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Searching for my Canadian great-grandfather who served in the French Foreign Legion WW1

jjprevost
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Need help to start a search for my Canadian great-grandfather (born in France) who served in the French Foreign Legion during WW1. All the information that I have is that he left his young family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to serve in the Foreign legion during WW1. He did return home to Canada and died sometime in the late 1960's. I have no other information on his military service.

Where would I begin?

Jackie Prévost
marielefebvre
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If you great-grandfather has left France after his twentieth birthday he must have his military record for his National Service (on the year he was 20). If you have his name and the region where he came from in France it should be possible to find something.

best regards,
MZL.
jjprevost
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Hello and thank you Marie,
Some of the information I have for my mother’s grandfather. His tombstone (attached) says he was in the foreign legion. He was in his mid thirties when he served. I believe he was in a Communications division, installing lines. He was born in Mexico but his parents were merchants from France. He married in France and then immigrated to Canada.

Jules Jean Emile Collon
1876-1960 • LRYN-36S​
Birth
February 1876
Matamoros, Aguascalientes, Mexico
Death
March 18 1960
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Residence
1911

I found the following clipping about him:

Par jugement rendu en , la 10' Chambre de ce Tribunal, jugeant en police correctionnelle, le 19 octobre 1901, Le nommé COLLON (Jules-JeanEmile), âgé de 28 ans, placier, demeurant à Saint-Denis (Seine), rue du Landy, n° 68, Commerçant failli, prévenu de banqueroute simple, pour ne pas s'être conformé aux prescriptions du Code de commerce. A été condamné à huit jours de prison, avec sursis. Par application des articles 585, 586 du Code de commerce et 402 du Code pénal. Pour, extrait conforme délivré par nous greffier soussigné. PIERRE. (5951)

Merci
Adjuntos
EF4738AB-F38E-4B93-AD19-2306AB5CEF20.jpeg
marielefebvre
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Ok, so here's what i've found about his time in france:
he did two crossings from France to New York, one on the 16th of october 1916 from Bordeaux to NY and the second one on the 31st of march 1919 from le Havre to NY (with the informations that he was married and living in Paris).
France NY 1919.jpg
france NY 1916.jpg
Also found his marriage certificate which includes his birthdate and the names of his parents. (if you need help with the translation i can help you)
marriage certificate.pdf
(2.59 MiB) Descargado 16 veces
Couldn't find anything about his military card because departement of Haute-Seine haven't published the military records.
kallikrates
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Hi,
marielefebvre escribió: 09 Marzo 2020, 12:23 Couldn't find anything about his military card because departement of Haute-Seine haven't published the military records.
The Hauts-de-Seine département used to be part of the Seine département, and the military records for the Seine département are available on the Paris archives.

Normally, all French military records for WW1 have been digitalized and indexed on the Grand Mémorial. There is no Jules Jean Émile COLLON, but if he joined the Foreign Legion, that might be normal.

You might want to contact the Légion Étrangère directly. I'm not sure who administers their archives, but there's a RFG article about searching for a Légionnaire that might give you pointers, though it's both in French and not free.

Best,
K
orange38
orange38
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good morning,
What I read on the web site of the BALE (Bureau des Anciens de la Légion Etrangère) is that individual files are stored in one Military Archive center located in Pau (Pyrénées Atlantiques).
I ignore if they make research, but I would guess NO.
I would try two possibilities:
1 to post your query in the french Geneanet for Military data (https://www.geneanet.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=130), because readers do specialize in this kind of search and may suggest additional information.
If the direct lin doesn't work, please follow: Geneanet/Accueil du forum/Forums français/Discussions généalogiques/Les sources généalogiques/Armée, vie militaire et périodes de guerre
2 Later on in autumn, for the Military Archive center in Pau, you could post another query in the french Geneanet for this Departement (64) and asking for help if some one could make the search for you? But I ignore which legal delay applies to the access to these files
(privacy protection, military, health issues, etc); and when the reading room will re-open after this virus event...
In both cases, please use short sentence, be factual, write in French with the help of google translate.
When the regiment is known, it will be later possible to look where his regiment has been sent in operation.
regards
Orange38

PS. he was born in 1876 Mexico and married in 1899 in Levallois. therefore he was not a deserter, and has made some military service? ---> it should be interesting to start finding his fiche matricule, which is a military registration written when the boy is 20 y/o, and later updated. All are on-line.
The very first query should be then to trace this fiche matricule and to identify the registration Bureau.
Adjuntos
Bureau Anciens Légion Etrangère.pdf
(169.06 KiB) Descargado 7 veces
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