GIRL JOINS LEGION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23791, 19 October 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

GIRL JOINS LEGION

{SENTENCED to death by the Vichy Government, a'pretty 20-years-old Parisienne, Mile. Fernando de Floch, is serving in Britain in General de Gaulle's French Foreign Legion. The first woman ever to be enrolled in the famous regiment, she has sworn to avenge the death of her brother, who was killed at Dunkirk. Lost Everything I met Mile, de Floch yesterday at the barracks of the Legion in England, writes a special correspondent, of the Sunday Chronicle, London. She wears a khaki uniform rather like the A.f.S. tunic and skirt, with a forage cap she calls it a calot. "I lost everything in the German advance." she said. ".My brother, in the French Navy, was killed at Dunkirk. We were already orphaned. Mv chief hope is that when the Legion goes into

She Will Avenge Her Brother

action I shall be allowed to fight with them to avenge my brother's death." As tho only woman in the barracks. Mllo. de Floch 1r subject to special rules. She mixes with the soldiers only when on duty. When she goes to a cinema she goes alone. The Legion accepts it as a rule. This unusual young woman allows herself one luxury—silk stockings. "After all," she smiles, "I am still a Parisienne."