France, April 30 -- Founded in 1831, the legion is open to recruits from around the world and currently includes soldiers from 144 countries. Today, it has 9,600 troops, making up around 10 percent of the French army's ground forces, and is deployed across 17 territories.

Its annual Camerone ceremony commemorates the Battle of Camerone, fought in Mexico in 1863, when a small group of legionnaires made a last stand against overwhelming odds - a story that became the legion's founding myth.

Every 30 April, at its headquarters in Aubagne, the wooden hand of Captain Jean Danjou, one of the officers killed in the battle, is carried in procession as a symbol of loyalty, sacrifice and service to France.

While the model and demands of combat h...