. 30,000 spectators from Nîmes will attend this event which began during the day with the legionnaires dressed in authentic costumes placed in the conditions and sets of different eras, and which will continue late into the night with the show itself performed by François Gamard, Jérôme le Paulmier and Richard Bohringer 1 in front of the Costières stadium (180 meters from the stage!).
Many people have asked me if I have a copy of the show that I wrote and directed when I was a lieutenant under the command of Captain Toulin, commander of the 1st company, whose help and support will have been flawless, by Michel Filliau then in charge of the Costières stadium, and under the benevolent aegis of Colonel Derville, corps commander. I make available on this blog this show to which the 1st company remained in rear base and then the whole regiment, once returned from the Gulf War, devoted themselves body and soul. Thank you for being lenient with the quality which is not exceptional… The technique has evolved a lot in 25 years!
Ernst Jünger had arrived the day before from Wilflingen in the cessna of one of his doctor friends. I had organized a meeting with Gustave Thibon the day after the show which unfortunately will not take place, because the participant in charge of guiding us was lacking. We will therefore spend the day at the Museum of Natural Sciences and at the Pont du Gard which was not yet the protected fortress, understand: inaccessible, that it has become. Jünger appears at the end of the show to accompany the corps commander, Colonel Derville, during the passing of the flag of legionnaires in 1831 costume and the color guard of 1991 2.
It has been given to us to live in the invisible rays of great feelings, this will remain our priceless privilege.
Ernst Junger
- Richard Bohringer was absent on the date of the show and so we recorded him, and made his character a voiceover punctuating the show ↩
- A book by the late Jean-Pierre Biot, journalist at Paris Match, Legion, the legend of the 2nd REI , will be published by the Lincoln Editions of Patrick Mahé with a long interview by Ernst Jünger. ↩
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Yes, what charm this Pont du Gard had before being “sanitized”! I even remember the 80s when cars drove there, nicely (in a way I think).
One can still wonder, Alexandre, that so many places have been preserved for centuries, sometimes millennia, from the harmful action of men, and that suddenly it is absolutely necessary to protect them from them. One can also wonder that the man becomes so “abrasive”, is it the lack of education, the lack of respect in front of such vestiges?