Is France finally paying respect to its aging African soldiers?
For many in the cinema’s audience, “Tirailleurs,” a tale about African soldiers who fought for France during World War I, is familiar. After all, they are the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of tirailleurs sénégalais – Senegalese colonial infantry – and heard their war stories throughout their childhood.
But for Gorgui M’Bodji, it was more than just familiar. He lived it.
“Everything in the film – the trenches, the fortification walls – I saw that!” he says, bounding from his chair as a dozen military medals jingle against his chest.
Born in Senegal in 1933, Mr. M’Bodji fought as a in both the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. But today, the contributions of Mr. M’Bodji and his comrades in arms to French history are lost on a majority of
