Filipinos in the French military

In 1858, when the Philippines was a Spanish colony, France and Spain invaded Vietnam. A number of French troops involved in this campaign became casualties as a result of contracting illnesses such as cholera, dysentery, tropical diseases, and rickets. In order to deal with the manpower shortage which resulted from this situation, the French consul in Manila, the colonial capital of the Philippines, was given permission by the Spanish government to recruit nine hundred Indians, as Filipinos were then known, for the French navy and a sufficient number of men to form an infantry company and a cavalry squadron. It is said that one-third of the entire French force in this campaign consisted of mercenaries from the Philippines, who distinguished themselves in action and were well adapted to the environment.

There were twenty-three Filipino mercenaries who served in the French Foreign Legion from 1914 through 1918. The legionaries from the Philippines, by that time an American colony, constituted the largest number of legionaries from the region which years later would be known as Southeast Asia. Other legionaries from the region who served in the Legion during World War I were: four Cambodians; two Dutch Hindus; ten Indo-Chinese; two Siamese; and four Tonkinese. These Filipinos in French service outnumbered the Filipinos who served the colonial master in the American Expeditionary Force.

A number of Filipinos presently serve in the French foreign legion.