3.6.4. HONORING FORGOTTEN SOLDIERS

FRANCE MOBILIZED 600,000 COLONIAL TROOPS DURING WORLD WAR I. 70,000 DIED

Troops were levied in all the French African colonies were called "tirailleurs Sénégalais" (Senegalese riflemen) because Senegal was first to establish an army (in 1867).

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I learned that they were being commemorated by photographing a spectacularly dressed young man who said he was on his way to it.

 I went.

photo of entry

The speeches were in Wolof, but a phrase in French mentoned courage, loyalty and endurance. 

The dignity was imposing. 

Participants photographed the orateurs...

...and I the costumes, which by adapting tradition expressed modern respect. 

People smiled at me. 

A photographer for an African television chain was present...  

...but there was no one from French media and only two other whites. 

That commemoration is part of French history too. French people might come if they knew about it.  

Perhaps this page will help.

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Background:

     Documentary on colonial troops in both world wars / YouTube (in French with English translation as above)

Colonial troops fought on all the battlefields. Africans were particularly prominent in trying to break through German lines at Chemin des Dames, for seven months in 1917. One fourth were killed. Survivors without medals received a pension only decades later. 

"We must not spare Black blood to save some of that of the whites," wrote Commander-in-Chief Robert Nivelle in his diary. 

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Next,

3.6.5. 

The ignorance of The New York Times