Roger Faulques
| Roger Faulques | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | "L'homme aux milles vies" ("The Man of a Thousand Lives") |
| Born | 14 December 1924 |
| Died | 6 December 2011 (aged 86) Nice, France |
| Allegiance |
 French Army
|
| Service/branch | Foreign Legion |
| Years of service | 1944–1964 |
| Rank | Battalion Chief (Commander) |
| Commands held | Platoon ranking students (PEG) of 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (BEP) |
Roger "René" Faulques (14 December 1924 – 6 November 2011) was a French army Battalion Chief, a graduate of the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, and a paratrooper officer of the French Foreign Legion.
Roger Faulques was a maquis resistance fighter in 1944 and took part in the last battles of World War II in the French First Army. As a Corporal he received the Croix de guerre at the age of 20. Noted for his fighting spirit and sense of command, he was admitted to the Military School of Saint-Cyr, which had changed its terms of recruitment to overcome the lack of officers in the French army at the end of World War II. In 1946 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned, at his own request, to the Foreign Legion, within the 3rd Régiment Etranger d'Infanterie (3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment).
Faulques served in Indochina as a Lieutenant with the 1st BEP (Foreign Parachute Battalion) and participated in the struggles of this unit until its destruction in October 1950. On 26 February 1948, in command of a group of legionaries, Faulques was ambushed on Route Coloniale 3. Having lost half of his legionaries, Faulques led his men in hand-to-hand fighting until wounded in both feet by a machine gun bullet. His legionaries evacuated Faulques in extremis from the line of fire. Repatriated to the mainland for treatment, at the age of 23 Faulques was a appointed a Chevalier of the légion d'honneur and held five citations.
After recovering from his wounds, Faulques saw action in the Battle of RC 4, when he was placed in command of the training platoon of 1st BEP, which lost nearly 80% of its force during the evacuation of Cao Bang in September and October 1950. Seriously wounded four times during this battle (right shoulder shattered by bullets, chest opened by a volley, left elbow and right femur shattered by bullets), he lay on the ground for three days, left for dead. Having survived, Faulques was captured by the Vietminh who, judging him mortally wounded, released Faulques to the French authorities with other gravely injured prisoners. Mentioned in dispatches Faulques was made an Officer of the légion d'honneur for exceptional services and was again repatriated to France. His injuries required him to spend several years in the Val-de-Grâce military hospital.
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