i'm reading a book by gregory mann called native sons: west african veterans and france in the twentieth century which describes the recruitment of colonial soldiers to fight for france in europe (wwi and wii), africa (often against rebelling french colonial solders) or in this case, vietnam. this picture from the book shows soldiers of the french union (which was the constitutional name given to overseas france after wwii) praying together at the airport in hanoi before flying into saigon, taken july 5, 1952.
©ecpad/france/raymond varoqui
taken from page 159 of gregory mann's native sons
taken from page 159 of gregory mann's native sons
1 comment:
geez behemothing, where's the controversy? How can I get all hostile over this??
But seriously, that's an awesome picture. These men praying in front of a plane that's about to sweep them away from the concerns of their own world to be exploited for the interests of another. But they were probably paid in real currency so I bet they got some cheeseburgers out of the deal. Did the French have to frame these wars to them in different cultural terms in order to justify them?
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