Word: fanon
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Cogny, commander of North Viet Nam, flew to the troubled southern zone of the Red River Delta. At Namdinh, 45 miles southeast of Hanoi, with evident pleasure, he presented a unit citation to the elite 2nd Amphibious Group, 1st Foreign Legion Cavalry Regiment; he tied the traditional fanon, an Arabian horse's tail, to the regimental colors. Then the strapping (6 ft., 200 Ibs.) three-star general called the legion officers around him. "Dienbienphu was a blow," he said, "but that's all over now. We must turn the page. We must look forward-and forward lies...
...back from their antique forts and were concentrating in mobile groups at centers like Namdinh. The French redeployment was no simple matter: Communist guerrillas had often worked so closely around the forts that full-scale offensive operations were needed to withdraw a two-platoon garrison. The day after the fanon ceremony, Cogny had to send 2,000 men, 200 vehicles and 15 tanks to rescue 110 Vietnamese infantrymen from Doaithan and Thanhne, a couple of surrounded forts less than 20 miles from Namdinh. Cabled TIME Correspondent John Mecklin, who rode with the French column...