The blue coat and red trousers challenge the usual visual shorthand for a Foreign Legion soldier. This Del Prado figure belongs to 1914 and offers a useful introduction to the Legion’s wartime volunteers in France.
The object held by this Canadian sailor is the key to the figure: a signal lamp. His cold-weather clothing and helmet frame a naval communications subject that is easy to misidentify in a small auction photograph.
The relaxed expression and slung rifle make this fusilier feel like a man photographed during a pause. His Normandy subject belongs to the campaign inland, not automatically to the first wave on a landing beach.
The long blue coat, covered helmet and carried rifle make this corporal recognisably different from Del Prado’s French 1914 subjects. The figure is a compact study of the appearance associated with Verdun and the middle years of the war.
The photographed Black American pilot adjusts his flight equipment rather than posing beside a tally board. The Italy 1944 subject offers a useful connection to the Tuskegee Airmen and to the practical clothing worn for combat flying.
The backpack radio changes the meaning of this Marine’s pose. He is not simply another rifleman with extra luggage: the equipment represents a link between a small group on the ground and the wider organisation supporting it.
This helmeted Royal Marine takes a commando collection to Sicily in July 1943. The ordinary working clothes are a reminder that an elite role did not require a theatrical pose or a green beret in every situation.
The khaki cap and service dress replace the ceremonial image many readers associate with the Guards. Del Prado’s lieutenant shows an officer equipped for field service, with observation and personal equipment shaping the pose.
A wide-brimmed hat, khaki shorts and compact automatic weapon give this Gurkha corporal a distinctive tropical-service outline. The date places him in the campaign against Japan, well before the later Malayan Emergency.
The wing badge and officer’s clothing identify an aviator even without flying goggles or an aircraft. This standing Del Prado subject belongs to the American air service of the First World War, an organisation still within the Army.
