Jeannou Lacaze, was a French Général d'armée of the French Army and Chef d'État-Major des armées (1981-1985), who also served in the French Foreign Legion. Biography Preliminary years Jeannou Lacaze was born in French Indochina, the son of a colonial functionary and an annamite of Chinese origin. He studied in a French school in Bordeaux. Military career 1944 to 1950 At the age of twenty, in 1944, he joined the French Forces of the Interior FFI and participated to the liberation. Received at Saint-Cyr in 1945, he pursued the infantry school application at Auvours where he graduated in 1947. Detached at from his commencement, he was assigned to the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment at Kef in Tunisia, he then joined the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment 2e REI in Indochina, where he served until 1951. Section chief of the 3rd battalion, he was severely wounded at the head of his section during an assault on the village of Ho Chi Minh, on 5 January 1948. Repatriated sanitary, he returned to the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment 2e REI and was deployed for a second tour in Indochina War. 1951 to 1979 Returned to France in 1951, he was assigned to the Moroccan Tirailleurs Regiment (). Following an assignment at the technical section of the French Army, he assumed command of the 129th Line Infantry Regiment in 1958 in Algeria. In 1959, he was assigned the 11e Régiment Parachutiste de Choc (). Following a passage at the war school, he assumed command of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2e REP after colonel Paul Arnaud de Foïard (regimental commander of the 2e REP in 1965) on 18 July 1967. He led his regiment to Tchad during Opération Épervier () in 1969. He operated equally in Togo and in the Ivory Coast, in order to ensure the permanence of the « pré carré » of France in Africa. Having left the French Foreign Legion, je joined the secret service before assuming command of the 11th Parachute Division from 1977 to 1979. During his commandment, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2e REP intervened in Kolwezi in Zaire, and the French Army launched exterior theatre operations in Lebanon and Mauritania. 1980 to 1985 He won the confidence of the President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who named him Military governor of Paris in 1980, and Chief of the general staff headquarters of the Armies on 1 February