Facial paralysis

Facial paralysis is the lasting bodily consequence of the severe illness Romain Gary survived in Damascus. An infection affecting a nerve left the lower left side of his face permanently paralyzed, giving his face a lopsided appearance. The condition persisted through his return to operational flying and was still visible when he came home after the war.

Origin in the Damascus Illness

During the illness, doctors gave Gary only a slight chance of survival. His recovery was prolonged: delirium lasted for a fortnight, and it took more than six weeks for his reason to return almost completely. As the acute crisis passed, further complications emerged, including permanent paralysis of the lower left side of his face, caused by the infection affecting a nerve in his jaw.

The paralysis belonged to this later wartime illness, not to the separate kidney crisis he had suffered earlier in life. The account presents it as one of several lasting consequences of the Damascus episode, alongside persistent heart damage and other complications. It does not describe the paralysis as something that could be reversed.

Persistence and Return to Flying

During his recovery, Gary recognized no one and could not speak. Once he could articulate words, though still with a severe lisp, he wanted to know when he and his comrades could return to battle. The doctors doubted that he would walk normally and were uncertain he could fly an operational aircraft again. Their expectations contrasted with his determination to resume service.

Three months later, he was back in a Blenheim bomber, hunting submarines over the Eastern Mediterranean. His return to flying did not mean that the paralysis had passed: it remained a permanent feature of his face. The contrast makes the recovery neither a simple restoration to health nor a withdrawal from action. His body carried lasting effects even as he resumed the work the doctors had thought might be beyond him.

Appearance and Narrative Significance

At his return to France, Gary describes his facial paralysis as contributing to the unusually tough expression he wore beneath his cap. It was visible alongside the captain’s stripes on his battle dress and the many decorations on his chest. In this homecoming scene, the condition is part of the figure he presents to the people around him, even as the scene emphasizes that he is standing upright after a period when doctors doubted his ability to walk normally.

The memoir thus records the paralysis both as a specific medical outcome and as a lasting mark of survival. It does not make the condition the whole story of his wartime identity: Gary resumed flying, returned home, and carried his altered appearance with him. The lasting difference in his face stands beside, rather than cancelling, the agency and public role he reclaimed.