Nine veteran Senegalese skirmishers (soldiers) who fought for France in the Indochina and Algeria wars return to homeland.

Nine veteran Senegalese skirmishers (soldiers) who fought for France in the Indochina and Algeria wars have returned to their homeland.

It is a journey they had almost given up on. Nine Senegalese soldiers, aged 85 to 96, who fought for France in the twentieth century, will return to Senegal to be with their families.

The troops were relocated on their way to the airport Friday (Apr.28) after years, if not decades, of living thousands of kilometres away from their relatives in order to claim their French army pension.

One of them is Ayori Diao, a veteran aged 95, who lived in a small studio flat outside of Paris.

After over 20 years in France, the elderly veteran has been granted permission to return to his native Senegal.

“It’s a victory,” the decorated veteran said as he prepared to take off last Wednesday.

“I intend to live and eat well.” I’m going to wander around the village. “It’s paradise over there,” he said, his lean face lit up with a smile.

Hundreds of thousands of African soldiers fought in the two world wars for their colonial master France, as well as against independence movements in Indochina and Algeria.

Survivors of the so-called “Senegalese Infantrymen” had to live in France for half the year until this year or forfeit their pension.

The French government relaxed the condition in January, stating they may return home permanently and continue collecting their monthly income of 950 euros.

It would also cover the cost of any veterans who wish to depart.

According to the Association for the Memory and History of Senegalese Infantrymen, 37 retired colonial soldiers like Diao still live in France.

Its director, Aissata Seck, said the nine’s return to Senegal on Friday marked the end of a decade-long struggle for their rights.

“They were long neglected,” said Seck, 43, whose grandpa was a colonial soldier as well.

When she first met Diao and his companions ten years ago, many of them were living alone in tiny hostel rooms with shared bathrooms, virtually stranded far from home but unable to bring their families to France on their modest earnings.

In 2006, their pensions were increased to account for inflation for the first time in nearly five decades.

“I was shocked that all these old men who had contributed to our freedom couldn’t even become French,” she remarked.

After years of lobbying, Hollande finally gave overseas veterans French nationality in 2017.

In January, President Emmanuel Macron’s administration eliminated the six-month residency requirement for their pension.

Finally, “they have been given back their dignity,” according to Seck.

The government made the decision after a film starring French actor Omar Sy – best known in the United States for his Netflix series “Lupin” – helped shed focus on the suffering of France’s forgotten colonial veterans.

Sy plays a Senegalese father who joins the French army during World War I to keep an eye on his son when he is forced into duty in “Father and Soldier.”

Late acquaintances

Diao claimed to have given his youth to France. He spent three years fighting in Vietnam during the Indochina War, which lasted from 1946 to 1954.

“It was dreadful… “I was the chief medic, in charge of the stretcher bearers who carried the wounded under enemy fire,” he explained.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends.”

After thereafter, he was stationed in Algeria for two years during another bloody fight for independence from France.

After all those sacrifices, being forced to spend six months of the year in France has been difficult.

He was in France when his 40-year-old wife died.

“I lost her without even being present… “It was excruciating,” he said gently.

He flew to Senegal twice in the same year before she died to care for her.

Because he violated the six-month rule, the French government fined him heavily.

Since then, 66 euros ($72) have been taken from his monthly salary. He still owes the French government 13,000 euros ($14,000).

Diao said the French government’s waiver was long overdue, and it came too late for some veterans who are now too frail to travel home.

“It’s better late than never,” he said, for those who can still do so.