Bachir Gemayel and two Lebanese Forces militiamen near the Abourrousse gas station (Sodeco), July 2, 1981. ©Archives L’OLJ
Charles is 20 years old. When he was born, his father, a veteran of the Lebanese Forces, ran to the mukhtar to register him. First name: Bachir. When his mother found out, she was furious and begged the official to rectify the birth certificate and give her son the name she had originally chosen. A compromise was finally reached: the child will be named (officially) Charles-Bachir.Since he was very young, Charles said, his father told him about the exploits of his idol. He painted a portrait of the man who had “resisted” the “Palestinian invasion” and the "Syrian diktat,” of this leader “incomparable to all others” who “saved the Christians” and, with them, “Lebanon.”At 12, Charles recited by heart the most famous speeches of the founder of the LF. He was thrilled at the mention of “10,452 square kilometers” and repeated over and over...
Charles is 20 years old. When he was born, his father, a veteran of the Lebanese Forces, ran to the mukhtar to register him. First name: Bachir. When his mother found out, she was furious and begged the official to rectify the birth certificate and give her son the name she had originally chosen. A compromise was finally reached: the child will be named (officially) Charles-Bachir.Since he was very young, Charles said, his father told him about the exploits of his idol. He painted a portrait of the man who had “resisted” the “Palestinian invasion” and the "Syrian diktat,” of this leader “incomparable to all others” who “saved the Christians” and, with them, “Lebanon.”At 12, Charles recited by heart the most famous speeches of the founder of the LF. He was thrilled at the mention of “10,452 square kilometers” and...
