France’s African ex-soldiers win last battle – over pensions

By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Some of the last survivors in France from a colonial-era infantry corps that recruited tens of thousands of African soldiers to fight in French wars around the world will be able to live out their final days with family members back in Africa after a French government U-turn on their pension rights. The decision to make claiming their pensions easier follows a years-long campaign on behalf of the “Tirailleurs Sénégalais,” who were recruited from Senegal and other former French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. It also coincides with a movie release in France highlighting the sacrifices that African soldiers made on bloody French battlefields in World War I.