1st Foreign Parachute Heavy Mortar Company

The 1st Foreign Parachute Heavy Mortar Company (French: 1re Compagnie étrangère parachutiste de mortiers lourds, 1er CEPML) was an ephemeral airborne forces heavy mortar of the Foreign Legion which fought during the First Indochina War at the corps of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps.

Accordingly, he is tasked by the headquarters of Hanoi to form a heavy mortar parachute combat company integrated in the French Foreign Legion and based in Tonkin.

On 21 November 1953 Lieutenant Molinier jumped on Dien Bien Phu with the first wave of Operation Castor, at the border Landing Zone (L.Z) Natacha.

On 12 March 1954 Lieutenant Molinier was wounded during a recon operation conducted with the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion 1er BEP on “Béatrice”.

Wounded by a dozen of pieces of shrapnel in the back and face, he is carried to the underground hospital of commandant-doctor Paul-Henri Grauwin, who had him evacuated by plane to Hanoi.

Each year, the Foreign Legion commemorates and celebrates Camarón in its headquarters in Aubagne and Bastille Day military parade in Paris ; featuring the Pionniers leading and opening the way .
Members of the 1st Foreign Parachute Heavy Mortar Company in Indochina.
The Archangel Michael featured in Mont Saint-Michel and the Insignia of the 9th Parachute Chasseur Regiment .
Colonel Paul Marie Félix Jacques René Arnaud de Foïard
(1921-2005)