fanion

A fanion is a small flag used by the French military; the equivalent of an American guidon or British company colour.

Throughout, "Le beau fanion de la légion" ("The beautiful flag of the Legion") continues to fly from the mast (no mention of the French Tricolour).

During this period, Asso also wrote songs for Marie Dubas including "Le Fanion de la Légion" ("The Legion's Flag") and "Mon légionnaire" ("My Legionnaire").

Another of Piaf's songs was "Le Fanion de la Légion" (The Flag of the Legion), describing the heroic defence by the garrison in a small Legion outpost attacked by Saharan tribes.

Raymond Asso was a veteran of the French Foreign Legion, who also wrote "Le Fanion de la Légion" (The Flag of the Legion), which was taken up by Dubas and afterwards by Piaf, but with less success.

'Le Fanion de la Légion' (The Flag of the Legion), is a French song created in 1936 by Marie Dubas, with lyrics from Raymond Asso and music from Marguerite Monnot, and which was later taken up by Edith Piaf and became identified with her.