OÙ SONT LES ROSBIFS?

By Stuart Boxall-Hunt

Special thanks to UNP photographer Isabelle Garnier who very kindly photographed the British PRA delegation with the help of Hermes Editor Prosper Keating.

“Où sont les rosbifs?”. This was the question asked by French paratrooper General Vincent Guioni of the five-strong Parachute Regimental Association delegation to the celebration by the Union Nationale des Parachutistes of Saint Michael’s Day in Paris in 2023. ‘Rosbif’, an abbreviation of ‘Roast Beef’, is a French name for the English in the spirit of the English term ‘Frog’ for Frenchman. 

President of the UNP, General Guioni had been expecting more Parachute Regiment veterans to respond to the invitation as in times past. The UNP had treated the PRA delegation — comprising four members of the PRA’s Ilford 84 branch and one London branch member in exile in Paris — royally but were a bit disappointed by the low turnout. It was clear that we had to do better and this year, we rose to that challenge, to the delight of our French hosts.

As Garrett Fitzgerald of the Ilford 84 PRA explains: “The association between Ilford 84 and the Orléans UNP came about thirty-one years ago when a small group of Ilford 84 were on a trip to France and had a chance encounter with the Orléans UNP who recognised their Parachute Regiment tops. 

“The Orléans and Ilford 84 veterans were very keen to forge a link and since the second half of the 1990s, they have been formally twinned. Our respective branch meeting minutes reflect this relationship. Back then, we had two members with very close links to France, which went down well with the French. 

“There was the late Phil Jennings, a World War Two SAS veteran who had spent a lot of time in Occupied France linking up with the French Resistance. We also had a former 15 PARA soldier who had spent a number of years in 2 REP, the French Foreign Legion’s 2nd Parachute Regiment. 

“Ilford 84 currently has as one of our members a younger French national and former French Army paratrooper. Ilford 84 has gone of two camps with the Orléans UNP, who hosted us exceptionally. Through this, we met the Belgian Paras’ Association, who still come to visit us sometimes, and the Normandy UNP, who introduced us to very potent Calvados.”.

The links bonding British and French paratroopers stretch back further to the dark days of the Second World War when Britain stood alone for over two years against Adolf Hitler and his armed forces, supported by the Free French and other fighters from European countries occupied by the Nazis. Some of the history of Free French parachute units trained by the British can be found in the Hermes articles Free French Paras and The French SAS 1941-1945.

The 2023 PRA delegation comprising for Ilford 84 members and one London PRA member were treated royally by their French hosts and accorded the very special honour of being photographed with the legendary Angel of Dien Bien Phu Geneviève de Galard and her husband Colonel Jean de Heaulme de Boutsocq, who was, amongst other things, the last living survivor of the Japanese massacre of French military personnel and civilians in Indo-China after the German surrender in May 1945.

A change of committee at the Ilford 84 in 2025 and a growing urge to reforge our links with the UNP started the planning process.  First of all, we decided to invite the London PRA, with whom we have enjoyed a long partnership. Secondly, this trip to Paris would include families. Thirdly, the Saint-Michel trip would be one of the main efforts for the year.

Armed with this remit, I began planning the expedition in April this year, creating numerous spreadsheets to manage the different aspects. Mindful of the different requirements members travelling with or without loved ones would be bound to have, I excluded travel planning. Getting to Paris — and home again — would be up to them. 

Luckily, my security work had led me to spend three months living in Paris a couple of years ago, giving me a knowledge of the city. So, I selected the city’s 9th Arrondissement or District as the best location for our stay and the Hotel Mercure chain’s Opéra/Lafayette branch as the accommodation. 

When I explained the nature of the visit to the hotel’s Sales Manager, the hotel was very pro-active in supporting us. Forty-five rooms? No problem! No deposit? No problem! You will pay in advance? Mais, bien sûr, Monsieur Boxall-Hunt! Their helpful attitude enabled me to write and issue the Warning Order.

The London PRA, run by Warren Learmouth and Terry Wood — Terry is also the London Regional Secretary — also issued their Warning Order and, amazingly, it all started working well. The task of collecting all the names and monies was made a lot easier by the efforts of Terry Wood and we collecting the money in good time. 

To simplify things, we also gathered in the money for the formal lunch hosted by the UNP in the École Militaire on the Saturday. This was paid over to the UNP who were very surprised to receive it so far in advance. Off the back of this, I booked forty-five of our group into a restaurant that I knew in Montmartre for the Saturday evening. 

The initial PRA delegation manifest comprised fifty-three in total, including Major General Ranald Munro CB CBE TD VR DL Brigadier (and Regimental Elder) Ian McLeod CMG OBE MC and Bayo Alaba MP. I have to admit that during all these processes, ChatGPT became my friend…

The advance party began to arrive throughout Thursday and initial reports on the hotel and the locale were positive. The immediate area surrounding the hotel has more than thirty brasseries, bistrots and bars. By Friday morning, there was a six-strong group exploring the city and sampling the wines and beers. 

By lunchtime, this group had grown to sixteen and we descended on a fantastic bistrot in the Saint-Germain quartier called Les Deux Magots. for a superb lunch [Les Deux Magots is one of the most iconic cafés in Paris and is very much a part of the city’s long literary tradition, together with the nearby Café Flore — Editor]. 

A fine evening was had by all with no damage to L’Entente Cordiale. Despite the copious lubrication on Friday evening, no-one was late on parade at Les Invalides and our RV with the French Airborne the following morning. A mass in the small cathedral where Napoléon is buried was followed by a medals parade in front of Les Invalides.

Special UNP service medals were presented to officials who had earned them by UNP President Vincent Guioni. The French Paras sang their songs, some of which were set to music that would have been very familiar to the many Germans encouraged to join the Foreign Legion after WW2. Our two Generals were part of the formalities. 

The French Paras are the only soldiers and ex-soldiers permitted to sing in the grounds of Les Invalides. This dates back to 2010 and the funeral of the revered Parachute General Marcel Bigeard. Prior to this, singing was strictly forbidden, the hymns in the cathedral aside, but nobody could stop the French Paras once they started in honour of their chief. Afterwards, in that typically French way, the French Paras were formally accorded permission to sing there. Unfortunately, the courtyard was closed for building work and the parade had to take place in front of the building.

After this, everyone moved on foot to the École Militaire where the wine flowed and more songs were sung. The French, believing that singing is not part of our tradition, had produced a song sheet for us with a 2 REP song set to the music of the German Kretalied. There was also a song set to the music of Wir Fahren Gegen Engeland, We Sail Against England.

Some of our lads surprised the French by singing both songs in English and German, the latter heartily pleasing the Fallschirmjäger contingent! In fairness to the French, they have, however, written their own words to the music they appropriated as part of their war booty and none of these songs has anything to do with Adolf Hitler’s plans.

On arrival at the École Militaire, we enjoyed the very military queue for scoff and incurred our only casualty of the trip. One of the French Standard Bearers was a lovely lady in an electric wheelchair, which was unable to navigate the step into the dining hall. Parachute Regimental honour dictated that we should remedy this.

On the command “Pick up the wheelchair!”, she was duly carried over the threshold. It was an electric wheelchair and weighed the same as a Renault 5. Unfortunately, Mark Morgan was later found to have popped two discs in his back and had to spend five nights in hospital. He might be entitled to a French pension for wounds sustained in the service of France…

Major General Munro presented UNP President Vincent Guioni and UNP Director Eric Oger each with a bottle of Ilford 84 port engraved for the occasion with the Ilford 84 PRA and UNP symbols. Bayo Alaba MP then presented General Guioni with a bottle of House of Commons wine on behalf of the British Parliament. 

With Hermes Editor Prosper Keating interpreting, Major General Munro and Bayo Alaba MP made speeches about the experiences and values shared by French and British paratroopers, which were enthusiastically received by our hosts. During the lunch, the French made it clear that they want stronger associations with their British comrades. 

A number of them had read the articles in Hermes about the wartime training of Free French paratroopers by the British in Egypt and England and a few proudly showed us their British-shaded maroon berets and French versions of the SAS beret badge: Qui Ose Gagne. The beret worn by other French parachute units is a lighter shade of red. 

After lunch, there was a slow move to the FUP for the parade up the Champs d’Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe where the Paras would attend the rekindling of the Eternal Flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On forming up, the British were rudely informed by a police commander in a pantomime dress uniform that they must walk up to the Arc de Triomphe

This visibly outraged our French comrades. The policeman then started shouting at one of the PRA representatives in French, only to find that the veteran he had chosen to bully spoke fluent French and offered, in his capacity as a magazine editor, to make the French copper famous. The policeman began to look nervous and tried to become our new best friend. 

Surprised by the appearance of three British paratroopers who had followed police orders to walk to the Arc de Triomphe, a serving French Three-Star General got on his mobile phone and subjected the police commander to a game of ‘Rock, Paper, Policeman and General’. Already ballocked in fluent French by a rosbif and insulted by dozens of tough-looking French para veterans, the police commander made himself scarce.

To make a point, the British paratroopers were then given pride of place at the head of the parade just behind the French standard bearers and the military band. We formed up in sixes and very proudly led the UNP parade up Paris’ main thoroughfare with French onlookers — and some British tourists — voicing their support:  “Vive les Paras!”; “Go, Parachute Regiment!”.

There followed a moving ceremony under the Arc. The French had very thoughtfully provided a secure area for our families, allowing them a great view of the proceedings. The Eternal Flame was rekindled by French children and blessed. General Munro laid a wreath on behalf of The Parachute Regiment and the Right Honourable Bayo Alaba MP laid one for the House of Commons. 

Brigadier McCleod laid a wreath for the London PRA and Tam McInnes laid our wreath from the Ilford 84 PRA. The absence of any representatives from the British Embassy was noted by our hosts, particularly as the Military Attaché is Airborne. but the presence of Bayo Alaba MP more than made up for it in their view. It would be nice to see them there next year.

After the ceremony, the Arc de Triomphe was reopened to tourists so we moved en masse, some directly the restaurant for our own dinner and some to the hotel to change. The staff at the wonderfully-named Le Coq et Fils on the Montmartre hill deserve a special mention for the warmth of their welcome to les Paras anglais. 

After a splendid roast chicken dinner washed down by manly quantities of red wine, we took a gentle stroll down the cobbled streets of Montmartre, where we increased the night’s takings of a number of bars whose largely young staff and customers asked lots of questions about our berets, badges and medals and were all very friendly and supportive.

So ended a wonderful weekend in Paris. The Ilford 84 wish to thank everyone who attended and everyone who gave their support even if they could not come. Our special thanks and appreciation go to our brothers of the London PRA and to RHQ PARA for supplying the wreaths at very short notice. 

And then, of course, we thank the French, especially UNP Director Eric Oger who handled our emails and questions with infinite patience and charm. Eric was the equivalent of one of our RSMs and just as respected by the French Paras. We hope see as many French comrades at our ceremony in the Tower of London later this year. We also thank UNP photographer Isabelle Garnier, who gave us so many splendid photographs of the event.

One aspect of the French celebration of Le Fête de Saint-Michel, Patron Saint of Paratroopers, that moved us all was the presence on parade of their handicapped veterans, including the retired female paratrooper proudly bearing a section standard in her wheelchair. One of the duties taken particularly to heart by the Ilford 84 is the care of our veterans.