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THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX
TILDEtN FOUNDATIONS
LEGIONNAIRE BOWE
Mr. Bowe's matricule (aluminum wrist-tag) is No. 11,436—
Foreign Legion. Crescent and bursting bomb on cap indi-
cate the Legion's Moroccan Division. Chevron and device
on left sleeve denote a grenade-thrower of two years'
trench service — one bar for first year and one for each added
six months. Note bullet scar on left eyebrow.
SOLDIERS
OF THE LEGION
TRENCH ETCHED
LEGIONNAIRE BOWE
WHO IS (
JOHN BOWE
of Canby, Minnesota
AND
CHARLES L. MacGREOR
Collaborator
PRESS OF
PETERSON LINOTYPING CO.
CHICAGO. 1918
S^
. T\ . .- ■ - , ^ ^ - J
THIS BOOK HAS
AFTER-THE-WAR
J/ALUES OF PERMANENCE
YORK i IT IS
PUBLIC LIB RAR'^IilSTORICALLY IMPORTANT
"^ ^ _ AND UNUSUAL
TILD EM FOUND/.
o 1919
First printing, October, 1918
Copyrighted, 1918, by
JOHN BOWE
Second printing, November, 1918
Copyrighted, 191 8, by
JOHN BOWE
AND
CHARLES L. MacGREGOR
English and International Copyrights applied for
To Adjutant Jean Catell of the
French army, representative of the
Government of France — to be trans-
lated and published. in French news-
papers, December, 1918.
Released to the American press, on
request, after January 31, 1919. To ob-
tain in galleys, apply to Charles L.
MacGregor, 1111 Nicollet Avenue,
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Dramatic and Moving-Picture Rights Reserved
• •••*•• • ; «"';-.•;
» » • - • • #•
• » • • • ►/
,» • •«••• , •
• • •- -• •••
• • • ,• • • • •
• •»• ■••■•• •
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX
TILDEN FOUNDATTOwc
THIS AMERICAN CITIZEN'S BOOK IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
TO mS COMRADE IN ARMS,
THE FRENCH POILU
INTRODUCTORY
"'Good luck, my soldier ! You Americans are
an extraordinary people. You are complex.
We have thought we understood you — ^but, we
do not. We never know what you will do
next."
I asked my French landlady, who thus re-
sponded to the news that I had joined the For-
eign Legion, for an explanation. She said :
"In the early days of the war, when the Ger-
mans advanced upon Paris at the rate of thirty
kilometers a day, driving our French people
before them, pillaging the country, dealing
death and destruction, when our hearts were
torn with grief, Americans who were in Paris
ran about like chickens with their heads cut off.
They could not get their checks cashed; they
had lost their trunks ; they thought only of their
own temporary discomfort, and had no sym-
pathy for our misfortunes."
"But," she continued, "the same ship that
took these people away brought us other Amer-
icans. Strong and vigorous, they did not re-
7
}
8 INTRODUCTORY
main in Paris. Directly to the training camps
they went; and, today, they are lying in mud, in
the trenches with our poilus."
"Now, we should like to know, if you please,
which are the real Americans — those who ran
away and left us when in trouble, or those who
came to help us in time of need. Are you goers
or comers ?''
Self-proclaimed "good Americans,'' who
pray that when they die they may go to Paris,
are no more the real Arhericans than is their
cafed, boulevarded, liqueured-up, artificial, gay
night-life Paris — the only Paris they know
(specially arranged and operated, by other for-
eigners, for their particular delectation and
benefit !) — the real Paris.
Such Americans, whose self-centered world
stands still when their checks are but unhon-
ored scraps of paper, the light of whose eyes
fades if their personal baggage is gone, with
just one idea of "service" — that fussy, obse-
quious attendance, which they buy, are they
whose screaming Eagles spread their powerful
wings on silver and gold coin only. Their "U.
S." forms the dollar-sign. They are the globe-
trotting, superficial, frivolous "goers."
Boys in brown and blue, girls in merciful an-
INTRODUCTORY 9
gels' white, men and women of scant impedi-
menta, are the "comers,'* to whom — and to
whose distant home-fire tenders — "U. S."
means neither Cash nor Country alone, but a
suffering humanity's urgent — ^US. Bonds of
liberty mean, to them, LIBERTY BONDS.
Yes "La Fayette, we are here!" Real Amer-
icans think, shoot and shout, Pershing for the
perishing, "the Yanks are coming over till it's
over, over there!"
'The Girl I Left
Behind Me"
France ga.ve us, outright, six mil-
lion dollars — when millions were
Millions! and she loaned us an equal
amount at 5 per cent, though the
money cost her 7. We have not
yet properly repaid the bringer o£
Liberty's Goddess to brighten our
shore.
FOREWORD
Let the fastidious beware!
Here is no inviting account of a holiday in
France.
The fighting author does not apologize for
this terrible tale.
He has written literally, unglossed — no glam-
our, to
Help you understand the horrors of War and
Prussian dreadfulness.
This gripping catalogue of catastrophe is by
an American.
It contains romance, history — but absolutely
no fiction,
it is a Love story. "Greater love hath no man
than this . . . ."
The National Society of Real Americans, in the
shadow of
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, reminds
Us that we have two Countries —
United States and France.
"Jack'' Bowe, in this, his second volume on
War, presents a French viewpoint, rather
than the British.
II
<
\
12 FOREWORD
Cosmopolite, born on- the Scotch-English bor-
der, he
Knows no boundaries in
Freedom's cause.
He has served in five regiments in France.
Wounded and spent, he has been restored in
five different hospitals.
Evacuated from the front, twice, he has recu-
perated in
England and returned, on furlough, to America,
When he received "Certificate of Honor" for
promoting the sale of Liberty Bonds.
Thrice decorated for distinguished conduct and
valor in Europe,
He wears, also, three medals from service in the
Spanish-American War and in the
Philippine Insurrection.
He has been marched through countless vil-
lages of France whose
Names he did not know — nor could he have
pronounced them!
Indian file, in black night, he has tramped hun-
dreds of miles of
Trenches, 'which he could not have recognized
next morning.
He has endured twenty days and nights of con-
tinuous cannonade.
FOREWORD 13
Kxperiencing every sort of military warfare
on land, he has also survived a
Collision at sea.
He has been Mayor of his own home town,
Canby, Minnesota.
In Minnesota's Thirteenth, he fought for the
Stars and Stripes, being
Present at the capture of Manila, P. I., August
13, 1898.
Having represented, with honors, earth's two
greatest
Republics, he is still enrolled under the
Tri-color of France, in that wonderful, inter-
national composite of
Individual fearlessness, the Foreign Legion,
"Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear
lass.
And the wildest tales are true."
CHARLES L. MacGREGOR.
Minneapolis, November, 1918.
N. B.:
Material for thi& work was "Solid Gold," according to
An old-timer Bookseller, who regrets it has been
Printed privately instead of properly Published
with extensive Advertising. If you like it, Talk it!
Mr. Bowe's impressionist stuff is so perfectly bully, so
John Bully! so lovably French —
Admirably American, withal, I knew it was
wrong to much "improve" or, try to connect it.
Therefore, I have alloyed it but little, not
even always insisting on real sentences. — MacG.
Zitv Witnt lotion
To those gallant fellows
who left the peace and
comfort of happy American
homes, when their country
was yet neutral, in order
to carry out their ideals
of Right and Justice — this
book is a reminder that
they have not suffered in
vain and are not forgotten.
o
Ill
CONTENTS
PAGE
Dedication 5
Introductory 7
Foreword 11
In Memoriam 14
Some Pictures, listed 16
CHAPTER
. I Joining the Legion 17
^ II History of the Legion 26
III Americans in the Legion 40
First American Flag in France 51
V Foreigners in the Legion 59
\/VI Englishmen and Russians Leave 81
VII Trenches 89
VIII July 4th, 1915 100
IX Outpost Life iii
X Champagne Attack 131
XI Life in Death 149
XII The 170th French Regiment 154
XIII The 163rd and 92nd Regiments 158
XIV Hospital Life 162
^/ XV An Incident 169
•^ XVI Nature's First Law 180
/ XVII The Invaded Country 194
^ XVIII Love and War 204
XIX Democracy 222
XX Autocracy 230
v/ XXI Their Crimes 245
L'Envoi 259
Indices 271
BROTHER JOHN'S PROPHECY 275
SOME PICTURES
PAGE
Legionnaire Bowe 2
"The Girl I Left Behind Me" 10
Old Time Legionnaires 20
Fouragere of the Foreign Legion 38
Edgar Bouligny, Sergeant 39
Eight Americans 44
United States Army Service Medals 58
Jan Der Tex Bondt — ^Volunteer 71
Forty-eight Hour Furlough 102
War Department Certificate 113
United States Congressional Medal 114
Serbian Medal Citation 163
Serbian Medal 164
Convalescence Certificate 178
Croix de Guerre Citation 217
Croix de Guerre — French War Cross 218
French Furlough (Front) 246
French Furlough (Back) 247
Certificate of Honor 260
t
Soldiers of the Legion
CHAPTER I
JOINING THK LEGION
I entered the service of France in the Hotel
des Invalides, Paris, that historical structure
upon the banks of the Seine, built by Napoleon
Bonaparte as a hotpe and refuge for his worn-
out veterans. The well-known statue of the
Man of Destiny, with three cornered hat and
folded arms, broodingly gazed upon us as, with
St. Gaudens and Tex Bondt, I marched up the
court yard.
At depot headquarters, where I gave my
name and American address, a soldier, writing
at a desk, spoke up, — *'Do you know Winona,
in Minnesota ?" "Yes, of course, it is quite near
my home." "Do you know this, gentleman?''
He unbuttoned his vest and pulled out the pho-
tograph of Dr. O. P. Ludwig, formerly of Wi-
nona, now of Frazee, Minnesota.
17
i8 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
^ That night I was given a blanket and shown
to a room to sleep. I shall never forget what a
cosmopolitan crew met my unsophisticated
eyes next morning. The man next to me, a
burly Swiss, had feet so swollen he could not
get his shoes on. Another had no socks. One,
wounded in the arm, sat up in bed, staring at
the newcomer. It is a habit old soldiers de-
velop, a polite way of expressing pity for the
newly arrived boob. An Alsatian corporal
pored over an English dictionary, trying to
learn words so he could go to the English army
as an interpreter. Suspected of being a spy, he
had been brought back from the front. These
men had slept in their clothes. The air was
foul, stifling. A soldier went about and gave
each his breakfast — a cup of black coffee. /
I stuck around, wondering if I had lost my
number. Suddenly a voice, in English, boomed
out, "Hello, where's that new Englishman?'^
"I am not English, — I am an American.^' Quick
as a shot came the answer, "So am I ! I am the
colonel's orderly sent to take you over to your
company." In a few minutes, I was giving
the latest American news to Professor Orlin-
JOINING THE LEGiON 19
ger, formerly instructor in languages at Colum-
bia University, New York.
The training was fierce — almost inhuman.
Men were needed badly at that time. The
Germans were advancing, and would not wait,
so men were sent out to the front as quickly as
hardened. A number, possibly five per cent,
broke under the strain. It was a survival of the
fittest. We stuck it out ; and, after eight weeks,
went to the front with the Second Regiment of
the Foreign Legion.
No other nation in the world has a fighting
force like the Foreign Legion. Here, in this
finest unit in France, the real red blood of all
peoples unites. Men from fifty-three countries,
every land and clime, all ranks and walks of life,
colors, ages, professions, of different religious
and political beliefs, speaking all languages,
they have come from the four corners of the
globe and are fused in the crucible of discipline.
The Legion exacts absolute equality. The mil-
lionaire with his wealth, or the aristocrat of
birth and pedigree, has no more privilege than
the poorest Legionnaire.
OLD TIME. UGKIMMAIRES
ALEXANDRE FRANCOIS CHAS. BLOMME
Switzerland Belgium
CmitKdflB m ST eumitlcDi. Photocnpb mun la bomluL Oji« lell m im.
Dtber AD uu, to fwtlUu toe »L] of Prun, Fruncola bu four dewntlona. BID
hu lU, Ha turUt tb* Koi't medAl pnwDied by Qumd Aimt of BuuU, In Ui PD
Thfj.roufbt Tor Jtuct uid LlbHly for dd« «nt par dkr.
JOINING THE LEGION 21
An outstanding type is the volunteer, well
dressed, athletic, frequently rich, who burns
with enthusiasm, and brings dash, energy and
vim, to be conserved, directed into proper chan-
nels by the tested old timers, who are the real
nucleus of that dependability for which this
Regiment is noted. During this war, 46,672
men had enlisted in the Legion, of which 2,800
were on the front, autumn of 1917, when I left
for America.
The Legion is a shifting panorama, interna-
tional debating ground, continuous entertain-
ment, inspiriting school of practical human na-
ture. The Legionnaire lives in realms of ro-
mance, experiences, fantastic as are dreams,
horrible as the nightmare. He comes out, glad
to have been there, to have lived it all.
In the village of repose, one will sit in a shel-
tered corner by a flickering camp fire, in the
gathering darkness, not hearing the ever pres-
ent cannon's roar, nor watching the illumina-
tion of the distant star-shells, while Legion-
naires and volunteers tell of the Boer, Philip-
pine, Mexican, Spanish wars, the South Amer-
ican revolutions, or describe conditions on the
1
I
22 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Belgian Congo and in Morocco. Comrades in
the flesh recount deeds with the thrill of rollick-
ing adventure. The listener gets a grasp on
himself and learns world problems. He be-
comes a divided person, living an unnatural
present, absorbed in the excitements of yes-
teryear.
Social life is that of the ancient buccaneer of
the Spanish Main. Here, one finds a kindred
spirit who shares his joys and dangers and in-
herits his wealth (?). Each shields the other
in the small incidents of life. In larger affairs
all are secure in the sheltering, comfortable tra-
ditions of the Legion, which, insisting on strict-
est obedience, provide, in return, unflinching
common protection. Never is a comrade de-
serted, left to the mercies of an enemy. Death,
— rather than capture !
As in the early days of the American West,
a man does not have to bring recommendation
from his priest, a bank's letter of credit, or a
certificate of respectability, to prove him elig-
ible. He is taken at his face value — "No ques-
tions asked.'' He does not impair his citizen-
ship. He does not swear French allegiance.
JOINING THE LEGION 23
He retains his own individuality. No one pries
into his private affairs. His troubles are his.
He carries them, also his fame, without adver-
tising. If bad, he conceals his vices. If good,
he bears his virtues in silence. Whatever his
status in civil life, in the Legion, he is simply
a Legionnaire. This is not the place for weak-
lings. Invariably they are used up in the train-
ing. Here are only strong, independent men,
who do things, who make their mark, who
scorn the little frivolities of life, who neither
give nor ask favors.
There are no roundheads in the Legion. The
most noticeable thing is squareness — square
jaws, square shoulders, square dealing of man
to man. There is a feeling of pride, of emula-
tion, between officers and men — a mutual re-
spect, that is hard to define. Officers do not
spare themselves. They do not spare their men,
nor do they neglect them. While the men are
untiring in admiration for their leaders, French
officers are equally complimentary in their ap-
preciation, which the following citation from
General Degoutte, Commander of the Moroc-
can Division, shows, — "The folds of your ban-
ner are not large enough to write your titles of
24 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
glory, for our foreign volunteers live and die
in the marvelous. It is to the imperishable
honor of France to have been the object of such
worship, of all the countries, and to have
grouped under her skies all the heroes of the
world."
Scores of books, in many languages, have
been written about this famous corps, some in
anger, others in sorrow, many blaming — few
praising, the hardness of the discipline, the
shortness of the food, the length of the marches,
or the meager wage of one cent per day. After
two years the pay was raised to five cents and
again increased to one franc (20 cents) per day,
while at the front.
There are many reasons why men become
Legionnaires. Some join for glory, others for
adventure. Some just want to be in the midst
of things, — they yearn to see the wheels go
round ! Others were brought by curiosity,
rather than intelligence. Some came because
they wanted to — others, because they had to.
Some crave the satisfaction of helping under-
dogs, who are sweating their brass collars.
Some fight for hatred of Germany and of the
JOINING THE LEGION 25
German character. Others strive for love of
France and what she stands for. Different
feelings, mingled with heroic ideals, recruit the
ranks.
American members know that the present
fight of France is ours. She, also, contends for
democracy. She aided us in our direst need.
In the darkest hour of the Revolution, it was
the French fleet that defied the English, landed
French soldiers to help us, and enabled Wash-
ington to dispatch 5,000 red-breeched French-
men, who marched from Newport News to join
1,500 American infantry under Alexander
Hamilton. They captured Yorktown and com-
pelled the surrender of Cornwallis and gaiiied
the victory that resulted in the independence '
of America.
So, today, 142 years later, American soldiers
in khaki cross leagues of ocean, fight, suffer
and die to save invaded France.
CHAPTER II
HISTORY OF THE LEGION
The Foreign Legion has a notable record
which extends back to the Crusades. Then,
French and Anglo-Saxon marched together
and fought to save the world for Christianity.
History repeating itself, after centuries, today,
we see the same forces, side by side, fighting,
dying, not only for Christianity, but for civili-
zation. On the result of this clash with the
barbarous Hun depends the preservation of the
humane world.
At Pontevrault, twenty miles from Saumer,
in the valley of the Loire, rest the remains of
Richard Coeur-de-Lion, whose Anglo-Saxon
heart, worn with hardship and suffering, ceased
beating under the sunny skies of France,
pierced by the poisoned arrow of a mysterious
assassin from the far East.
Beneath the pavement, in front of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem, lies the
dust of Philip D'Aubigne, a French knight,
26
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 27
w^ho fulfilled his vow to lay himself upon the
threshold of that church which marks the place
where rests the body of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
As the Anglo-Saxon perished in France and
the Frenchman died in Jerusalem, both for the
cause of Right and Justice, today, millions leave
native land to meet that organized force which
seeks to conquer, subdue, and enslave the peo-
ple of all earth's free countries.
Among ancient soldiers of the Foreign Le-
gion were Broglie of Broglie, Rantzan, Lowen-
dall, the Duke of Berwick, John Hitton, the son
of an African king, and the Scottish Stuarts,
with many other knights and men of note.
For their devotion, especially that of the
Swiss Guards to the French Kings, the Legion-
naires were respected, even by their enemies,
the Revolutionists, who, April 20, 1792, ap-
pealed to them to "desert the cause of Royal
oppression, range themselves under the flag of
France, and consecrate their efforts to the de-
fense of liberty." They responded, gathered
under the tri-color, and, in 1795, commanded by
I
\
I
28 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Angereau, Marshal of France, one of Napolepn
Bonaparte's most trusted generals, won such
renown that companies — frequently whole reg*!-
ments of foreigners — flocked to their standard
In 1799, there were incorporated a regiment of
Italians, a regiment of Poles and a regiment
of Maltese. These made the campaign of Egypt
with Napoleon. In 1809, a Portuguese, a Greek
and an Irish regiment joined. In 1812, came a
regiment of Mamelukes, who, January 7, 1814,
had their name changed to Chasseurs of the
Orient.
The Foreign Legion helped save France for
the people in the Revolution. They shared in
the glory and pomp of Napoleon's dazzling
career. They marched and suffered through
the retreat from Moscow. Napoleon, on his re-
turn from Elba, created eight Regiments of the
Foreign Legion, who shared the fate of the
world's greatest soldier at Waterloo.
After Napoleon's downfall Louis XVIII cre-
ated the Royal Foreign Legion which later
was merged with the 86th Regiment of the
Line.
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 29
May 9, 1831, the French Chamber of Depu-
ties decreed the Foreign Legion should not be
employed on the soil of France, so the Regi-
ment was sent to Africa, with headquarters at
Sidi-bel-Abbe's, Algeria.
In 1842 Patrick MacMahon, a descendant of
Irish Kings, was lieutenant colonel of the For-
eign Legion. Later, during the Crimean War,
MacMahon's troops were assigned the task of
capturing the Malikoff. After hours of hand-
to-hand, sanguinary fighting, to beat off the
Russian counter-attacks, the French comman-
der, Marshal Pellisser, believing the fortress
was mined, sent MacMahon orders to retire.
The old Legionnaire replied, — "I will hold my
ground, dead or alive." He held. The evacua-
tion of Sebastopol followed. In 1859, he de-
feated the Austrians at Magenta. He was
given the title of Duke of Magenta, and re-
warded with the baton of a Marshal of France.
In 1854, Bazaine, who enlisted as a private
soldier in the 37th Regiment of the Line, and
died a Marshal of France, was Colonel of the
Foreign Legion. He led them to Milianah,
Kabylia and Morocco.
I
30 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
They participated in the Mexican War, in
1861, and in the Franco-German War of 187Q
After the fall of Sedan and the capture of Na-
poleon III, under the Republic, they served
with General Garibaldi, "The Liberator of
Italy." Three brigades of the Foreign Legion,
chiefly Irishmen, Spaniards, Italians and Franc-
Tireurs, fought a bitter partisan warfare
against overwhelming odds in eastern France
and the Vosges, where, rather than surrender
to the invader, many crossed the frontier into
Switzerland.
At Casablanca, Africa, in 1908, a dispute
about a German, enlisted in the Foreign Legion,
almost precipitated war between Germany and
France. The Kaiser rattled the saber, demand-
ing an apology from France ; but the response
of M. Clemenceau, who stood firm, was so di-
rect and spirited that Germany did not then
insist. "The day" had not arrived. In the same
town, seven years later, January 28, 1915, a
German spy, Karl Fricke, after failing to pro-
voke a holy war among the Mohammedans,
relying on his personal friendship with his mas-
ter, the Kaiser, laughed when the French com-
mander told him he would be shot in an hour.
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 31
'*Der Tagr
(Kipling's poem was never more timely than today, when the
German braggart is seeking to escape the impending disaster.)
You boasted the day, and you toasted the day.
And now the day has come.
Blasphemer, braggart, and coward all,
Little you reck of the numbing ball.
The blasting shell, or the white arm's fall,
As they speed poor humans home.
You spied for the day, you lied for the day,
And worked for the day's red spleen.
Monster, who asked God's aid divine,
Then strewed His seas with ghastly wine.
Not all the waters of the Rhine
Can wash thy foul hands clean.
You dreamed for the day, you schemed for the day.
Watch how the day will go.
Slayer of age, and youth, and prime
(Defenseless slain for never a crime).
Thou art steeped in blood as a hog in slime,
r False friend and cowardly foe.
You have sown for the day, you have grown for the day,
Yours is the harvest red.
Can you hear the groans and the awful cries?
Can you see the heap of slain that lies,
And sightless, turned to the flame-split skies,
The glassy eyes of the dead?
You have wronged for the day, you have longed for the day.
That lit the awful flame.
'Tis nothing to you that hill and plain
Yield *sheaves of dead amid the grain ;
That widows mourn for their loved ones slain,
And mothers curse thy name.
But after the day there's a price to pay
For the sleepers under the sod.
And He you have mocked for many a day —
Listen and hear what He has to say :
"Vengeance is Mine, / will repay"
What can you say to God?
— Rudyard Kipling.
32 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
"You French are good jokers," he said, and
asked for breakfast. Half an hour later, when
told to get ready for execution, he protested.
"You are carrying the thing too far, you forget
who I am/' The officer responded, — "On the
contrary, we know who you are; we remember
quite well — only too well/'
In 1913 Lieut. Von Forstner of the 91st Ger-
man Regiment used abusive language and in-
sulted the French flag, while warning the Al-
satian conscripts against listening to French
agents, who the Germans claimed were induc-
ing men to join the Foreign Legion.
On Nov. 29, 1913, at Severne near the Rhine-
Marne Canal, the civilians assembled in protest.
The soldiers charged the crowd, arrested the
Mayor, two judges, and a dozen pther promi-
nent citizens who in respect for the universal
demand of the population were later released, —
while the officers responsible for the outrage
were court-martialed and acquitted.
A short time afterward Lieut. Von Forstner
had a dispute with a lame shoemaker and cut
him down with his sword.
\
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 33
This brutal act resulted in the officer's being
again court-martialed for wounding an un-
armed civilian. Sentenced to a year's impris-
onment, said sentence was annulled by a higher
court, who claimed that he acted in "supposed
self defense."
The demand for justice caused by the injus-
tice of the decision was so loud and threatening
that the Reichstag was compelled to investi-
gate the matter. For the first time in the Ger-
man Empire a vote of censure was passed on
the Government, 293 to 54.
This vote, which challenged the supremacy
of the military dynasty, together with the re-
fusal of the Social Democrats in the Reichstag
to stand up and cheer the Kaiser, was one of the
determining factors of the war.
In the spring of 1915 the Foreign Legion in
Europe consisted of four regiments. Tn No-
vember, the small nucleus gathered about the
1st Regiment was all that remained of those
splendid men.
34 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
The 2nd Regiment, after passing the winter
of 1914-15 at Croanelle in front of Croane, went
into the Champagne attack, September 25,
1915, with 3,200. October 28th but 825 survived.
These were merged with the 1st Regiment.
The 3rd Regiment, officered by Parisian fire-
men, had a very brief and sanguinary existence,
and later were also merged with the 1st Regi-
ment.
The 4th Regiment, the Garibaldians, 4,000
strong, after a famous bayonet attack in Ar-
gonne, captured three lines of trenches, losing
half their eflfectives, including the two Gari-
baldi brothers, Bruno and Peppino. The sur-
vivors went to Italy to aid their own country,
upon her entry into the war.
Many EngKsh, Russians, Italians, Belgians
went home during that summer. When Le-
gionnaires marched inside the long range of
heavy German guns, with attacks and counter-
attacking machine gun emplacements, with
wire entanglements in front, which, owing to
shortage of artillery, could not be blown up or
destroyed, but must be hand-cut, or crawled
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 35
through, is it any wonder they were scattered ?
Killed, missing, the hillsides were dotted with
their graves; their wounded were in every hos-
pital.
During this last generation, the Foreign Le-
gion made history in the sand-swept plains of
the Sahara and in the spice-laden Isle of Mad-
agascar. They marched to Peking during the
Boxer troubles, fought against the pig-tails in
Indo-China, and the women warriors of Da-
homey. They have been in every general at-
tack of the present great war.
Advancing steadily, fighting side by side
with the magnificent French Regiments who
regard the Legion with respect, almost with
jealousy, — the Legionnaire feels himself a per-
sonage. His comrades have suflfered and died
by thousands to gain the position the Regiment
holds. Each living member must now maintain
that enviable record.
July 14, 1917, anniversary of the fall of the
Bastile, Independence Day of France, the For-
36 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
eign Legion was decorated with the braided
cord, the Fouragere, the color of the Medaille
Militaire, by President Poincare. The only-
other regiment permitted to wear that decora-
tion is the 152nd, which has been cited four
times. The Legion now stands cited five times
in the orders of the day.*
The fifth citation of the Foreign Legion
reads :
"General Orders, No. 809.
"The General commanding the 4th Army
Corps cites to the order of the Foreign Legion:
Marvelous Regiment, animated by hate of the
enemy, and the spirit of greatest sacrifice, who
on the 17th of April, 1917, under the orders of
Lieut. Col. Duritz hurled themselves against
the enemy, strongly organized in their trenches,
captured their front line trenches against a
heavy machine gun fire, and, in spite of their
chiefs being mortally wounded, accomplished
their advance march by the orders of Col. De-
ville under a continuous bombardment, night
and day, fighting, man to man, for five uninter-
rupted days, and, regardless of heavy losses and
♦July, 1918. The Legion has again been decorated, this
time with the Legion of Honor.
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 37
the difficulty of obtaining ammunition and sup-
plies, made the Germans retreat a distance of
two kilometers beyond a village they had
strongly fortified, and held for two years.
"THE COMMANDING GENERAL,
"Authoine."
During the attack on the Bois Sabot, Sep-
tember 28, 1915, a captured German exclaimed:
'^Ha, ha, La Legion, you are in for it now. The
Germans knew you were to attack ; they swore
to exterminate you. Look out. Go carefully.
Believe me, I know. I am an old Legionnaire."
Previous to this, Germany, incensed by the
thousands of Alsatians and Lorraines in the Le-
gion, whom German law practically claims as
deserters from that country, served notice that
any captured Legionnaire would be shot. So
the Legionnaires hang together. They stay by
one another. They never leave wounded com-
rades behind. . .
The Germans promised no mercy. The Le-
gion adopted the motto: "Without fear and
without pity," and on the flag is written.
38 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
"Valor and Discipline." The march of the For-
eign Legion, roughly interpreted, reads:
FOURAGERE OF THE FOREIGN LEGION
Here's to our blood-kin, here's to our blood-kin,
To the Alsatian, the Swiss, the Lorraine.
For the Boche, there is none.
In Artois, after the Legion attacked and cap-
tured three lines of German trenches, in 1915,
HISTORY OF THE LEGION 39
a captured officer, interviewed by the Colonel
of the Legion, said;
"Never have we been attacked with such wild
ferocity. Who are those white savages you
turned loose upon us?"
EDGAR BOULIGNY, AMERICAN EX-SOLDIER
SerSia and Albania. Three times wounded, decorated for'braven', bei
CHAPTER III
AMERICANS IN THE LEGION
The world's one organization which, for a
century, has offered refuge to any man, no mat-
ter what nor whence, who wished to drop out of
human sight and ken, does not, for obvious
reasons, maintain a regular hotel register and
publish arrivals.
Records of the Foreign Legion are open to
no one. This picturesque aggregation of dare-
devil warriors neither supports nor invites staff
correspondents. Even the n?imes used by the
gentlemen present do not, necessarily, have any
particular significance.
The American was a new element in this
polyglot assembly. If there is anything he ex-
celled in, it was disobedience. Independence
and servility do not go hand-in-hand. He con-
sidered himself just as good as anyone placed
in authority over him. He knew that he must
40
AMERICANS IN THE LEGION 41
obey orders to obtain results, that obedience
was the essence of good team work; but he
wanted no more orders than were necessary.
He was willing they should be neutral, — who
had not the courage to stand up for their con-
victions. His conscience had demanded that
he put himself on the side of Right. Always
courteous to strangers, Americans would dis-
pute and wrangle among themselves. They had
a never-failing appetite, also a peculiar habit of
cooking chocolate in odd corners, — contrary to
orders. They never would patch their clothes.
They did no fatigue duty they could dodge.
They carried grenades in one pocket and books
in another, and only saluted officers when the
sweet notion moved them.
Dennis Dowd, of New York City, and Long Island, a
graduate of Columbia University and of Georgetown, District
of Columbia, a lawyer by profession, of Irish descent, a fine
soldier, passed the first year in the trenches and was wounded
October 19, 1915. We were in the same squad — were wounded
difiFerent days — again met in same hospital. While in hos-
pital, ^ he received a package from the ladies of the
American Church of the Rue de Berrij Paris, in which
was a letter. This was followed hy correspondence, later
a daily correspondence. Then came an invitation to pass
his furlough with new found friends. Inside of twenty-four
hours after meeting, this hard-headed lawyer was affianced
to the lady, daughter of a professor at the Sorbonne. He
entered, for the study of aviation, the Buc Aviation School,
and stood at the head of a class of fifteen aspirants. While
making a preliminary flight, previous to obtaining his brevet,
he was killed, August 11, 1916. In life he showed a contempt
42 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
A corporal who, for safety first, changed
from Battalion C to Battalion G, speaking
of early days said: "The Americans were
the dirtiest, lousiest, meanest soldiers we
had. They would crawl into their dugout, roll
into their blanket; and, when I went to call
them for duty, the language they used would
burn a man up, if it came true. Yes," he con-
tinued, "one night I heard an awful noise down
the trench; — it was bitter cold and sound trav-
eled far, so I hurried on to see what was wrong.
A little snot from New York was making all
the racket. He jumped up and down, trying
to keep warm, his feet keeping time to his chat-
tering teeth, till he wore a hole through the
snow to solid footing. Every time he jumped
his loaded rifle hit the ground.''
of danger. He passed away with a smile on his lips. His
body was buried at Asnieres, near St. Germain.
D. W. King, Providence, R. I., member of a family con-
nected with cement products interests in England and Amer-
ica, a Harvard graduate — of uncomplaining and unflinching
disposition, though small in stature, he was great in courage.
I have seen him marching without a whimper when his feet
were so sore that only the toes of one foot could touch the
ground. He always had an extra cake or two of chocolate,
and was willing to divide with the individual who could
furnish fire or water. He changed from the Foreign Legion
to the 170th in 1915, and was seriously wounded in 1916. On
recovery he went into the Aviation.
Edgar Bouligny, a real American from New Orleans^
Louisiana, had served two enlistments in the U. S. Army. His
father was minister to Mexico, and during the civil war threw
AMERICANS IN THE LEGION 43
*'You fool, don't you know that thing will go
off?"
"Don't I know. Of course I know. What
do I care? Do you know what happened in
Section 2 last week, when a gun went off?"
"No."
"It accidentally killed a corporal !"
The officers, however, noticed, after the first
shock of misery and suffering, that they pulled
themselves together, tightened their belts and
made no complaint. On the rifle range, they
held the record. On route march, they were
never known to fall out. In patrol work, be-
tween the lines, others would get all shot up
and never come back. The Americans always
got there; always returned; if shot up, they
himself on the side of Human Liberty, as the son, later, put in
his fortime and health for International freedom. He went
from Alaska to France. He rose to be sergeant in the For-
eign Legion. He was three times wounded, then transferred
to the Aviation. Obtaining his brevet in three months, he
went to Salonica, Albania, Greece and the Balkans. He was
decorated with the Croix de Guerre, with silver star, in
January, 1917.
J. J. Cascy^ a cartoonist from San Francisco, California,
went into the Foreign Legion in the early days and is still
going strong. Naturally of a quiet disposition, he will fight
at the drop of the hat, on provocation. He was shot in the
foot September 25, 1915, was in the hospital of the Union
de Femmes of France at Nice and went back to the front,
where he still remains.
Arthur Barry, Boston, Massachusetts, formerly a gunner
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
5:1
AMERICANS IN THE LEGION 45
brought back their comrades. They were soon
looked upon with respect and pride. They
learned faith in their officers. The officers, in
turn, found them dependable.
It was customary for visiting officers to ask
to see the Americans. When so ordered, this
aggregation of automobile racers, elephant
hunters, college students, gentlemen of leisure,
professional boxers, baseball players, lawyers,
authors, artists, poets and philosophers, were
trotted out, and stood silently in line, while
Sergeant Morlae, his head on one side, extend-
ing his finger with the diamond on would say, —
"These are the Americans, mon General."
on U. S. battleship Dakota, now acts as an Irish battleship
ashore and throws grenades on the dry land Boche, when-
ever an opportunity occurs, — of a happy, devil-may-care dis-
position, all work is a lark to him, while gi-owling and his
temperament are total strangers. Twice wounded, the last
time I saw him was in hospital at Lyons, where he was wait-
ing till a shell splinter could be extracted. He had already
decided that he would go direct to the front instead of the
regimental depot on recovery. He was decorated for bravery
at Chalons, July 14, 1917. Was later transferred to the Amer-
ican Engineers, wearing the red fouragere of the Legion
of Honor.
James J. Back, an engineer by profession, who spoke
French fluently, went from the Foreign Legion to the Avia-
tion in the early part of 1915. It was announced in "La
France," Bordeaux, September 2, 1917, that he was taken
46 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Did they like it ? They did not. They were
unable to vent their rage on the general; but
they did on Morlae. True, he had made sol-
diers of them, in spite of themselves. He had
shamed, bluffed, bullied, scolded them into
being soldiers. They did not mind that. They
knew it had to be. But, being placed on exhibi-
tion got their goat.
However, each man carved out his own par-
ticular block and put his mark thereon. Strong
characters, they cannot be passed over living,
or forgotten dead. M. Viviani said, at Wash-
ington: — ''Not only has America poured out
her gold, but her children have shed their blood
for France. The sacred names of America's
dead remain engraved in our hearts.''
prisoner by the Boche. When his machine broke, he fell
inside the German lines. He was taken before a court mar-
tial, charged twice with being a Franc-tireur American, which
called for the death penalty; but was twice acquitted. He
still languishes in prison. The published account is true;
but it did not mention that the news was ov«r two years old.
Bob Scanlon, professional boxer, soldier of the Legion,
kept having narrow escapes from death so often that he
be,came a mascot of good luck. In civilian life he had whipped
Mar-Robert, Marthenon, and Joe Choynski — even the Boche
shells respected him! He changed from the Foreign Legion
into the 170th, then went into the machine gun company.
He lost his good luck. He found a piece of shell which ripped
him up badly. Two years later, September, 1917, in Bordeaux,
coming back to his old gait, he gave a boxing exhibition with
Lurline, the French Champion.
AMERICANS IN THE LEGION 47
About the time the United States entered the
war, the Americans of the Legion offered their
services to the American Government at home
and were not then accepted and the following
letter, among others, was sent to the New York
Herald by a French lady: —
"American Veterans in France.
"April 28, 1917.
"Sir: — May I ask through your columns why
it is that those few Americans, brave enough
to seek voluntarily, while their country was
still neutral, the ranks, of our army, have not
yet been claimed by their own Government,
whose citizens they remain, while all at home
are apparently receiving commissions and
Laurence Scanlon, wounded in the Foreign Legion, went
into Aviation, dropped his " aeroplane through, and into, a
cook-house. His captain running, expecting to find a corpse,
met Scanlon coming out the door, who saluted and reported
himself present, — "It is I, mon capitaine, just arrived."
John Brown, American citizen, got mixed up with a shell
explosion in the September, 191 5^ attack in Champagne. All
,his comrades were killed; but this tough nut has just been
blown about till he is bent double and one eye is almost gone.
He has been in eleven hospitals during twenty-three months.
In August, 1917, he was ordered to go to regimental depot
for two months "Inapt." The regimental doctors gave him
an examination, then sent him back to hospital.
F. Capdevielle, New Yorker, splendid fellow, after a year
in the Foreign Legion changed to the 170th, where he rose to
be sergeant. But a young man, he has a great record for
48 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
honor, are these men to remain sergeants and
soldiers in the French Army, unrecognized and
unhonored by their mother country?
"To me, their part was such a beautiful one,
to leave home and luxury and peace for this
carnage to follow their ideals, to risk death vol-
untarily, if it aid their friends.
"Surely, your people cannot understand how
deeply the spirit of those boys has touched the
hearts of French women in these trying times.
And, now that the spirit of your. people has-
risen to their side, are these leaders to be for-
gotten?
"The two aviators. Genet and Hoskier, who
have died since April 3, were in French uni-
form. Frenchmen respect them; do not Amer-
icans ? A French Mother/'
longevity, having been through the successive attacks of the
two regiments volante, without receiving a scratch, though
he was used up physically in the spring of 1917, and put in a
couple of months recuperating in Paris. He was decorated
for gallantry, at Verdun, in the spring of 1916. Killed, Oct, 3,
1918, by a bullet through the forehead as he led his men in
attack at Arpeuil.
Tony Pollet, champion boxer, from Corona, New York,
came to America with his parents, had his first papers — was
the tallest, best-built man in his company — a terror on wrong
doers — in social life as gentle as a woman. The boxing match
between him and Bob Scanlon at Auxelle Bas, Alsace, will
pass down in the traditions of the Legion for all time. Later
Tony whipped the three cooks. He was put in charge of the
kitchen for punishment; but he got into disgrace again be-
cause the Legionnaires caught a pet cat, skinned it and
AMERICANS IN THE LEGION 49
The Continental edition of the New York
Herald is not a mail order catalogue, or a polit-
ical organ, it is a real newspaper, and the
only American journal published in France.
It is well printed on good paper. It records the
doings of society. Its columns are open to the
opinions of others. It publishes the most cut-
ting criticism of its own policy with the great-
est of pleasure. It prints every appeal for char-
ity — from humans to cats.
It fought for International Honesty, when
leaders and trimmers were silent. When the
leaders woke up, it pushed. Its accurate infor-
mation, often suppressed by the censor, makes
every blank space an honor mark. While the
editor, like the petite Parisienne, whose demure
threw it into the soup. Living on his income of one cent a
day, as he had no money, too proud to expose his financial
condition, he did not go to Paris, July 4, 1915, but suffered
his martyrdom in silence. Wounded in Champagne in 1915,
also on the Somme in 1916, when permission came for a fur-
lough in America, he had forty-two cents. He stowed away
on a Trans-Atlantic steamer to New York, where the authori-
ties claimed he was not an American. If he had declared
his intention to be an American, he had lost the evidence. So
they locked him up two days at Ellis Island. When in hospi-
tal one night, he stole out to see his girl, caught, and stand-
ing before the medical board, who threatened to revoke his
convalescence, he replied hotly — "You do that, and I will
make you more trouble than you can shake off the rest of
your life. You must not think you are handling a Legionnaire
from Africa now. I will show you what a real American
so SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
eyes cannot conceal the lurking mischief within,
just writes enough editorially to make the
reader wish for more.
Its vigorous American attitude in 1915 and
1916 gave the French people hope. It gave the
repatriated American comfort, for it strength-
ened his convictions. He felt better for know-
ing that some, at least, of his countrymen had
the courage to stand up for the cause he was
willing to die for. So, he went forward cheer-
fully. He knew he was following the right path
and that he was not alone. The Herald gave
him comfort. It sustained him in adversity.
Legionnaire can do I" The old Colonel, a judge of men, spoke
up; — "Silence yourself. Attention, eyes front, about face,
forward march." Tony walked away; but he got his furlough.
George Pcixotto, painter by profession, brother of the
President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris,
joined the Foreign Legion and was detailed to the 22nd artil-
lery. Now, instead of making life-like figures, he makes
figures lifeless I
Billiard. After the Champagne attack, in 1915, was changed
from the Legion to the I70th, then again into the Aviation.
A busy man, he managed to dodge the Boche bouquets, and,
so far, he has kept right side up with care. Always likes to
have Old Glory in sight.
Bob Soubiron, in civil life a racing automobilist, former
racing partner of Ralph de Palma. After a year of active
service with the Legion, he was wounded in the knee and
evacuated. He concluded that was too slow. So, in order to
get a touch of high life, he went into the Aviation. He was
decorated for bravery with the following citation: — "Soubiron,
an American, engaged in the French service since the begin-
ning of the war, — member of the Foreign Legion, took part
CHAPTER IV
FIRST AMERICAN FLAG IN FRANCE
Americans in the Legion came and went.
Singly or in groups they went, wounded into
hospitals, prisoners into Germany. Dead, they
took the western trail. Missing, they disap-
peared into oblivion. A few were permitted
to exchange into French Regiments, where,
mothered by France, they were welcomed as
her own.
August 21, 1914, in the court yard of the
Hotel des Invalides, occurred that grand
in battle of the Aisne, 1914, and the attack in Champagne,
1915; — wounded October 19," 1915, entered Aviation and proved
a remarkable pilot — forced an enemy to fall in October
when protecting aviators who were attacking an enemy's
observation balloon."
Lincoln Chatco£F, Brooklyn, New York, one of the old
originals, went from the Legion into Aviation and was
decorated with the Croix de Guerre. Unable to get per-
mission to go to England, he demanded a pass to Paris. He
went to the Minister of War's office, explained his case, and
said, —
"Now, I want to know the truth."
"About what?"
"Whether I am a Legionnaire or an Aviator?"
"You look like an Aviator,"
"Well, am I one or not?"
51
52 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
mobilization of foreigners, who, in admira-
tion for France, placed their lives at her
disposal. Grouped together, each under a sep-
arate standard, these cast the vote of inspir-
ing constituents, lovers of freedom, back
home.
Next day, the American volunteers assem-
bled at No. 11 Rue de Valois, and had break-
fast through the courtesy of M. Georges Cas-
meze at the Cafe de la Regence. Starting out
from the Palace Royale in the Latin Quarter,
that corner of old Paris where, in by-gone days,
Camille Desmoulins jumped on a chair and
made the speech that started the French Rev-
olution, these latter day revolters against the
"Divine Right of Kings" and absolute monarch-
"You must be one."
"Am I one or not?"
"Yes."
"Then I demand to be treated as one."
"What do you want now?"
"Permission to go to England."
He got it.
He became an expert in his line. He used to take his old
friends up in the air, ask them if they had been to confes-
sion, or had said their prayers, then turn a double somer-
sault, finish with an Egyptian side wiggle and land his vic-
tims, gasping for breath. On June 15, 1917, he had aloft
an American ambulance man, who was killed by the process.
Chatcoff, himself, was sent to the hospital for repairs.
Kroegh was in the Legion the first year. He went down
with the boys to the Fourth of July wake in Paris. Then
AMERICAN FLAG IN FRANCE 53
ism began the greatest adventure the world has
ever known.
The volunteers marched through the Place
de r Opera, Phelizot carrying high and proudly
the Stars and Stripes, which received a great
ovation en route. Thence to the Gare St. La-
zare, to Rouen, where they met retreating Eng-
lish soldiers, many wounded and utterly ex-
hausted. Thence to Toulouse, whence, after a
very brief training, they were sent to the front.
February, 1915, in the village of repose there
occurred one of those lamentable misunder-
standings, which, in spite of official far-sight-
edness, occasionally happen in the best regu-
lated organizations. Begun in fun, it ended in
he went to Norway, where he organized and brought back
a detachment of Norwegian Ski-runners, who hauled provi-
sions and wounded men over the snow-clad hills of the
Vosges in the winter of 1915-1916.
Eugene Jacobs, from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, went from
the Legion to the 170th, where he became one of the best
liked sergeants. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre
for bravery. A butcher by trade, he now carries a carving
knife on the end of his rifle.
Bamere was killed at la Cote. His little brother, Pierre,
15 years old, who had come from America to be as near him
as possible, was working at the American Express Company's
office at the Rue d'Opera, Paris, when the bad news came.
He quit his good situation, stopped correspondence with all
friends, and lived through his grief silently and alone, like the
little man he is.
99
54 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
death, and almost started a civil war between
volunteers and Legionnaires.
A little New Yorker commenced to chaff and
jolly a big, burly Arab, who, not understanding
American methods of joshing, thought the lit-
tle fellow was desperately in earnest; and, of
course, he got angry, as he was expected to.
What the Arab intended to reply was that he
could whip two men like his tormenter. He
did say he could whip two Americans. Phe-
lizot, coming on the scene just then, overhear-
ing the remark, yelled, — "You can't whip one,
and waded in to educate the Arab.
In about two minutes, the Arab had enough,
and ran among a crowd of Legionnaires for
John Laurent, a quiet, gentlemanly man, was in the Legion
till October 12, 1915, when he changed into the 170th. An
actor in civil life, he became a real, living actor in the most
stupendous tragedy ever staged. He plays his part to
perfection.
Collins, writer and journalist, passed the first year of the
war in the trenches of France. Evacuated for inspection, the
next we heard of him w^as from the Balkans. Wounded, he
turned up in Paris for convalescence. Then, back to the
French front. He became such a truthful and realistic writer,
through actual experience, that the censor cut out the half of
the last article he wrote to the New York Herald; and the
public hears from him no more.
Charles Trinkard, Brooklyn, went through the Croanelle
and Champagne affairs with the Foreign Legion. He was
wounded in Champagne September 25, 1915. Afterwards he
AMERICAN FLAG IN FRANCE 55
protection. One of the Legionnaires swung a
canteen and hit Phelizot on the head, who did
not stop till he beat the Arab to the ground.
Morlae, Capdevielle and other volunteers ran to
Phelizot's aid. Legionnaires flocked from all
comers. A pitched battle seemed imminent.
An officer heard the tumult, happening along,
and separated them. The Arabs were trans-
ferred to another battalion. The Americans
were herded into a loft and placed under ar-
rest; while sentinels walked underneath, with
fixed bayonets, till the Arabs had been moved,
bag and baggage.
The doctor who dressed Phelizot's wound
probably did not know the canteen was rusty.
Possibly he did not know he was hit by a can-
joined the Aviation, and was killed in combat, November 29,
1917. His machine fell into a village occupied by the Legion.
A few minutes after his death permission arrived allowing
him, after three years' service, to visit his American home.
Charles & Sweeney, a West Pointer, rose in the Legion
successively to corporal, sergeant, lieutenant and captain. He
was wounded in the head in 1915. Decorated with the Legion
of Honor and Croix de Guerre, he returned to America. On
the declaration of war, he became a major in the American
Army and drilled rookies at Ft. Meyer, Va. He carried the
colors that enwrapped O'Conners coffin — the Stars and
Stripes and the Tri-color, to O'Connel's home at Carthage,
Mo.
Oscar Mouvet, San Francisco, brother of M. Maurice and
Florence Walton, the dancers, joined the Legion, August, 1915.
He was wounded, also decorated with the Croix de Guerre,
S6 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
teen. At any rate, he did not give an anti-te-
tanic injection. The injured man steadily grew
worse. He was not a squealer, and insisted on
marching in line till the pain became unbear-
able. When too late, his condition was discov-
ered. He had contracted blood poison which
resulted in his death.
He was a splendid specimen of manhood, an
American first, last, all the time. A dead shot,
he was hunting elephants in Africa when the
war broke out. In spite of having a large con-
signment of ivory confiscated by the Germans
in Antwerp, he donated several thousand francs
to the Belgian Relief Fund.
By his untimely death, the Legion lost one
of its strongest characters, France a fine soldier
July 4, 1916. He served five months in the Aviation, then
returned to the Legion; and in December, 1917, was again
seriously wounded.
Professor Orlinger, Columbia University, New York City,
put in the first winter in Croanelle, changed to the 167th,
wounded and invalided home. Short of stature, the long
strides he made on march, to keep step, were an additional
attraction in the ever-interesting adventure.
Algernon Sartoris, son of Nellie Grant, daughter of Gen-
eral U. S. Grant, former President of the United States, serves
at present in the Foreign Legion.
Paul Pavelka, Madison, Conn., an old timer, bound up
Kiffin Rockwell's bayonet wound at Arras, May 9, 1915. It
was his section that started the attack on the Bois de Sabot
in Champagne in 1915. Orders came to reconnoitre the Boche
position. Everybody knew that these trenches were German.
AMERICAN FLAG IN FRANCE 57
and America a good citizen. He was buried at
Ferme d' Alger. His last words, were, — "I am
an American.''
The flag was carried by Phelizot until his
death. Then, Bob Soubiron wrapped it about
his own body and so kept it until he was
wounded in October, 1915. On his recovery,
February, 1916, it was taken to the Aviation,
and, July 14, 1917, presented, by Dr. Watson,
to the French Government. It was deposited
in the Hotel des Invalides along with the other
historic battle flags of France. The Minister
of War acknowledged its receipt, — "I accept
with pleasure, in the name of the French army,
this glorious emblem, for which General Noix,
Governor of the Invalides, has reserved a beau-
They could see the rifles of the soldiers over the trench tops.
Musgrave said, "Let's go see what in hell sort of a show they
have over there." The section, about forty men, went and
just two, Pavelka and Musgrave, both Americans, came back.
After fourteen months in the trenches, he changed to the
Aviation. He, a splendid marksman, put twelve bullets out
of twelve shots, into a moving target at one hundred yards.
Killed near Monastir, November 1, 1917, buried at Salonica.
Frank Musgrave, San Antonio lawyer, a long-limbed raw-
boned Texan, not only looks but acts the part. Original as
they make them, even in original states. It was a joy to meet
such a character. After dodging death in Champagne, he
changed into the 170th and at Verdun was captured during
an attach, in the spring of 1916, by the Boche. He is now a
prisoner in Germany.
Frank J. Baylies, New Bedford, Mass., drove ambulance
58 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
tiful place in the Hall of Honor in the Museum
of the Army."
United States Army United States Army
INDIVIDUAL SERVICE
MEDAL
Spanish-American War
in Serbia in 1916. Went into the French Aviation. At Luf-
berry's death, he became the leading American Ace and was
himself killed June 17. 1918, The news of how he was shot
down in combat with German aviators, and went to his death
among the flames of his machine on German soil, was brought
in a letter dropped by an enemy pilot. He brought down 11
CHAPTER V
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION
Within this oresent generation, men like
Lord Kitchener, ^King Peter of Serbia, Vemof,
a Russian prince, and Albert F. Nordmann,
who died in Algeria and was reported a relative
of Kaiser Wilhelm II, belonged to this famous
corps. Thi3 chapter presents some illustrious
foreigners who have served during this war.
Nagar Aza, son of the Persian minister to
France, decorated for bravery and three times
cited in Army Orders, again cited and deco-
Boche machines, was promoted to lieutenant, and decorated
with the Legion of Honor.
David £. Putnam, Brookline, Mass., descendant of General
Israel Putnam, succeeded Baylies as chief American Ace with
12 Boche machines to his credit. In the month of June,
1918, he brought down seven machines. Killed in combat
September 18, 1918.
Paul Ingmer, New York City, American of Danish extrac-
tion, joined the Legion in 1916, went up on the Somme for a
preliminary, though bottled up in the Legion, like Johnny
Walker's whisky, is still going strong, and getting better
with age.
Nicholas Karayinis, New York. One of the Americans
who lived to tell about it. Changed from Legion to American
Army.
Csrrus F. Chamberlain, Minneapolis, Minn. Killed in com-
59
6o SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
rated for brilliant conduct at Auberive, April
17, 1917.
Edwin Bucher, a Swiss sculptor, pupil of Ro-
den and Bourdelle, has marked the resting
places of the Foreign Legion by carving exqui-
site figures on the solid walls of everlasting
rock.
Marquis de Montesquion, compelled to leave
the French Army because his Catholic soul
would not permit him to dismantle churches,
joined the Foreign Legion. On Sept. 28, 1915,
when acting as Lieutenant in Battalion G, 2nd
Legion, he saw a German white flag projecting
from the enemy's position. He went over with
eight men to take possession and all were shot
down by the treacherous enemy and killed.
bat while he and a Frenchman were fighting twelve German
aviators. Odds 6 to 1. Chamberlain's number, "Spad 98," in-
dicated that he flew a Spad machine. He was the last Ameri-
can in the Lafayette Escadrille, which he refused to leave,
fearing that elsewhere he'd miss the fighting. Though he lost
his life, he gained the admiration of a brave people, and
freely gave his blood to cement the tie that binds the two
Republics. Decorated with the Croix de Guerre. Buried at
Coulommiers.
Harold E. Wright Along with others, had much trouble
getting discharged from the French army. June 6, 1918, was
ordered to Paris to be transferred to American Army. No
papers. Waited around for weeks. Went to French Minister
of Aeronautics for information. Was told to report to the
Commander of the Fourth Army at the Front, where he was
arrested as a deserter, and ordered to be shot at sunrise.
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 6i
M. Lobedef, a Russian, promoted to lieuten-
ant in 1915. He later returned to Russia and
became Minister of Marine.
Abel Djebelis, a Maltese, winner of the Mar-
athon race between Windsor and London, Eng-
land, June, 1914. He was wounded at Cham-
pagne in 1915 and on the Somme in 1916, by
two bullets each time. While waiting to be
mustered out at Lyons, July, 1917, he entered
a race under the name of Marius, and won from
twenty competitors. Discharged for disability.
M, Valsamakis, a Greek, rose to a lieutenancy
in the Legion and was decorated with the Le-
gion of Honor. He returned home and was ar-
rested in Athens for participating in the street
riots of December, 1916.
Friends interceded, and he was ordered to report at the Bu-
reau of Recruitment, Paris, where he received his discharge
from the French Army, dated January 21, several days before
he was sentenced to be shot. Again arrested on orders of the
Prefect of Police, an examination of his papers resulted in
his being catalogued with the U. S. Army. Provost Marshal
receipted for him as for a bale of merchandise.
Manual Moyet, Alabama. American Legionnaire, wounded
near Soissons, May, 1918. Three times cited for bravery.
Last citation: "Legionnaire Manual Moyet, during the Vi-
lers-Bretioneaus combat, withstood effectively with his auto-
matic rifle, the enemy machine guns, deciding the progress of
his section. Afterwards he broke up several counter attacks
along the front." He wrote from a hospital bed to a friend,
"Believe me, I am sure that after the war it is going to be
the greatest honor to have served in the Foreign Legion. I
62 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Piechkoff Gorky, Russian, son of Maxim
Gorky, the novelist, had an arm blown away by
a shell. He received the Legion of Honor for
bravery and is now attached to the Russian
Mission in France.
Brimo and I^eppino Garibaldi, Italians, sons
of an illustrious- father, killed in bayonet attack
in Artois, spring of 1915. French admirers
have had their profiles, in a medal, fitted into
the statue of Garibaldi in the Square Lowendal,
Paris. The square is named for one Legion-
naire, the statue is built for another.
Eilyaken, an Egyptian, was attending the
Conservatory of Music at Brussels when the
war broke out. A natural born actor, he bur-
am getting better and hope to be ready for duty in a month.
As I grow older I understand things better and better; we
are not fighting for fun, but for liberty. After you have
killed two or three Boches you do not mind dying. The spirit
of the Legion is wonderful, although many of the most
famous of the Legionnaires are dead. Should I live to be a
hundred years, I shall never forget a man from my section
who, mortally wounded, lay between the lines shouting, *Vive
la France, Vive la Legion. I die, but I am satisfied to die for
Liberty!'"
Elof Nelson, a real, quiet, pleasant man, changed from the
Legion to the 170th. The only Swede in the Legion at that
time, he adopted the Americans. He was killed on the
Somme in 1916.
George Marquet, New York, three times wounded — the
last time on July 1, 1916, at Hill 304, near Verdun. His com-
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 63
lesqued the military system of the Legion so
accurately that the sous-officers managed to
keep him in prison in order to silence his cut-
ting sarcasm. He was shot, square through
both cheek bones, in the Champagne attack, in
1915, and carried to shelter on the back of an
officer. Mustered out in 1916.
An East Indian, name unknown, blew in,
with a blaze of glory, between two French mili-
tary policemen. He was dressed in English
khaki — leggings, spy-glass, map-book, canteen,
haversack, spurs, a brand new English rifle,
with a pocket full of 100 franc notes.
''What is that, an English soldier?"
"No, a civilian.''
Such he proved to be, a practicing physician
pany, the 8th of the 6th Regiment of the Line, after defend-
ing the hill against continued Boche attacks, out of 200 men,
had only one sergeant and twenty-four men at the close of
that memorable day.
Jack Noe, Glendale, L. I., Foreign Legion, was wounded
in the attack near Rheims in the spring of 1917, and captured
in the general mix-up. He escaped and made his way back to
the Freyich lines.
R. Hard^ Rosebank, Staten Island, New York, having only
one eye, went into the gas manufacturing works, and com-
menced to fill gas shells with a bicycle pump. Gradually, the
business developed till ten men could turn out 1,875 shells
every ten hours. A thin, wiry man, the gas fumes affected his
heart. Stout men get the poison in the lungs.
Henry La Grange went to France at the outbreak of war
and was ordered to the Foreign Legion: "No," he said, "I
64 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
in London, who had equipped himself, and ar-
rived at the little village where the Legion was
in repose. A stout man, the officer in command,
addressed the East Indian, —
"Why don't you report yourself at headquar-
ters r '
''How can I report myself, till I can find the
place to report?"
"Why don't you report to your superior of-
ficer?"
"I can't report to him till I can find him, can
I?"
"Don't you know I am your superior officer;
— why don't you salute?"
"If you are, consider yourself saluted."
The Major roared, in disgust — "Here, ser-
geant, take this fool to prison."
want to go to my grandfather's regiment, the 8th. If I can't
join that I will not go at all." His great-grandfather had
fought in Egypt. The grandson, following the old man's
footsteps, rose to the rank of sergeant. He was decorated
with the Croix de Guerre and, later, detailed to America to
instruct the growing army in artillery observation.
Mjojlo Milkovich, of San Francisco, a professional boxer,
left the Golden West with $6,000 in his pocket and s^n elab-
orate wardrobe. He was torpedoed in the "Brindisti" and,
after five hours in the water, reached shore, naked as the
day he was born. At Corfu, Greece, he joined the French
Army, was wounded on the Bulgarian front and tended in the
Scottish Woman's Hospital at Salonica. After his recovery
he went direct to the front, and, again severely wounded, was
sent to France. At quarters one day he accosted me:
"What, you understand English?"
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 65
De Chamer, Swiss, a major in the Swiss Na-
tional Army, fought his way up in the Legion
from a private to a captaincy. The Swiss resi-
dents of Paris showed appreciation of their
countrymen in the service of France by inviting
them to a banquet held in the Palais d'Orsay,
on Independence Day, Aug. 1, 1917.
Emery, Swiss, a student of Oxford Univer-
sity, England, outspoken, independent and in-
telligent — a good comrade, was killed on the
Sortime, July, 1916.
Ben Azcf , an Arab, an Oriental priest, always
wanted water, when there was none. He would
flop onto his knees, face toward the East, and
bow his forehead to the ground. Then get up
"Yes."
"Are you an American?"
"Yes."
"So am I, — can't speak a word of French."
The three main cords of his leg were severed by shell
splinters. He chafed at the slow hospital life, and, every sec-
ond day, he pounded the doctors on the back. "Why don't
you let me go back to America? You have got my leg, you
know I can never march again. Why don't you let me go
home?" He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre, with
the following citation: "A very good soldier, seriously
wounded, advancing resolutely to attack * a village very
strongly fortified."
I asked him what he saw down in the Balkans.
"I saw enough — so that I'll never forget it."
"Well, what did you see?"
66 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
on the trench and rail at the Germans for their
swinish propensities and ruthless rapacity.
A shell dropped into his section. His com-
rades threw themselves on the ground and
yelled : — ''Get down, you blamed fool, you'll be
killed r
Ben Azef stood majestically erect, gazed
calmly and contemplatively at the shell (for-
tunately it was a dud- — one which fails to ex-
plode) and said, — "My friends, death to me is
not destruction. It is the consummation of my
material life,^ — the commencement of my Life
Divine."
He was shot dead through the heart, in 1916.
"I saw enough to make me sick."
"Well, what did you see?
"I saw boys seven and eight years old with throats cut.
'How many did you see?"
"Seven or eight at least.
'What else?"
"I saw young girls who tried to protect themselves with
faces streaked with knife wounds — some had their noses cut
off."
"What else did you see?"
"I saw old women laying in corners dying of hunger —
I saw others out in the fields eating grass."
* Milton Wright, an American citizen, born of American
parents, went from Philadelphia to France on a four-masted
ship. On shore, without a passport, was arrested by the
gendarmes, who communicated with his captain, who replied:
•^J.
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 67
Ch. A. Hochedlinger, an educated Polish gen-
tleman, speaks half a dozen languages, was
twice wounded. When in hospital, he met and
married a lovely French girl from Algiers, who
now conducts his business at Bordeaux, while
he gives his services to France.
•
Michal Ballala, an Abyssinian Prince, in spite
of his color, had the dainty figure and elegant
bearing of a woman of fashion. He was
wounded in 1915.
Colonel Elkington, of the English Royal
Warwickshire Regiment, served as a private
soldier in the Legion. He was seriously
wounded in the attack on the Bois Sabot, Sept.
28, 1915. He was decorated with the Croix de
Guerre and Medaille Militaire.
"We don't want him. He is a German spy." So he was in
prison four or five months. He was then told he could go
into the Foreign Legion for the period of the war. He did not
understand, as he could not speak French. The French
officials did not speak English. He was signed up for five
years. The skipper owed him several weeks' wages. His
going left an opening to take back Frenchmen who would
give thousands of dollars to get away and escape military
service. Wright was an innocent, honest fellow, a victim
of circumstances. But he felt he was wronged and would not
drill. Finally, after being worried almost crazy, he was
given a railroad ticket to Boulogne, and mustered out.
James Ralph Doolittle, of New York, started in the ambu-
lance. He found it too slow for a live man, so he joined the
Foreign Legion. He was decorated with the Croix dc
Guerre, with palm. He was a splendid fellow, good soldier
68 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
One morning, on inspection, an Alsatian
Captain of the Legion, noticing he was short a
button, said, — "No button ? Four days confined
to quarters/'
>>
Elkington replied, — "Merci, mon capitaine.
(Thank you, my captain.)
On recovery from his serious wounds, he re-
turned to England and was reinstated in his
former rank.
Said Mousseine and his two brothers, sons of
Sultan AH of the Grand Comorres, who, being
too old to fight, sent his best beloved to aid the
country he holds so dear. Said was promoted
and a gentleman. He was three times wounded. The last
time he dropped 600 feet, breaking an ankle and seriously dis-
figuring his face. He passed his convalescence in Am'erica,
November, 1917.
Dr. Julian A. Gehrung, of the New York Eye and Ear
Infirmary, offered his services to the then personally con-
ducted American Ambulance. He did not know they wanted
chauffeurs and drivers, who could be ordered about, rather
/ than doctors and men of established reputation who could run
^ their own affairs. So, he, known in America from coast to
coast, was snubbed. March 24, 1917, he was offered by the
French Government, the supervision of a large hospital.
Accidentally meeting an American soldier of the Legion, a
French officer came along, patted him on the back and said,
"Ha, ha, you have got a fine appointment. You have found
a compatriot. You are now satisfied." Quick as a shot, the
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 69
to corporal and transferred to the 22nd Colo-
nials.
Augustus St. GaudenSy cousin of the sculptor
who made the Adams monument in Rock Creek
cemetery, Washington, D. C, whose father
lived near the old Academy of Design on Fourth
Avenue, New York.
Another cousin of St. Gaudens, Homer, is in
charge of the 300 men in the U. S. Army, known
as the Camouflage Corps, or the army in ad-
vance of the army.
Varma,* a Hindoo, black whiskered, silent.
Let those speculate about him who would, let
them glean what information they could.
answer came back, "No, I am not satisfied, I want to be sent
to the front."
James Paul, St. Louis, Mo., twenty years old, the first
American killed in the Legion after the United States went
into the war, was an enthusiastic grenadier. He was decorated
with the Croix de Guerre for having alone, with grenades,
stopped a night attack at Bellay-en-Santerre, July, 1916. He
was murdered by a treacherous prisoner, whose life he had
spared. Having killed the Germans in that dugout, excepting
this prisoner, who threw up his hands and cried "Kamerad,"
Paul started to run to the next dugout, when the German
♦ In Aug., 1918, a man same name, same type, was arrested
in Paris by the gendarmes for making and selling bogus
diamonds.
70 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
M. Ariel, a Turk, dealer in antiques in civil
life. He was seriously wounded on the Somme,
in 1916. I met him at Legion headquarters a
year later and found him carrying a purse made
of his own skin.
E. Seriadis, a Greek, was a Lieutenant in the
Army of Greece. He had three medals from the
Balkan wars. These he refused to wear because
King Constantine's face disgraced them. He
was seriously wounded in the body in 1915, and,
during the winter of 1916, all the toes of both
feet were frozen off. At the age of twenty-
three, he was mustered out — used up.
Tex Bondt, a Hollander, a wonderful char-
acter, a splendid specimen of manhood, brave
#
grabbed a rifle and shot him in the back through the heart.
Barry and other Americans paid special attention to that pris-
oner. He did not die then, but, some hours later, when the
Legion was being relieved, he breathed his last.
George Delpesche, of New York City, an energetic mem-
ber of the Legion, and an excellent scout, a volunteer for
dangerous missions, lived through places where others were
killed; but he was wounded in 1916 and transferred to the
35th Regiment of the Line with headquarters at Fort Brezille,
Besancon. Decorated with the Croix de Guerre for taking,
alone and unaided, five prisoners.
Emile Van de Kerkove, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, of Bel-
gian descent, three times wounded, while in the 246th Regi-
ment, was decorated with the Medaille Militaire for having
alone, with a machine gun,, repelled a Boche attack. He is
now in the 10th Regiment of the Line.
JAN DER TEX BONDT
PlK>u«tai)fa ukm (be day he «DllBted.
y2 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
as a lion, quick as a steel trap, the only son of
a Count, with an unbroken lineage, extending
back for 800 years, his record in the Legion
would fill a book.
He went out and captured two Germans sin-
gle handed. He tried to capture a third but was
discovered. He threw a grenade, and, both
sides taking alarm, started an engagement. He
was between the lines and was reported miss-
ing. Four hours later, he presented himself
alive.
In Alsace he worked and slaved to chop up a
poor peasant woman's wood-pile — ^just to show
her a Hollander could keep his word.
William Lawrence Bresse, a son-in-law of Hamilton Fish,
was killed in action.
Ivan Nock, Baltimore, Foreign Legion, formerly sergeant
in the Maryland Militia, a civil mining engineer, came from
Peru to help France. He was wounded in the head by an
explosive bullet near Rheims, April 20, 1917. He was dec-
orated with the Croix de Guerre, with the following brilliant
citation: "A grenadier of remarkable courage, wounded
April 20, 1917, by a bullet in the head, just after he had shot
down his fifth German. He cried: *I will not leave the field
until I have killed my sixth Boche!* He kept his word."
Paul Norton, architect, died of wounds received in action.
Kiffin Yates Rockwell, a real American, born in Atlanta,
Ga. One of his ancestors was a staff officer in Washington's
Continental Army. Kiffin served the first winter in the
trenches with the Foreign Legion, and was wounded in a
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 73
He was shot through the lungs and taken
to the hospital. Months later, reporting
at the depot, 'he was informed that he was
dead.
«
When on convalescence in Paris, living on
one meal per day, he met one of France's most
accomplished and wealthy daughters. He is
now her acknowledged suitor.
Seeing him in prison one day, I asked, —
"What are you in for?"
"Nothing."
"How's that?"
"Well, a friend in London asked me why I
did not write about Legion life, and I responded,
— 'My dear fellow, if I wrote you all I know
— — - - — — -
bayonet attack at Arras, June, 1915. He helped form the
Franco-American Escadrille. He was killed at Rodern, in cap-
tured German Alsace, September 23, 1916, by an explosive
bullet, when in combat with a German machine, and fell a
few hundred yards back from the trench, within two miles
of where he shot down his first Boche machine. He was
decorated with the Medaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre and
buried at Luxeuil, Vosges. Asked why he entered the Le-
gion, he said: "I came to pay the debt we owe, to La Fayette,
to Rochambeau."
Paul Rockwell, brother of KifHn, also spent the first win-
ter in the Legion. He was badly wounded and mustered out.
Remaining in Paris, he devoted his time to bringing the two
Republics closer together, and easing the hardships of his
former comrades in the Legion, who recognized in him a true
friend. He was married to Mile. Jeanne Leygenes, whose
i
74 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
about the Legion, it would make your hair
stand on end !' ''
Sorensony a Dane, from Schleswig-Holstein,
formerly a policeman at St. Thomas, Dinish
West Indies. He came to me holding a letter
in his hand and said, —
"Just see here what those swine have done
— they have fined my mother a hundred marks
because she gave a crust of bread to a French
prisoner."
Poor fellow, the last I saw of him was on
Sept. 25, 1915, during the attack. He had been
buried by a shell — other soldiers had run over
him in the rush. After he worked through the
father was formerly Minister of Public Instruction. He is
at present on the front, attached to the General Headquarters
of the French Army.
Robert Rockwell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, thought cutting up
. as a surgeon in hospital not strenuous enough for a live wire,
so he joined the Aviation to do a little aerial operating.
F. Wilson, one of the old originals, used up on the front,
went into hospital service. At the regimental hospital, at
Orleans, he made a specialty of tending and easing the path
of poor, distressed brother Americans.
Billy Thorin, Canton, S. D., was wounded in the head at
the attack of the Legion on the Bois Sabot, September 28,
1915. He returned to the front and was gassed on the Somme,
July, 1916. He was fourteen months in hospital and mustered
out September, 1917. Formerly, he was a marine in the U. S.
Navy, also a sailor in the Chinese Imperial Navy. As a
(
FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION 75
loose earth and freed himself, I listened to him
as in clumsy French, English and Danish he
apologized to the captain for the broken straps
of his knapsack and a lost gun. His round
chest was flattened out, his face dirty and
bloody, grazed by hob-nailed boots, and blood
was trickling from a round hole in his forehead.
The captain, a good sort, patted him on the
back and told him to go to the Red Cross Sta-
tion. The poor fellow staggered away and was
never heard from again.
Guimeau, Mauritius Islands, a plantation
owner, of French descent, under British rule,
spoke French but no English. He was an ener-
getic character and a valuable member of the
machine gun section.
South Sea trader, he fought cannibals in the New Hebrides.
He had been severely wounded in the Mexican War. He says:
"Compared with a German, a Mexican is a gentleman."
Charles Jean Drossner, San Francisco, California, one of
the old originals, went through the hard fighting in 1915. He
was wounded in the hand and mustered out. He is the son
of a capitalist. A snippy under-officer in the Legion, not lik-
ing his independent remarks about the size of the eats, said:
"You have come into the Legion to get your belly full." The
American replied, "I may not get very much food, I don't
see that any one does, but I have money. Here, buy some- .
thing for the boys." He opened his vest and handed over
three 1,000 franc notes.
Matirice Davis, of Brooklyn, New York, rose to the rank
of lieutenant and was killed in action.
Harold Buckley Willis was reported killed September 3,
76 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
In 1915, after taking several lessons in tac-
tics, he went to the lieutenant, —
"What are we waiting here for? Why don't
we go to the front ?"
*'We are waiting for the guns."
"How many are needed for our section and
how much do they cost ?"
"Two, at 2,000 francs each/'
"Well, here are 4,000 francs. Buy them and
let us get out where we belong.''
When he was about to change to the British
Army, the Colonel of the Legion, the Chief of
the Battalion and the Captain of the Company
waited for five minutes while the British Am-
bassador explained to Guimeau the benefits of
changing armies. After listening to the finish
1917, but later developments proved that, during a combat with
German machines, he was compelled to land on German
soil, August 18, and was taken prisoner.
Raoul Lufberry, Wallingford, Conn., Foreign Legion,
changed to Aviation, a real cosmopolitan American, for fif-
teen years had roamed the two hemispheres. Crippled by
rheumatism, he rode his aerial carriage and killed German
aviators for recreation. He served as a United States soldier
in the Philippines and held the marksmanship record in his
regiment. While engaged in railroad work in India, on
refusing to say "Sir" to a prominent citizen of Bombay, he
lost his job, just about the time the P. C. felt the toe of Luf-
berry's boot. He traveled in Turkey, Japan, China, Africa and
South America. October 12, 1916, the day Norman Prince
was mortally wounded, Lufberry got his fifth Boche machine.
By December, 1917, he had brought down, officially, eighttffh.
FOREIGNERS IX THE LEGION 77
he said, — "Will you repeat that in French? I
did not understand a word you said." Know-
ing* his desire to leave the Legion, his Captain
asked, why he, of French descent, speaking only
that language, should not be satisfied with his
comrades, who were proud of him. He replied,
—"The British flag is the flag of my country.
It protects me. I want to protect it." So he
went to Great Britain, and the British, not
knowing what to do with this handy, ready Le-
gionnaire, sent him to school.
Dinah Salifon, son of an African King from
the Soudan, Egypt, enlisted in 1914. He was
promoted to a Lieutenancy and decorated with
the Legion of Honor. He later became Com-
missioner of Police at Brazzarville.
He was the first American to be awarded the gold medal of
the Aero Club of France. He was also decorated with the
Croix de Guerre with six palms and a chevalier of the Legion
of Honor. In the spring of 1918, he was transferred and
promoted major in the American Army. Engaged in battle, a
bullet from the enemy punctured his gasoline tank. He
jumped from the burning machine to his death.
Joseph C. Stehlin, Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, brought
down a Boche machine, when he had only been twenty days
in service on the front. He attacked three enemy machines
alone and brought down one with a pilot, observer, and two
guns.
George Meyer, Brooklyn, New York, was killed in the
Foreign Legion, by a shell, while waiting for the order to go
over the top near Rheims, April, 1917.
Robert Arrowsmith, New Jersey, was wounded in the hip.
78 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Etchevarry, a French convict, escaped from
French Guiana, made his way to the United
States and returned to France, under an as-
sumied name, to fight for his native land. He
enlisted in the Foreign Legion. He made an
enviable record. But he was recognized and
ordered to return to the penal settlement. Meas-
ures were taken in his behalf by the Society of
the Rights of Men, in response to whose ap-
peal President Poincare signed a reprieve.
Etchevarry returned to the front a free man, in
December, 1915.
Nick Korneis, a Greek push-cart peddler,
who used to sell bananas at Twenty-third
Street and Avenue B, New York City, was dec-
orated for bravery at Verdun, with the follow-
and lying in hospital when America entered the war. The
wound not healing quickly, he objected to hospital life, be-
cause: "There is so much going on, and so much work to be
done."
Dr. David D. Wheeler, Buffalo, New York, practicing
physician, thought being a doctor in the rear was too much
of a shirker's business. So, he went into the Legion at the
front; and the Legionnaires still talk about the American, who
wore no shirt most of the time, who never unslung his knap-
sack en route, who tented alone, who never bent the body or
dodged a bullet, who was supposed killed at the Bois Sabot,
but lived through it and was found in hospital. Wounded
himself seriously, he had cared for others professionally in
"No-Man*s-Land," .while under fire. He was decorated with
the Croix de Guerre with palm and mustered out, used up.
John Charton, Foreign Legion, seriously wounded by a
FOREIGNERS IN THE -LEGION 79
ing citation: "Korneis, Nick, Legionnaire, 11th
Company, Foreign Legion — Elite grenadier,
who on August 20, 1917, won the admiration
of all his comrades by his courage and contempt
for danger. He led his comrades to the con-
quest of a trench, which was defended with en-
ergy, and which was captured along a distance
of 1,500 yards, after several hours of bloody
combat; — took single handed, numerous pris-
oners; — already cited twice in Army Orders/'
Rene Betrand, New Jersey, was over two
years on the front, a member of the Regiment
Colonial of Morocco, which is part of the fa-
mous 19th Army Corps. He received the Croix
de Guerre for bravery, and at Douaumont,
Oct. 4, 1915, the Legion of Honor for person-
machine gun bullet in the attack on Bellay-en-Santerre, July 4,
1916, after months in hospital, was sent back as reinforcement
to a Zouave Regiment. He then went into the Aviation at
Avord.
Kenneth Weeks, of Boston, 25 years old, a graduate of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a member of
Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, author of "Driftwood," "Esau j
and the Beacon," "Five Impractical Plays," and "Science,
Sentiment and Sense." Passed the first winter in Battalion
D, of the 1st Legion in Rheims Sector. He was in the Arras
attack of May 9th and 10th, and mentioned for bravery. Act-
ing as a grenadier in an attack on Givenchy, June 17, 1915, he
was first reported missing, then captured; and, several months
later, officially, killed. He said, "Mother, is it not better that
I should die than that the Germans should come over here?"
Paul Raoul le Dous, Detroit, Michigan, promoted to ser-
8o SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
ally finishing oflf a Boche machine gun section
and bringing in the gun. That is the record
a well built, uninjured man on board ship gave
me when I asked him how he had earned the
Legion of Honor, and why he wore the foura-
gere of the Foreign Legion. In July, 1918, a
man, same name, turned up in Paris decorated
with nine medals, minus an arm and a leg,
claiming his body bore more than 30 bullet and
bayonet wounds. The gendarmes promptly ar-
rested him as the world's greatest fakir, de-
clared he had lost the arm and leg in a railroad
accident and that five imprisonments instead of
five citations composed his record.
geant, decorated with the Medaille Militaire for saving his
captain's life on the Ancre.
Ernest Walbron, Paterson, New Jersey, volunteered at
the start of the war, fought in Artois, Verdun and the Somme.
In August, 1916, was detailed as interpreter to an English
Regiment, while leading it to the front was hit by a piece of
shell. As no one else knew the way, he kept going till he
reached the destination, then fainted. He could not be taken
back on account of the bombardment. Gangrene set in and
t\\s leg was amputated. He was decorated with the French
Croix de Guerre and Medaille Militaire, also with the English
Military Medal.
Andrew Walbron, brother of Ernest, decorated with the
Croix de Guerre, Corporal in the 78th Regiment, has been
wounded four times.
Paul Maffart, American, Foreign Legion, 19 years of age,
killed.
Haviland, Minnesota, brought down his first Boche ma-
chine, April 28, 1917.
Ronald Wood Hoskier, South Orange, New Jersey, a Har-
vard graduate, Aviator. His father is also in France in Red
Cross work. Hoskier fell while he and his companion were
CHAPTER VI
ENGLISHMEN AND RUSSIANS LEAVE
About 350 Englishmen were with the Amer-
icans in the same Battalion of the 2nd Legion.
They had enlisted when the Huns were advanc-
ing on Paris. Common peril drew the bravest
of all countries to the front. Possibly, they
were promised later transfer to the English
Army; but, once in the Legion, they were as
nuns in a convent, to do as told, dead to the
outside world.
An American writer has said, "England's
greatest assets are pg Afio t iatn and money.'' He
overlooked the foundation of both — MEN. The
figrhting six Boche machines. He and two Boche fell among
the advancing English troops and were all killed, April 23,
1917. Cited in General Orders of the French Army: "Ser-
geant Ronald Wood Hoskier, an American, who volunteered
for service in the French Army. He showed splendid conduct
and self-sacrifice. He fell on April 23, 1917, after defending
himself heroically against three enemy machines."
Paul Perigord, college professor, formerly an instructor in
St. Paul Seminary, later a parish priest at Olivia, Minn., went
to France and into the trenches at the outbreak of hostilities.
Cited four times in army orders, decorated with the Croix
de Guerre, promoted to a Lieutenancy in the 14th Regiment of
the Line. Later, he returned to America on a patriotic lectur-
ing mission.
Victor Chapman, son of John Jay Chapman, was one o'f
the splendid fellows that it was a pleasure to meet and never
8i
82 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Englishman dares to do and does it. He knows
his rights. He insists on them.
After the Germans were driven back at the
Marne, with trench conditions established,
these men demanded to be sent home to fight
for their native land. They went to the Cap-
tain, who could not help. They went to the
Colonel, who would not. They had the British
Ambassador request their release from the
French War Department, with no better re-
sults. Ere they were transferred, the subject
was brought up in the Chamber of Deputies.
Just before they left, a number went to the
company captain with their breakfasts, cups of
black coffee, in their hands.
to forget. Changing from the Legion to the Aviation he was
killed near Verdun, June 23, 1916, in a battle with French
comrades against German machines. The "Petit Parisian"
headline announcing the event, said: "The king of the air
dies like a king." Harvard University students have raised
a fund, known as the Victor Chapman Scholarship Fund, of
$25,000, bearing interest of $1,000 a year, which is set aside for
the education of a worthy French student. A young man
from Lyons is at present at Harvard, perpetuating and ce-
menting the ties for which Chapman gave his life.
Eugene Galliard, Minneapolis, Minn., served two years in
the trenches, twice wounded, was mustered out as a lieu-
tenant and returned to America.
John Huifer, an American of the Legion, was decorated
with the Medaille Militaire, and the Croix de Guerre, with
five citations, four being palms.
ENGLISHMEN AND RUSSIANS LEAVE 83
**What is this, mon capitaine?"
"Your little breakfasts, mes enfants."
"This would not keep a chipping sparrow
alive — let alone a man."
"You received a half loaf of bread yester-
day."
"Yes, but we ate that yesterday."
"Well, I am sorry. That is the regular ra-
tions of the French Army. I cannot change it."
Walking away, disgruntled, a cockney mut-
tered to his comrade, — " 'E thinks we are
blooming canaries !"
The bull-dog tactics of the persistent English
did not appeal to the officers of the Legion.
Probably the last to go were Poole and Darcy,
Bennet Molter, an American, went from Mexico to
France, changed his animosity from Carranza to the Kaiser;
and was seriously wounded July, 1917.
Christopher Charles, of Brooklyn, New York, 21 years
old, machine gun operator, has been in all attacks since Sep-
tember, 1914. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre at
Chalons, July 14, 1917. At Bordeaux, I met his marraine
(godmother), who said, — "Yes, I know Christopher Charles.
I met him when he was wounded in hospital here. That boy
is an American. His place is in his own country now. I
will get him out of the Legion if I have to go to Washington
to do it."
Norman Barclay, New York City, formerly of Long Island,
aviator, was killed by aeroplane, nose diving. Had two
years' service on the front before being snuffed out. Killed
June 22, 1917.
84 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
two powerful silent fellows, who were in hos-
pital, delayed by unhealed wounds.
Originally, there were two Darcy brothers.
While making a machine gun emplacement,
they heard a noise in front. One of the broth-
ers with half the detachment went out to in-
vestigate. The other stayed at work. A Ger-
man shell dropped into the emplacement and
killed, or knocked senseless, every man. Red
Cross workers, who gathered together the mu-
tilated and the shell-shocked Darcy, were star-
tled to hear some one in front. Looking around,
they saw the other Darcy drag his shattered
limbs over the edge of a shell hole. He expired,
saying, "The damned cowards ran away and
left me.'' The others were all killed.
Robert Mulhauser entered the Legion in 1914, changed to
the 170th in 1915, was decorated with the Croix de Guerre and
promoted to Lieutenant at Verdun. He has been cited in
Army Orders three times.
Walter Appleton, New York City, scion of the great Amer-
ican publishing house. The last time I met him was north
of Suippe, in the middle of the night, unloading barrels from
a wagon in the darkness, where the first line men connected
with the commissary. Zouaves with canvas pails of wine,
Moroccans carrying loaves of bread on their bayonets. Le-
gionnaires looking after their own, and ready to pick up any
straggling food. Dead horses and men lay alongside, a Ger-
man captured cannon, pointed to the rear, was near-by, sur-
rounded by broken caissons and German dead. Shells were
exploding overhead. We ran into each other in the mix-up,
shook hands, said "Hello," and separated into the night.
ENGLISHMEN AND RUSSIANS LEAVE 85
In June, 1915, after six months of constant
warfare, poor food, no furloughs, cold winter
weather and scanty clothing had so brought
down the morale of the men that they didn't
care whether they lived or not. They were ab-
solutely fed up to the limit on misery.
Many Russian Jews volunteered, as had the
English, to help France. Russia later called
her subjects to the colors. Negotiations were
under way in Paris to facilitate the exchange
of Russians from the Foreign Legion to the
Russian Army. They were informed that the
Colonel had received orders to permit their re-
turn to their native land.
Possibly, the negotiations had been com-
pleted — maybe not. Perhaps the Colonel was
Alan Seeger, a Harvard graduate, killed in bayonet at-
tack, in "No-Man's-Land," Independence Day, July 4, 1916.
Buried in the Army Zone. The only tears that will water the
flowers that grow on his hillside grave will be the evening
dew, even as he dropped his brilliant thoughts on the close
of life.
Seeger Gems: — "I love to think that if my blood has the
privilege to be shed, or the blood of the French soldier to
flow, then I despair not entirely of this world."
"When at banquet comes the moment of toasts, when
faces are illumined with the joy of life and laughter resounds,
then flows towards the lips that which I at other times much
loved, from the depth of the cup with the foam, as an atom of
blood on the juice of the vine."
"That other mighty generations may play in peace to their
heritage of joy, one foreigner has marched voluntarily toward
86 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
not officially instructed. However, the Russian
volunteers, relying on their information, when
ordered to dig trenches, refused to do so. They
demanded to be sent home. Officers argued
with them and pointed out the penalty of refus-
ing to obey when in front of the enemy. They
didn't care, would not work, and could not be
forced. So ten of the ringleaders were court-
martialed, sentenced to death, taken out into
the woods near the little village of Merf y, blind-
folded — shot. Tearing the bandage from his
eyes and baring his chest to the bullet, one cried
out, ''Long live France ; long live the Allies, but
God damn the Foreign Legion !"
Next morning the others refused to work
again, — "You have killed our brothers. Kill
his heroic martyrdom and marched under the most noble of
standards."
Letter to his mother:
"I am feeling fine, in my element, for I have always
thirsted for this kind of thing, to be present always where
the pulsations are liveliest. Every minute here is worth
weeks of ordinary experience. If I do not come out I will
share the good fortune of those who disappear at the pinnacle
of their careers!"
"Esteeming less the forfeit that he paid
Than undishonored that his flag might float
Over the towers of liberty, he made
His breast the bulwark and his blood the moat."
"Under the little cross, where they rise.
The soldier rests. Now, round him, undismayed,
9Hi
ENGLISHMEN AND RUSSIANS LEAVE 87
US also — we are not afraid to die/' They were
not killed but were court-martialed and sen-
tenced to fifteen years' penal servitude.
The third morning, no one would work.
These cheerful fatalists said, "We are Russians
— our country calls us — we demand to go, and
you tell us to go to work. We will not work.
You killed our brothers, kill us also. You may
mutilate our bodies, but you cannot crush our
souls." These also court-martialed, were sen-
tenced to ten years' penal servitude.
There were many Russians. They showed
no disposition to yield. Russians simply do not
know how to compromise. The load was get-
ting too heavy, — even for the broad shoulders
The cannon thunders, and at night he lies
At peace beneath the eternal fusillade."
G. Casmese, real friend, old soldier of the Legion, got
mixed up and disappeared in the quick-acting movements of
these chain-lightning times.
Russell A. Kelly, son of a New York stock broker, went
through the hard and early fighting and was killed at Giv-
enchy, June 17, 1915. His father, a true descendant of the
Isle of Unrest, on hearing the news said, — "He did his duty—
I do not complain."
John Hu£Fert, New York, would not drive a motor car in
the rear, so he scrambled out on top. In an aeroplane, he
became the hero of several desperate battles above.
Juan Roxas, Manila, Philippine Islands, son of the larg-
est land owner in the Philippines, having absorbed American
freedom, he is carrying it to Germany.
88 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
of officers of the Legion. The underground
wireless had been working. A sigh of relief
went up when a high Russian official, breast
covered with decorations, arrived from Paris.
About the same time, orders came from the
French headquarters to stop proceedings. The
penal servitude sentences were not carried out;
but they could not bring back the dead.
Inside of one month, Battalion F of the 2nd
Legion, to which the unhappy men belonged,
was merged with others. In two months, the
Russians were transferred to the Russian
Army. Four months later, the Regiment had
ceased.
William E. Dugan, 27 years old, Rochester, New York,
graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joined the
Legion, September 19, 1914, changed to aviation, October 15,
1915. E)ecorated with Croix de Guerre, wounded at Verdun.
Kenneth Proctor Littaner, Sergeant in military life, poet in
civil life, decorated and cited, as follows: — "A good pilot,
brave, devoted to duty, an excellent soldier, invariably show-
ing energy and coolness, especially on February 8, 1917, in
course of an engagement with a German machine, his aero-
plane hit in several places, he compelled his adversary to
retreat."
Narutz, an American philosopher, a serious personage,
went through the hard fighting of 1915 and was killed on the
Somme July, 1916.
Norman Prince, Boston, Mass., a Harvard man of splendid
character, was descending in the early darkness at Corcieux,
when his machine ran into a telegraph wire and tipped.
Taken to Gerardmer, while lying unconscious, the Legion of
Honor was pinned to his breast alongside of the Croix de
Guerre and the Medaille Militaire. That day he had brought
CHAPTER VII
TRENCHES
The real, well-made, manicured trench is
from two and a half to three feet wide and eight
or ten feet deep. The narrower the trench, the
better. It gives the least space for German
shells to drop in and blow occupants out. The
more crooked the trench the better. The enemy
has smaller chance to make an enfilading (rak-
ing lengthwise) fire. Here only are narrow-
ness and crookedness virtues.
Each trench is embellished with channels,
mines, saps, tunnels, subterranean passages
down a Boche machine, the third he had accounted for.
Cited as follows: — "Prince, Sergeant, Pilot in Squadron V. B.
108: — An American citizen, who enlisted for the duration of
the war; excellent military pilot who always shows proof of
the greatest audacity and presence of mind; — ever impatient
to start, he has executed numerous expeditions of bombard-
ment, particularly successful in a region which was difficult
in consequence of the firing of the enemy's artillery, by which
his aeroplane was frequently hit." Killed Octobed 15, 1916.
Fred Prince, brother of Norman, is now in the aviation,
while their father is one of the best friends of the Foreign
Lejfion boys; and they, like France, do not forget.
Dr. Van Vorst, from the middle west, a Spaniash War
veteran in America, adjutant in the Foreign Legion. He in-
troduced new sanitary ideas into the camps of repose and
kept the stretcher bearers busy cleaning up.
89
90 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
and bomb proof structures of various sorts. Out
in front, are from ten to fifty yards of barbed
wire entanglements, through which a Jack rab-
bit could not go without getting hung up. The
German has about the same arrangement on his
side. That piece of open ground between the
German wire and the French wire is known as
"No-Man's-Land." In the night, patrols of men,
German and French, promenade this strip, to
guard against surprise attacks, and make ob-
servations of the enemy.
Patrols often meet in conflict. Some never
come back. Others, wounded, must lie in shell
holes, awaiting an opportunity to return. At
the sign of an attack, darkness is lighted by
star shells. It is then necessary for the patrol
. " •
William Thaw, Pittsburgh, Pa., passed the first winter,
1914-15, in the trenches with the Legion, rose in aviation to
lieutenant. One of the best liked Americans in France. Cited
frequently in General Orders, decorated for bravery, wounded
in the arm. Promoted to Major in U. S. Army. One Citation:
"Thaw, pilot, corporal at that time of Squadron C. 42: — Has
always given proof of fine qualities, courage and coolness. On
two separate occasions, in the course of scouting tours, his
machine was violently shelled and was struck by shrapnel,
great damage being done. Nevertheless, he continued to ob-
serve the enemy's positions and did not return until he had
accomplished the object of his mission." Another citation:
"Lieutenant Wm. Thaw, an excellent pilot. He returned to
the front after receiving a serious wound, and has never failed
to set an example of courage and dash. During the German
retreat, he showed initiative and intelligence by landing near
TRENCHES 91
to get back to the wire-cut lane, or tunneled
hole under the wires where they went out, their
only refuge and chance for safety.
Back of the first line trench is the second,
back of that a third. In some places, there are
a dozen lines of trenches, different distances
apart, varying with local conditions. From
the rear, at right angles, interweaving like
meshes of a net, are the communication and
auxiliary branches through which men bring
up supplies, provisions and ammunition.
In the front line trenches, in addition to the
infantry's rifles and grenades, are machine guns
and trench mortars. Around the second line,
the 75s and field artillery. About the third
troops on the march, so as to place them in possession of
information. Brought down his second aeroplane, April 26th."
Braxton Bigelow, grandson of John Bigelow, author, New
York City, a mining engineer by profession, followed this
occupation in Alaska and South America, was promoted to
captain in France and disappeared in a trench raid, July 23,
1917.
Henry Claude, Boston, Mass., one of the Legion grena-
diers, was cited in the Orders of the Day and decorated for
conspicuous gallantry at Auberive, June, 1917.
Edward M. Collier, Bass Rocks, Iowa, Aviator, injured in
a smash-up June, 1917.
Elliot C. Cowdin, a Harvard man, member of the Foreign
Legion, home address Gramercy Park, Manhattan, and Cedar-
hurst, L. I. First American to receive the Medaille Militaire.
Citation: — "Cowdin, Sergeant, Pilot in Squadron V. B. 108, an
92 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
line, with the reserves, stand heavy artillery.
So, when one side attacks, they must cross
that open "No-Man's-Land,'' go through these
barbed wire entanglements, meet the rifle
fire and grenades of the infantry, and those
three rows of artillery. You can readily see
why the line remains stationary along the front
for so long, also how, when it has been broken
or bent, there has been such great loss of life.
It was in a bomb proof shelter of a first line
trench, in the middle of the night, at Sillery-
Sur-Marne, that I met the "American,^' whose
real name was Dubois. I did not then under-
stand French and had been placed on guard by
a French corporal who could not speak English.
He pointed to the hole, then at the Boche
American citizen engaged for the duration of the war; ex-
ecutes daily long bombardment expeditions, is an excellent
pilot and has several times attacked the enemy's aeroplanes.
He attacked them and forced them successively to descend;
one of them appeared to be seriously damaged, as was his
own and his motor by the firing from the German avion;
his helmet also bore the traces of several shots."
Snowy Williams has been in different sections of the
Foreign Legion, in Serbia, Albania, Egypt, Africa and France.
He was gassed, wounded, taken prisoner, almost burned to
death in hospital; but made his escape, was decorated with
the Croix de Guerre and twice cited in Army orders. A
famous jockey, he runs with the Legion rather than with
horses, and comes out, in both cases, a winner.
Everett Buckley, Kilbourne, Illinois, a former racing auto-
mobile driver, having competed with Barney Oldfield. On
TRENCHES 93
trench opposite, and walked away. The post
was well protected by sandbags and solid tim-
bers overhead, with an observation hole, one
inch deep by three inches wide, cut into armor
plate, in front. The usual, intermittent war-
fare was in progress, and it suddenly devel-
oped into a battle. The post was out on an
angle. Rifle flashes were all about. No one
was near in the open trench. So, getting un-
easy, I became afraid I was cut off or left
behind.
I started toward the trench just as a big shell
burst there. I ducked back, concluded the shel-
tered post was better than the open trench,
then glued my eye on the 1x3 observation hole.
Yes, no doubt, the Germans were advancing in
December 15, 1917, during a battle with a two sector Boche
machine, had his control cut, dropped 8,000 feet and arrived, a
prisoner, in Germany. Eight months later made his escape
into Switzerland.
M. Paringfield, of San Francisco, a soldier of the Legion,
^vas shot below the knee in an attack, spring of 1917. Killed
in autumn, 1917.
Allen Richard Blount, son of Richard Blount, the chemist
of North Carolina and Paris, entered the Foreign Legion with
his father's consent, who said he would be satisfied if the
boy killed five Boches. One morning that young man brought
thirty German prisoners into the French lines, received the
Croix de Guerre, a brilliant citation and a trip to Paris and
went back for more.
Edward Charles Genet, Sassening, New York, killed in
aeroplane near Ham, buried at Golancourt in a German ceme-
94 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
mass formation. I could see, through the little
hole, against the sky line, the bayonets on their
guns. A noise near my ear compelled my at-
tention. Then I felt and saw better. Those
bayonets were hairs, sticking straight out from
a big, fat, impudent rat, who sniffed along and
looked through the hole squarely into my eye.
I spat at the rat, which retreated a few inches,
then stopped to await developments. This
nerve angered me and I started to go outside
to throw a rock at the rodent, when a voice
behind said in English, — "Damn it, that cussed
sergeant has plugged it up.'*
From the shelter I could see a nondescript
figure clad in an old, abbreviated batn-robe, tas-
sels hanging down in front, shoes unlaced, rifle
tery. The machine was smashed, the body was placed in a
wagon, drawn by one horse, which also carried the wooden
cross that marked the grave. The U. S. flag covered the
coffin.
P. W. Zinn, Battle Creek, Michigan, graduate of University
of Michigan, passed the first year in the Legion. In Cham-
pagne attack, September, 1915, was hit by a chunk of metal
which did not break the skin, but broke bones and made in-
ternal troubles. On recovery, he went into the Aviation.
Later he was promoted to Captain in the U. S. Army. As
modest as he is brave, decorated for gallantry, having received
two citations in two weeks, he said: — "Do not say anything
about me, there are too many unknown Frenchmen who
deserve publicity more than L"
Harman Edwin Hall, killed at Givenchy, June 17, 1917.
W. R. Hall, or Bert Hall, of the old Legion, who went
TRENCHES 95
in hand, ruefully gazing at a new stack of sand-
bags, which blocked a small exit into "No-
Man's-Land." He might have been a soldier
but he did not look it. He might have been
French, but America was stamped all over that
free-moving, powerful figure, in his quick act-
ing, decisive manner and set jaws, square-cut,
like a paving block.
Thus, we two Americans, who had arrived
from different directions, each animated by
the same idea, sat down at the jumping off
place amid those unnatural surroundings and
got acquainted.
It was bizarre. The devilishness, the beauty,
alternately, shocked the senses and threw a
into the Aviation, well-known, well-liked, good soldier, dec-
orated with the Croix de Guerre with three citations. On fur-
lough in America June, 1918. Author of "En V Air."
James Norman Hall, Corporal, Colfax, Iowa, aviator,
author of "Kitchener's Mob," shot down two Boche machines
and destroyed a third. Four days later, June 25, 1917, fighting
seven machines, was wounded, and reported killed. However,
he managed to make the French territory and landed in an
empty trench with the wings of his machine resting on each
side. Writing to a friend, he said: — "I am flying 125 miles
an hour and now I see why birds sing." Hall was the first
American aviator to win the distinguished service cross of the
American Army.
John Earle Pike, Wooster, Ohio, Foreign Legion, killed
at oivenchy, June 17, 1915.
James B. llcConnell, 28 years of age, born in Chicago,
96 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
charming spell. Darkness and grotesque shad-
ows intermingled with colored illumination,
scattering streams of golden hail, followed by
red flame and acolytes, while sharp, w^hite
. streaks of cannon fire winked, blinked, were lost
in the never-ending din. Between the occa-
sional roll of musketry and the rat-rat-tat-tat of
machine guns, we watched the pyrotechnic
display and talked.
Yes, he was an American, and had been ten
months without a furlough. He had been out
in front sniping all the afternoon. That cheap-
skate sergeant, who is always nosing around,
must have missed him and closed up the outlet.
"Yes," he soliloquized, "the world is not fit
to live in any more. The Kaiser has mobilized
graduate of Haverford, Pennsylvania, and University of Vir-
ginia, a Railroad Land and Industrial Agent, by profession.
Writing for an American magazine, he was killed before the
material was printed. He said: — "The more I saw of the
splendidness of the fight the French were making, the more I
felt like a slacker." He was decorated with the Croix dc
Guerre, and killed March 26, 1917, while fighting two German
aviators. His body was found amid the wreckage of the
machine by French troops on the advance through the
devastated district. The old bullet scarred propeller from
this wrecked machine, which formerly marked his grave, has
now been replaced by two cannon, erected by special order
of the U. S. Government. McConnell said, — "The war may
kill me but I have to thank it for much."
Schuyler Deming, American citizen, soldier of the Legion,
killed in attack August, 1917.
TRENCHES 97
God Almighty. The Crown Prince said he
could bring the Devil from hell with his brave
German band. The Mexicans broke up my
business and destroyed my happy home. Here
in France, they made me take off my good
clothes and don these glad rags. This bath
robe is all I have left of my ancient grandeur —
and there is not much of it, but it is all wool
and a yard wide — not as long as it used to be,
but it is warm. I know it looks like hell, but it
is a sort of comfort to me, and is associated with
happier days.
"Yes," he ruminated, "if I am not careful I
won't have enough left to make a pocket hand-
kerchief. Here I have taken five or six pair
of Russian socks from it, and bandaged up
Dr. James A. Blake, American Surgeon, who gave his
services to France at the outbreak of the war, was requested
by the French Government to take charge of a hospital with
300 beds in the Avenue du Bois du Bologne. He was
decorated with the Legion of Honor.
Marius Roche, New York, arrived in France in 1914, only
17 years of age, decorated with the Croix dc Guerre, wounded
at Verdun.
Eldward Mandell Stone, a Harvard graduate, was the first
American volunteer killed in France.
N. Prank Clair, Columbus, Ohio, died in hospital of
wounds received in action.
Nelson Larson, a former American sailor, was killed on
the Somme on our Independence Day, July 4, 1916.
Brock B. Bonnell, Brooklyn, New York, soldier of the
Legion, seriously wounded, returned home to America, dec-
98 SOLDIERS • OF THE LEGION
Pierre's wound, and I only have enough for
four more pairs of socks after I have taken
some pieces to clean my rifle with."
He was a man of unusual history, even for
the Legion. Some months previous, seeing an
Alsatian officer strike a small man, the Amer-
ican stepped up and said : "Why don't you take
a man your own size?" For answer the officer
pulled a revolver and thrust it at his breast.
Dubois, gazing down through the eyes of the
officer, clear into his heart, said : "Shoot, damn
you, shoot. You dare not; you have not got
the nerve !"
He was an expert gymnast. He played the
piano, accompanying the singers at concerts,
orated with the Croix de Guerre, the Medaille Militaire and a
wooden leg.
Frank Whitmore, Richmond, Va., decorated for conspicu-
ous bravery, on the Somme, July, 1916, wounded in the spring
offensive, 1917, now in hospital, covered with bandages,
medals and glory.
Edward Morlae, California, an old American ex-soldier.
He served in the Philippines with the First California Heavy
Artillery, then in the Mexican Civil War, then turned up in
France and tried to pass Spanish conversation off for French.
He was wounded in October, 1915, decorated with the Croix
de Guerre; and is now in America. A good soldier and ag-
gressive character, he is one man who will always be remem-
bered by Americans in the Legion.
H. W. Famsworth, Harvard graduate, Boston, Mass.,
killed in attack, 1915, was a correspondent of the Providence
TRENCHES 99
during repose. When encored, he came back
with a song in French. In conquered Alsace,
he spoke German with the natives.
On the day we made the 48-kiIometer march
to the summit of Ballon d'Alsace and back,
while the company was resting Dubois was
striding up and down, knapsack on back,
hands in pockets. I said: "What are you
doing? Can't you sit down and rest?"
"Oh," he replied, "I was telling the lieuten-
ant that instead of poking along with these
short, fiddling steps, the men should march out
like this, — like we do in America !" It is a fact
that the French take the longest strides, and
are the best marchers in the world !
Journal and in Mexico when the war broke out. From France
in his last letter home he wrote, — "If anything happens to me
you may be sure that I was on my way to victory for these
troops may have been demolished, but never beaten." He
preferred to become a Petit Zephyr de la Legion Etrangere
and to sleep, like the birds, under the open sky, surrounded
by congenial comrades, exchanging horizons with each season.
J. S. Carstairs, a Harvard graduate, was a member of the
Foreign Legion.
Geo. W. Ganson put in the first winter in the trenches
with the Foreign Legion. He was a Harvard graduate whose
ministerial manner did not prevent the mud from hanging to
his clothes, nor the whiskers on his face. He was mustered
out and went back to America, but he returned to France in
1917 and went into the artillery service.
Robert Pellissier, a Harvard graduate, became a sergeant
880 ? 8 ".
CHAPTER VIII
JULY 4, 1915
Several American journalists, "May their
tribe increase!" among them Mr. Grundy, of
the New York Sun ; Nabob Hedin, of the Brook-
lyn Eagle; Mr. Mower, of the Chicago Daily
News; Mr. Roberts, of the Associated Press,
and Wythe Williams, of the New York Times,
presented a petition to the Minister of War for
the Americans to celebrate Independence Day
in Paris. It was granted. The good news
made a bigger noise on the front than the
in Chasseur Alpins. He was killed on the Somme, August
29, 1916.
Henry Augustus Coit, a Harvard man, died of injuries
received at the front, August 7, 1916.
Robert L. Culbert*, New York City, was killed in action
in Belgium.
Albert N. Depew, an American youth, wears his Veterans
of Foreign Wars badge beside his Croix de Guerre. He has
been a gunner and chief petty officer in the United States
Navy, a member of the Foreign Legion, also captain of a
gun turret on the French battleship Cassard. After his hon-
orable discharge from the American navy, he entered French
service, was transferred to the Legion, fought on the west
front, and participated in the spectacular Gallipoli campaign,
was captured on the steamship Georgic by the Moewe, a
German commerce raider, and spent months of torture in a
IOC
■ ^^m^^i
JULY 4, 1915 loi
heaviest bomb that ever fell. It did not seem
possible, — too good to be true !
Previously, no one, French or foreigner,
soldier or officer, had been allowed to leave his
post. From then on, everyone received his
regular furlough at stated intervals — more
liberal as danger lessened. Now, each man is
g-ranted ten days every four months.
Evening of July 3rd, I was on guard in front
of Fort Brimont, three kilometers from
Rheims, when Dubois put his head around a
corner and yelled, "Come on, we are going to
Paris." I paid no attention to him. I had not
asked for a furlough, and, of course, did ndt
expect any.
German prison camp. He has written -a book, "Gunner
Depew"; and is at present on a speech-making tour of
America.
Demetire, St. Louis, Mo., soMier of the Legion, killed four
Germans, — two with 'grenades, two with rifle, in an outpost
engagement the night fbefore the attack of April 17, 1917.
Going over the top the following day, he was killed.
Henry Beech Needham, American journalist, was killed
near Paris, 1915, while making a trial flight with Lieutenant 'ix'
Warneford, who was the first man to, alone, bring down a
Zeppelin machine.
D. Parrish Starr, a Harvard graduate, was killed in action
September 15, 1916.
Andrew C. ChampoUion, New York, an American, painter
by profession, Harvard graduate, a big game hunter, went to
the front March 1st, 1915. He was a descendant of the Cham-
102 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
JULY 4, 1915 103
A few minutes later Dubois roared, "Come
on, you fool, don't you know enough to take a
furlough when you can get one ? All Americans
can go to Paris." When the corporal came
around I asked to be relieved, went to the cap-
tain and was told we had forty-eight hours per-
mission; to pack up at once and go.
We walked through the communication
trenches to battalion headquarters among fall-
ing shells. These made Dubois stop and say:
"Damn it, it would just be my luck to get killed
now ; I would not mind if I were coming back
from Paris, but if the Boche get me now I
shall not be able to rest in my grave/'
At the battalion headquarters we were lined
up in the darkness. An officer with a flashlight
poUion, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, and grandson of
Austin Corbin. His ancestors had followed Napoleon's Eagles
through Italy and lEgypt; and this boy was killed by a bullet
in the forehead at Bois le Pietre, March 23, 1915. In his last
letter he wrote: — "Last night we slept in the second line
trenches (not so bad), but today we are nose to nose with
the enemy on the frontiest of fronts. It is the damnedest life
imaginable. You are no longer treated like an irresponsible
ass, but like a man, while you live the life of a beast or a
savage."
Guy Augustine, of San Francisco, son of the U. S. Consul
to Barcelona, member of the Foreign Legion, was decorated
with the Croix de Guerre for braverv at Chalons-Sur>Marne,
July 14, 1917.
Sylvain Rosenberg, New York, 23 years of age, son of
Max Rosenberg, with the 19th Company of the 251st Regi-
I04 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
read off the names. Each man stepped out and
received his furlough as his name was called.
The officer stopped reading, Dubois still stood
in line. Then he stepped up, saluted, and asked
for his furlough. There was none.
It was a dramatic moment. Sergeant
Bouligny came out from the darkness, and a
spirited argument occurred between him and
the officer. The American sergeant then came
over to Dubois and said : ^Tt's a damned shame.
They held that five years (suspended sentence
for sleeping, when lost by a patrol in 'No-
Man's-Land') over you. Now, man to man, I
want you to promise me you will go right back
to your company. I told them you would. I
stood good for you. The colonel must sign that
ment, wounded on the Marne, September 7, 1914; — in Argonne,
December 8, 1915, — cited in the Orders of the Day, — and
killed March 15, 1916, at Verdun.
The Lafayette Escadrille, No. 124, is an offspring of the
Legion, formed by Rockwell, Curtis, Thaw, Hall, Back, Chap-
man, Cowdin and Prince, who kept pounding the Colonel of
the Legion on the back, so much that he gave his consent, to
get rid of them. It has formed a nucleus of All- Americans
that started that immense fleet of aeroplanes^ — the eyes which
find weak places in the enemy's line where the Allies march
to victory. First Americans to carry their national flag into
action as a fighting unit, April 11, 1917. Originally called the
Franco-American Escadrille, but the name was changed to
satisfy pro-Germans, who claimed to be Americans. These
aviators did not change their emblem. The Red Indian sign
is still on the machines. The old boys from the Legion are.
sa
JULY 4, 1915 105
furlough. He is not here and we can't do a
thing to help you." It was sad. The poor
fellow was crushed. We walked away, leav-
ing him in the darkness with his bitter thoughts.
We arrived at Thill near midnight and were
depositing our equipment at the guardhouse
when a guard came and said to me: "The
sentinel wishes to see you." I went out and
there was old Tex Bondt! "Yes," he said, "I
am sentinel tonight. Last night I was in
prison. This is it, the prisoners are out work-
ing. I drew eight days for trying to be reason-
able. Reason is all right in its place, but not
in the army. They nearly worked me to death.
We were carrying timbers to the front line to
make dugouts — three men to a stick. I was in
the middle and I am six foot three !"
Next morning Bouligny and I tried to find
some breakfast. The town was deserted,
badly shot-up. Stores were empty, civilians
gone. Prospects looked bad, when a gunny-
sack was drawn back from a doorway, and a
voice yelled out, in English: "Here, where
in the seat, and we hope to see every man an officer, dressed
in the uniform of his own country.
io6 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
in the devil are you fellows going? Come up
and have a cup of coffee/* It was Tony Pollet,
of Corona, New York.*
In the early morning we walked fifteen kil-
ometers to the railroad and waited for the other
Americans to arrive. Capdevielle found some
grease. Sweeney went to a French camp and
talked some potatoes from them. So we ate
"French fried," with wine, till the train started
for Paris.
Dr. Van Vorst was ranking officer, but
Morlae and Sweeney sparred for ground. Said
Morlae to Delpesche: "You do that again and
r will turn you over to the gendarmes.'* Del-
pesche replied: "Who in hell are you? I am
taking no orders from you. I belong to Ser-
geant Sweeney's section!"
Soubiron had the time of his life. He rode
down on the foot-board of the coach. He was
* In October, 1917, dressed in the French uniform, I was
walking up the street near the Grand Central Station, New
York. A civilian accosted me in French. We conversed in
that language for some time. He worked the third degree,
asked about Battalion D, and mentioned several names of
men I knew. I turned on him and said, "You must have
known Tony Pollet." The civilian stopped short, finally
found his voice, and gasped, "Pollet? — that's me!"
j
JULY 4, 1915 107
determined not to. miss the green fields, the
lovely flowers and the smiles of the girls, as
they wished the Americans "Bon Voyage."
Everything was beautiful after the drab and
dirt of the front.
On the platform at Paris the two sergeants
were still disputing. A petite Parisienne
stepped up to Sweeney, saying: "Pardon,
Monsieur, you came from near Rheims; did
you see anyone from the 97th Regiment on the
train?" The 97th had been badly cut up.
Sweeney remembered that. In an instant his
face changed. He smiled back at the girl and
answered : "No, there were no French permis-
sionaires; only Americans were on the train."
Two days later each man was relating his
experiences:
The base-ball man from San Francisco:
"Yes, I arrived in Paris without a sou. I saw
you fellows scatter in all directions, and did not
know what to do with myself. Two French
ladies came along and invited me home with
them. They paid all my expenses and gave me
io8 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
this five franc note and a sack of food to eat on
my way back."
Percy: "That New York Sun man, Grundy,
found five of us at the Cafe de la Paix. He
ordered dinner. It cost him 120 francs. That
was the best dinner I ever ate, but, Lord, I wish
I had the money it cost!"
Nelson: "Yes, my patron almost threw a
fit when I blew in, but the best of the house
was at my service, good bath, clean under-
clothes — don't know where they came -from,
or whom they belonged to. But they insisted
on my keeping them."
Morlae: "Yes, I was up at the Embassy,
saw Frazier and he told me . . .''
Bob Scanlon : "My friends were out of town
but left word that I should have the best there
was. So I went up to Place Pigalle and
inquired for a girl I knew, Susie, and they
fished out a man six foot high !''
Dowd : "Yes, that Frenchman was splendid.
When he learned we were Americans he invited
— "1
JULY 4, 1915 109
us to the banquet given by the American
Chamber of Commerce at the Palais d'Arsay.
There was just one table of us soldiers of the
Legion and two long tables of men from the
American Ambulance. The Frenchmen were
glad to see us — the Ambulance men did not
seem glad at all/'
" 'How is that/ said an American visitor,
speaking to a well-dressed, manicured doctor,
'are there many Americans in the Legion?'
" 1 don't know/
" 'Well, aren't there a good many of our boys
there?'
'' There may be, but, of course, WE don't
know them.' "
Idaho Contractor: "Yes, you fellows can
talk about what you ate. When I got over to
Place Clichy, it was 9 o'clock. Madame was
closing up — all she had left was beans and
vinegar. I had had no vinegar for ten months.
Beans must be bad for the stomach. My appe-
tite went wrong just the time I needed it most.
I did not enjoy myself at all."
Van Vorst: "Yes, I went over to Pickpus
and saw the American Ambulance. They
no SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
looked very nice and clean but did not rec-
ognize the dirty soldiers from the Legion, but
the French officers did."
Bouligny: "I missed everything, did not
know there was anything doing any place.
Thought the 4th was on Sunday ; didn't know
they were holding 4th on the 5th."
Narutz: "Yes, I had a bully time. Met
some old friends at the American Express
Company's office."
Seeger: "I heard Sweeney was promoted to
a lieutenancy."
Capdevielle: "What do you think I am carry-
ing this American flag for? Of course, I am
going to use it."
Delpesche: "What are all you fellows car-
rying in those packages? You look like a lot
of farmers who just received a consignment
from Sears-Roebuck."
King: "Yes, we bought this dollar stuff
cheap, just 98 cents and freight."
CHAPTER IX
OUTPOST LIFE
In front of Croane, where, in 1814, Frank and
Hun fought for mastery, one hundred years
later, the same nations again battled.
The elaborate, naturally drained trench
system of to-day was not. Instead of the
horizon blue, the French soldier wore the old
red pantaloons and dark blue coat. Occa-
sionally new blue uniforms were sent to the
front, which, wet a couple of times — the new
dyes not holding — quickly became drab. Torn
clothes, ripped crawling through barbed wire,
were held together by finer wires. New York
Heralds and Daily Mails wrapped around socks
to help keep in the heat, warmed not alone
the cockles of the heart! No smoking cook-
kitchen, with steaming kettles filled with tasty
food followed our ranks on march. Soup
dishes and kettles were carried on knapsack, as
in the days of Napoleon. At the end of a long
march, at bivouac time, if the commissary had
III
112 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
not made connection, weary soldiers threw their
kettles away. If caught, eight days in prison,
were welcome as relief.
The Germans held Croane — the French and
Germans, alternately, occupied the village of
Croanelle, dominated by the fortress of Croane.
This was before the days of the present heavy
bombardment, and many of the deserted houses
were still intact, beds unmade, dishes yet upon
table, furnished, but vacant. Cattle, tied to
mangers, lay dead in their stalls. In cellars,
where combatants had tunneled through to
connect, the dead of both sides lay impaled
on bayonets. One Frenchman's teeth were at
a German's throat, locked in combat, even in
death.
Out between the lines lay the unburied dead,
in all shapes and conditions of rot, settled in
the mud, half covered, in open shell holes.
Dried fragments of uniforms flapped on barbed
wire through which the wounded had crawled
into sheltered corners and died. No need to tell
a patrol when, in winter darkness, he stepped
on a slippery substance, what it was — he knew.
In the spring, grass grew 'round and through
B«a
OUTPOST LIFE
CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL CERTIFICATE
114 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
those inanimate shapes. Rats and dogs waxed
fat.
From the day the 2nd Regiment went into
Croanelle till it was relieved, six months later,
no German soldier who set foot in the shallow
trench went back. Our
regiment, repeatedly re-
inforced, was kept at full
strength.
Americans there en-
dured pain and suffer-
ing, the depth of which
Washington's Army at
Valley Forge never
reached. Those old Con-
tinentals had nothing in
discomfort on these
modern heroes in front
of C r a n e. Washing-
ton's Army, in their own
country, had access to
the necessities of life.
They held communion
with their fellows. These
later-day Americans, un-
UNITED STAT.es CON-
GRESSIONAL MEDAL
(Reverse side reads)
FOR
PATRIOTISM
FORTITUDE
AND
LOYALTY
OUTPOST LIFE 115
der the hardest discipline in the world, were cut
off from civilization. They were back to the
age of barter and exchange. Money would not
buy goods — there was nothing to be bought —
but if one man had a little tobacco, and another
a pair of socks, they would swap.
No furloughs were granted the first ten
months. Every letter was censored. Packages
of comforts, sent by friends, were stolen or con-
fiscated en route. They were in a foreign coun-
try, whose language many could not speak.
They had left good, comfortable homes for
these holes in the ground, called trenches by
courtesy, where one waded to his post on guard,
rifle in hand, and carried a wisp of straw or a
piece of plank on which to lie to keep from
sinking into slime and slush, which covered his
clothes with mud and filled his bones with
rheumatism.
It was near midnight, the relief was in the
basement of a shot-up chateau. The guard, on
a scaffold, peering through loopholes made in
a stone wall, was watching Rockwell sentinel
at the advance outpost and alongside. They
ii6 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
saw him stop, heard a familiar sound (the strik-
ing of a grenade cap), but it was in the rear.
Suddenly Rockwell yelled, "Aux Armes/' Met-
teger, the burly Alsatian corporal, ran out, just
in time to catch the explosion of a German
grenade, and was killed. Rockwell, standing
between the grenade and the corporal, was so
thin the charge missed him and lodged in the
fat man. Simultaneously, the guard at the wall
heard a rush, a noise, a rattle of musketry from
behind, and turned about face. The relief
rushed out of the basement. The Germans,
caught between two fires, cursing, disappeared
into the darkness.
When the guard turned to repel the attack-
ers, they jumped from the scaffold to the
ground. Capdevielle's hair was singed by a
bullet, a ball went through Soubiron's cartridge
belt. When Brooks, the cockney Englishman,
jumped, another Englishman, Buchanan, fell
on him, pushed his face into the ground and
filled his mouth with mud. Brooks struck out
and hit Buchanan, who tried to get away to
chase the Boche. "You blankety, blank, blank."
Biff! biff! biff! "You will, will you?" The two
Englishmen were still fighting when the guard
OUTPOST LIFE 117
came back. Buchanan had discovered that
some one had made his gun unworkable, tramp-
ing mud into the magazine. He stopped and
had it out with Brooks.
It was at La Fontenelle and Ban de Sept, La
Viola and Viola Nord, opposite St. Marie aux
Mines, in reconquered Alsace, among the
Vosges on the Franco-German frontier. Seven
long, weary months we spent among those per-
pendicular mountains, with sunburned base
and snowy, dripping tops. Dog trains carried
provisions in winter. Pack mules clambered in
summer, wearing breeching to keep from slip-
ping down hill.
The continuous snows of winter, and the
ceaseless flow of water down the middle of the
trench in summer, while it also dripped from
the roof of the dugout, and seeped up from the
ground below, dampened both clothes and
spirits, as we carried wet blankets and our
misery, up among the clouds of mist, in drizzle,
sleet, snow and the intense cold. A sieve is a
water-tight compartment compared to those
shot-up dugouts.
ii8 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
The constant bombardment often changed so
completely the topography of the mountains,
one could hardly be sure when daylight came
that he was the same man, or in the same place.
We were beyond civilization. Not a flower, a
garden, a cow, a chicken, a house with a door or
window, or roof, not a civilian or a woman was
to be seen. All work or fight, no recreation, it
was a long, continued suffering. We had the
Boche part of the time, bad weather ever.
The trenches were so close together we
fought with grenades instead of rifles. The
wire in front, thrown out loose from the trench
behind, was all shot up. The trench itself from
continued bombardment was thirty or forty
feet across the top, with just a narrow path
down the middle, where one walked below the
ground level. The hills were a wilderness of
craters, blown out trenches with unexploded
shells about.
Crosses leaning over dead men's graves,
were littered with ragged, empty sandbags,
while pieces of splintered timber, tangled wire,
mingled with broken boulders and lacerated
OUTPOST LIFE 119
tree trunks of all lengths and thickness. Holes
grew now where trees had stood. Roots and
stumps, upturned, replaced splintered branches
and scorched, withered leaves. A few strag-
gling, upright trunks, eighty to one hundred
feet in the air, were festooned with sections of
blown-up barbed wire.
The towns belonged to the dead, wholly de-
serted by civilians, with even the old women
gone. Roofless, doorless, windowless ruins,
twisted iron girders and fantastically broken
walls, stood out against the sky, grimly elo-
quent, though silent, monuments of kultur.
It was the day after Roumania declared war
on the Central Powers — the French Govern-
ment had that information printed in German
in pamphlet form to throw into the enemy's
trenches — I was on guard at a shot-up out-
post near La Viola, fifteen yards from the
German trench. The sheet-iron shelter over-
head which was supposed to keep out the rain
was perforated by shrapnel and ripped by high
explosives. At a noise above, a glance over-
head revealed the leg of an animal which, under
I20 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
ordinary circumstances, should have been a rat,
but was not — too much fur. That leg was mov-
ing, so I reached up and pulled down a beautiful
long-haired angora cat, with a yellow ribbon
about her neck, on which were printed German
letters. Deporte exclaimed, "Une belle agent
de liason!'' So we tied those pamphlets with
the yellow ribbon about pussy's neck and drove
her back to the land of kultur.
Next morning a German shouted over, in
excellent French, "Hello, Frenchmen, have you
any newspapers?'' and Sergeant Dorme replied,
"Wait a minute," then picked up a grenade and
threw it into the German trench. The German
may have heard the grenade cap strike, for he
dodged the explosion and yelled back, "Merci,
monsieur!" (Thank you, sir!)
A short time afterward the Boche artillery
opened up. Our outpost was about twenty
yards in front of our main trench — that part
behind and east of us was badly battered up —
but west, it was completely demolished. A few
of the survivors got into deep saps, while odd
stragglers crawled, bobbed, or ducked along the
trench line till, seeing our outpost, they came
^^d
OUTPOST LIFE 121
down for companionship. Instead of two men
we had eight when the cannonading suddenly
ceased. I was at the observation hole and saw
some Germans start to climb out of their trench.
That same instant a shower of French grenades
dropped all about them — we saw them no more.
I backed out of the observation hole, a bad
place to be caught. The Frenchmen were
throwing grenades for keeps — no slackers
there, no run-aways. Once in a while a fellow
stopped for an instant, took a swift look at his
comrade, then went at it again. I was supposed
to have the only observation hole. The others
were below the ground level, yet they seemed
to know where and when to throw. I decided
they were guided not by orders but by instinct.
I walked back to the main trench, to another
surprise. Out among that, row of craters was
the whole company. How did they get there?
Peraud patiently and quietly explained, as
though we were sitting in a parlor instead of
under a hail of German shells, that it was the
orders of the captain — that the Germans had
failed to break through at our outpost, that they
had gone in at the next where the soldiers were
all killed, that the Germans had run along the
122 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
ruined trench west, and found five men in saps,
that two had escaped when the French drove
the Germans back to the trenches, and that our
company was waiting for the counter attack.
That night, territorial companies came up
from the rear — re-dug the trenches. The bom-
bardment kept up many days — the trenches
being dug and re-dug many times,- till finally
the French got the chance they wanted, the
raiding, or free, section slipped over, and cap-
tured twice as many prisoners as the Germans
had. The French were satisfied — and the Ger-
mans had to be!
Face to face with death, what is in a man
comes out. I shall never forget one, who, right
name unknown, came from Marseilles. We
used to call him "Coquin de Dieu." He had
some system whereby he got extra wine — even
at the front. That additional cup or two was
just enough to make him happy and start him
singing. Handsome as a woman, he looked the
careless, reckless ne'er-do-well. During a ter-
rific bombardment, I was sent to relieve him,
out between two German outposts, one eight,
the other fifteen yards away. Instead of going
OUTPOST LIFE 123
to the safety of the sap in the rear, that French-
man insisted on staying with me. Germans
broke into the French trench at the adjoining
post, and went to the right. Had they come
left, we should have been the first victims.
There was little Maurice/ just twenty, who
had been through the whole campaign. When
dodging shells, he could drop quicker than a
flapper and come up laughing every time.
Maribeau, eighteen, only a boy, always
objected to throwing grenades. "No, I won't —
I promised my mother and my father I would
not become a grenadier and I won't." One
night during a Boche grenade attack, he and
everyone else had to work for self-preservation.
He liked it and became a splendid bomb
thrower.
Renaud, an old 170th boy, was with him and
Marti, on post, during a Boche bombardment
and attack. Marti was killed by a grenade.
A crapouillot fell into the trench behind. I
was pretty busy throwing grenades, but caught
a glimpse of a stray sergeant pulling Renaud
under cover. Several days later, noticing a
haversack hanging on the side of the trench.
124 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
I wondered why it . was there so long, also
whose it might be. Inside was a piece of bread
and a flat tin plate perforated by shell and
splinters. Scribbled on the plate was the name,
"Renaud.^'
Big, strong, impulsive, was my marching
companion, Peraud. ' He loved his wife and
hated war. When thinking about war his face
had so deadly an expression, no one dared dis-
turb him. When his thought was of his wife,
he looked a glorified choir boy. Once in Lor-
raine, during repose, he and his companion,
Perora, a theological student, invited me to a
church to hear the cure lecture on Jeanne
d'Arc. While the student and the cure con-
versed, Peraud rang the bell which brought the
soldier congregation.
Marching behind him, Indian file, through
the trenches one dark night, I missed the barrel
of his rifle against the sky line, and stopped
just in time to prevent falling on top of Peraud,
who had stumbled into a sap filled with the
slush and slime that run from the trench bot-
toms. It wasn't necessary to watch the rifle
after that. I could follow by the smell.
OUTPOST LIFE 125
It was in the trenches I first met him. Boche
bombardment had knocked out the wooden
posts that braced the sides of the trench. Dirt
had fallen in and dammed the running water.
We were detailed to walk, knee deep, into the
horrible slush, and bring those dirty, dripping
posts, on our shoulders, to dry land. Suddenly
he stopped, took a look and asked :
"Comrade, what was your business in civil
lifer
I was engaged in commerce. And you?''
'Me? I am an artist."
if
i(
Our sergeant spoke a little English. He was
a good sort, who, owning a garage in civil life,
had met many Americans and thought they
were decent enough to invite acquaintance. One
afternoon, during a bombardment, he, Peraud,
Perora, Rolfe and Tardy were in a sap. Too
careless to go below, they stood on the top step,
in the doorway, sheltered from behind and on
both sides. There was just the four-foot square
opening in front. A shell dropped into that
opening, killed four, and left Tardy standing
alone. He was a brave soldier before, but no
good after that.
\
126 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Peraud and Perora had been bosom friends.
They came from the same neighborhood, were
wounded and sent to the same hospital, both
changed into the 163rd Regiment. Together
they were killed by the same shell.
Comrade Deporte was an old 170th man.
Names, being indexed alphabetically, always,
at the end of a long march, Bowe and Deporte
were put on guard, with no chance to cool off
after packing the heavy sacks up the moun-
tain side. Our cotton shirts, soaked with per-
spiration, felt like boards as our bodies rapidly
cooled during the silent, motionless guard.
Deporte was a revelation in human nature.
Unselfish, he did the most arduous and often
unnecessary work without a murmur. We
were always together on guard and frequently
drew the bad places. Once, during a five-hour
bombardment, isolated, impossible to get relief
to us, he did not complain. Another time, hear-
ing a suspicious noise in front, I threw a gre-
nade. We got such an avalanche in return it
almost took our breath away — and Depofte
laughed! Home on furlough, he overstayed
his leave five days and drew sixty days pi^on.
He smiled — it was sixty days on paper!
OUTPOST LIFE 127
One fine day we two were taken out in front
during a bombardment. Captain Anglelli, with
two holes in his helmet where a sniper's bullet
went in and out at Verdun, explained the situa-
tion to Deporte :
"You have the grenades ?"
"Oui, mon capitaine/'
''You see this hill r
'Oui, mon capitaine/'
It is higher than that trench/'
Oui, mon capitaine/
iif\^^l Ij.^1 99
"You can throw into there?"
"Oui, mon capitaine."
The Boche will come through there."
Oui, mon capitaine."
"You can hit him, he cannot reach you."
"Oui, mon capitaine."
"The American will stay with you ?"
"Oui, mon capitaine."
"Bomb hell out of them !"
"Oui, mon capitaine."
"Hold them there and we will bag them."
"Oui, mon capitaine."
Smiling, the captain patted Deporte on the
shofltder. Deporte, looking squarely into his
eyes, grinned back. They understood each
128 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
other, those two. It was not superior ordering
inferior. It was man to man.
I should like to tell all that happened that
afternoon. It was the wind-up of a week's
bombardment, and we had a ripping time dodg-
ing about to avoid being maimed for life. We
held a mountain top on the frontier. The Ger-
mans had the peaks opposite, where they had
planted their heavy artillery. When the French
drove back the invading Germans, the lines
stopped within bombing distance — about thirty
yards. We had the upper line, they the lower.
We could throw grenades on them, but it was
hard for them to reach us. So they planted
their line with trench-mortars that throw
aerial torpedoes, crapouillots and bombs the
size of a stovepipe, also others which resemble
a two-gallon demijohn. They came slow. We
could see them — the wide-nosed torpedoes
coming direct, the stovepipes hurtling end
over end.
These visible shells are only good for short
range. We dodged them, but they kept us
constantly on the move. The captain's trench
was flattened out — no need to watch that any
OUTPOST LIFE 129
more. The bombardment increased. Long
range artillery from the mountains joined the
short range mortars. The black smoke and
noise from the Jack Johnsons and the yellow
smoke from bursting shrapnel did not attract
our attention from those three-finned torpedoes
and hurtling crapouillots.
We would dodge for one but a half dozen
might drop before we could look around.
Deporte was buried by one explosion. I had
to pull him out of the dirt. A big rock came
flying down the trench, then a piece of timber
four feet long. Two pieces of metal fell on my
helmet which I picked up and have yet. They
were burning hot, not iron or steel, but copper
and nickel.
At a shout in front, we grabbed grenades and
saw to the left a crowd of men running toward
our lines, French and German. Later we
learned how eighteen Frenchmen went over to
the German blockhouse across the way, gave
the forty occupants a chance to surrender, of
which eleven took advantage. Revolvers and
bombs finished the others. Two Frenchmen,
both my friends, were wounded.
130 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
The Germans did not seem to like it. They
got more angry and threw all kinds of metal
at our ^lodging heads. An orderly rushed
around the corner and yelled: "Fall back,
orders from the capitaine." He scurried away.
We found a sap. I was thirty feet down when
I looked up and saw Deporte standing at the
opening unbuttoning his vest. Steam and
perspiration formed a circle around him, such
as is seen about an aeroplane flying high
against the sun. About thirty feet down into
that sap the steps turned a right angle, then
again changed direction. We sat beyond the
second turning, lighting a candle as fast as the
inrush of air, made by the bursting shells, blew
it out. A couple of hours later, when we looked
for the hill we had held, it was gone. Immense
craters yawned where had been our regular
trenches. The rows of trenches were as waves
of an angry sea, while the ground between was
pitted and scarred beyond recognition.
CHAPTER X
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK
The night before the attack of September 25,
1915, Bouligny and I went over to Battalion C.
He picked up a piece of cheese that Morlae had.
Munching away, he demanded, "Where did you
get this?"
''In Suippe."
"I thought we were forbidden to go out/'
"We are/'
"How did you get by?''
"I told the sentry I did not speak French,
showed him my old Fourth of July pass, and
walked through."
Bouligny said: "Well, we will eat this
cheese so they'll have ho evidence against you."
Morlae replied: "We shall need somebody
to help carry the load we have stacked up."
"What have we got?" inquired Casey.
"Two canteens of wine instead of one."
"Good," said Casey.
"And 250 rounds of cartridges instead of
120," called Nelson.
131
132 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
"And a steel helmet, instead of a cloth cap,"
from Dowd.
"And four days' reserve of food instead of
two," added King.
"And a new knife for the nettoyers" (mop-
pers-up), put in Scanlon.
"And a square white patch of cloth sewed on
our backs, so our own artillerymen can recog-
nize and not blow us up," finished John Laurent.
"Fd rather be here, leaning against this tree,"
said Chatcoff, "than in little old New York,
backed against a telephone pole, trying to push
it into the North River."
"Yes," agreed Seeger, "this is the life. The
only life worth living is when you are face to
face with death — midway between this world
and the next."
For one week the Legion had marched each
night fifteen kilometers to the front, dug
trenches and returned to camp in the early
morning. Again that night we went out, and
daylight, September 25, found us estab-
lished in a badly demolished trench from
^
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 133
Avhich we emerged at the time set for the
attack, 9:15.
The four hours between daylight and the
attack were passed under a furious bombard-
ment. Many were killed or wounded while we
wraited to go over the top.
The French had, unknown to the Germans,
brought up their 75 cannon and dug them down
in another trench 25 yards behind us. The din
was terrific. Smoke screens and gas shells
nearly blinded us. Men were uneasy and
dodged. The captain caught a fellow flopping.
'"Here, you young whelp, don't you know that
noise comes from our own guns behind?"
Pera, a Tunis Jew, tore open his first aid
bandage and we filled our ears with cotton to
deaden the noise.
The attack was carried out by seven long
lines of soldiers advancing two yards apart,
each line about 100 yards behind the other.
The Colonials and Moroccans had the first
line, the Legion the second. Owing to the
134 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Germans' concentrated fire on our trenches and
on the outlets, each man did not get out two
yards from the next. Frequently the other
man was dead or wounded. But the objective
was the Ferme Navarin, and at 10:30 it was in*
our possession.
A soldier's life, while of some concern to him-
self, to an officer is but a means to an end. It
is offered, or given, to get results. The best
officer obtains the most results with the least
loss. Some give wrong orders and sacrifice
their men. Others seem to grasp every open-
ing for advancement arid gain the objective
with very little loss.
In the first run to the outlet the slaughter
was terrible. Stretcher bearers carried a con-
tinuous stream of wounded with bloody band-
ages on, silent, motionless, pale-faced, dirtily-
clothed men, whose muddy shoes extended
over the edge of the stretchers.
Nearer the front line, the worse the carnage.
Dead were lying so thick soldiers walked on
upturned faces grazed by hob-nailed shoes.
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 135
Side trenches were filled with wounded, wait-
ing transportation. Some, injured in the hand,
held it up watching the blood flow ; others, hurt
in the leg, were dragging that member along.
Holding onto their stomachs were those whose
blood was running down over their shoes. At
one corner leaning against two corpses lay a
young soldier, smooth shaven, curly-hair, mus-
tache trimmed, his face settling into the
soft, creamy whiteness of death, a smile on
his lips.
My mind flashed over to Madam Tussaud's
wax figure exhibition in London.
Two Moroccans stopped. One pulled off his
vest and found a blackish red bruise on his
chest. His comrade said : "It is nothing, come
along." The other fell over, dead. A Zouave,
with back broken, or something, unable to get
up, eyes rolling into his head, twisted his body
in agony. The doctor, walking away, said:
"No chance. Leave him ; blood poison."
The Germans had a sure range on the outlet.
Wounded men, walking back in the trench,
were jostled and knocked about by strong, run-
136 . SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
ning men, forcing themselves to the front.
Shells were falling all around as we ran into
"No-Man's-Land." Machine guns were out on
the slope, "rat-tat-tat-tat," a continuous noise.
Men lying behind guns, rifle shooting, working",
cursing, digging trenches, throwing dirt, mak-
ing holes.
At every corner stood calm, 'Square-faced,
observing officers directing, demanding, com-
pelling. What are such men in civil life ? Why
do we never see them?
In the open, I stopped and took a quick look
around. The only man I knew was Crotti, an
Italian. He spoke in English : "Where is the
Legion?" The officer overheard. His face
changed. He did not like that alien tongue just
then, but understood, and smiling, said: "The
Legion is there."
They were crawling up a shallow trench,
newly made in open ground, at an angle of 45
degrees from us. We did not try to force our
way back into the trench against that crowd,
so kept out on top and joined our comrades,
who laughed when they saw us running in from
where the Boche was supposed to be.
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 137
The man alongside puts on his bayonet as
the order is passed down the line to go over on
command. The officers snap out : "Five min-
utes, three minutes, one minute. En Avant!"
The Colonials, the Moroccans and the Legion-
naires, all mixed up, arrive about the same time.
Up, and over the Boche line trench. Where is
the wire? It has been blown away by artil-
lery. Instead of deep, open trenches, we find
them covered over! Swarming, we go up on
top the covered trenches then turn and throw
bombs in at the port-holes from which the Ger-
mans are shooting. Boches run out at the
entrances, climb from the dugouts, hands in air,
crying, "Kamerad."
More grenades inside and more German
prisoners. The first line men keep going. Ger-
man dead lie all about. German equipment is
piled around; we pass the wounded, meet the
living enemy. A running Zouave stops a
Boche, who goes down with the Zouave's
bayonet in his chest. The Zouave puts his foot
on the man, pulls out the bayonet, and keeps on
his headlong rush.
An old, grey-haired Poilu met a Boche in
square combat, bayonet to bayonet. The old
138 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
man (his bayonet had broken) got inside the
other's guard, forced him to the ground, and
was choking him to deiath when another
Frenchman, helping his comrade, pushed the
old man aside in order to get a sure welt at the
Boche. The old man, quick as a cat, jumped up.
He thought another German was after him and
recognized his comrade. The German sat up
and stuck up his hands. The Frenchmen
looked foolish — it would be murder! Half a
dozen Germans just then came from a dugout.
That old man took his rifle with the twisted,
broken bayonet, picked up a couple of German
casques, and, lining the prisoners up,* took them
to the rear. Prisoners all about. One big Ger-
man officer surrendered with a machine gun
crew who carried their own gun. Unwounded
prisoners lugged their wounded comrades on
their backs while others limped along, leaning
on companions. Many had broken, bruised
heads. Prisoners bore French wounded on
stretchers. The dead lay in all directions", rid-
dled, peppered by the 75s, mangled with high
explosives, faces dried-blood, blackened.
V
Behind the first line, into the newly-made
communication trenches, I noticed where dirt
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 139
had been thrown to the bottom of the trench,
Avalking on dead Germans' grazed faces, bris-
tling whiskers, partially covered with loose dirt,
so that their bodies were not noticed by com-
rades going to the front. Continued bombard-
ment, more dead. Germans running, equip-
ment strewn everywhere, black bread, cigars,
many casques, more dead, broken caissons,
dead horses, cannon deserted — their crews
killed, Boche shells in lots of three lying about
in wicker baskets. Trenches full of dead, legs,
arms and heads sticking out.
We followed the Germans into a maze of gas
and my eyes and lungs got full. Then I felt
weak and comfortable. The Luxemburg cor-
poral came along and pulled me out. Dropping
behind, we finally came upon the Legion, wait-
in a communication trench to flank the Ger-
mans. A wonderful Legionnaire, with the face
of a Greek god (shot in the stomach), came
hobbling along on a stick. He sat down and
renewed an acquaintance with the corporal
which had been started at Toulouse.
Over the top again. A backward glimpse
showed the wounded man hobbling behind us,
140 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
back again to the front. I noticed the Legpion-
naires running, chins forward, bayonets fixed,
greatly bunched, and thought the Germans
could not miss hitting so many men. So,
being the last man in the company, I kept run-
ning along the outside. The corporal was
killed going over. He fell into a shell hole
among a lot of German wounded and dead.
We were ordered to turn to the right, down this
trench. I, the last man, became first.
Blinded with gas, I blundered along, bayonet
fixed, finger on trigger, stumbling over dead
and wounded Germans, bumping into sharp
corners of the trench, on into another gas maze,
and across the second line trench. Someone
pulled my coat from behind and I discovered
that our men were going down that cross
trench. So I fell in about the middle of the
company, pumped the gas from my stomach,
and by the time I was in shape again orders
came that we should hold this trench, which
had gradually filled with our men.
It had rained all day. Racing through the
trenches, dirt fell into the magazines of our
rifles. It makes one furiously angry when the
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 141
magazine will not work. I grabbed a rifle lying
alongside a man I thought dead. He was
very much awake. He quite insisted on using
his own gun. The next man was dead. He had
a new rifle. I felt much better.
It was impossible to stay in that crowded
trench. I found a large shell hole in the open,
eight feet deep, with water in the bottom. With
shovel and pick, I dug out enough on the side
of the crater to find dry ground and tried to
sleep. I was awakened by officers who wished
to make me go into the trenches. I did not un-
derstand French. Those officers insisted I did.
Of course, I did not. I knew they wanted the
nice, comfortable place I had constructed for
themselves. So, paid no attention, but covered
up my head and tried to sleep. I could not.
Then remembered something — I' had eaten no
food for twenty-four hours. So soaked hard
tack in the water at the bottom of the shell
hole, dined, and then went to sleep in spite of
the rain, the bombardment, and the homeless
officers.
Next day we made another attack over the
top. We got into a Boche machine gun cross-
142 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
fire and orders were to dig down. I noticed a
large shell crater about 20 yards to the left,
where a half dozen Poilus were lying in comfort
below the earth level and fairly safe. Crawling
toward them on my stomach, with nose on
the ground, I felt the earth shake (impossible
to hear in the never-ending cannon roar),
looked up, and about 80 or 100 feet in the air,
where they had rested as on a teeter after going
up, before* coming down, — I saw a number of
blue overcoats. I looked over to the shell crater
and found it was larger, fresher and empty. I
crawled over there and stayed till darkness
relieved me.
Those men were in comparative safety, while
I was out in the open and exposed, yet they
were killed. Soldiers naturally become fatal-
ists, and believe one will not be called till
the shell comes along with his number.
They see a shell fall, a cloud of dirt and dust
goes up — no damage done. Another shell
drops, — a man stood there, — he goes up, — he
was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, —
and out of luck. Why worry? There are too
many shells, and the one that gets you is the
one you will never see. If it does not get you
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 143
right then it is no time to worry, — if it does,
you won't need to.
On September 28, the Legion attacked the
Bois Sabot or wooden shoe, a wooded eminence
protected by fifty yards of barbed wire entan-
glements, stretched, tree to tree, behind which
bristled three rows of machine guns. About
four o'clock, the Legion lined out to attack in
a long row, a yard apart. The Germans watched
our formation, their guns trained on the first
wire, and waited.
Finally, the Colonel said to a Sergeant,
'"Here, you take this section. Go over and
wake them up." No one was anxious. The
rifles of the Boche could be seen above their
trenches. But Musgrave said, "Let's go over
and stir them and see what kind of a show
they put up." The section went, 35 or 40 men.
Just two, both Americans, Musgrave and Pa-
velka, came back.
That attack lasted all night. Daybreak was
coming. All the officers had been killed, ex-
cept a little squeaky voiced Lieutenant. He was
144 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
afraid to give the order to retreat. But, day-
light in sight, he finally said, "Gather up the
wounded and go back to the trench we left."
The dead were in rows by hundreds, as thick
as autumn leaves, each man on his stomach, face
to the foe.
Artillery was then brought up. Two days
later, we again attacked. The wire and the
whole mountain top had been blown away. The
Germans we met were either dead, wounded
or dazed.
It was the seventeenth day of the attack. We
lay to the left of the Ferme Navarin in front of
the captured German second line trenches.
German officers' dug-outs were littered with
champagne bottles stolen from the cellars of
France. On the other hand, Zouaves and
Legionnaires were decorated with captured
German helmets, swords, gold-braided coats,
map cases, boots and equipment of all sorts.
In that district the terrain is streaked — first,
strips of open ground, then strips of woodland,
which had evidently been planted for a military
purpose.
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 145
The Germans were on one side of a hill, we
were close up on the other, so close that the
German shells could not drop quickly enough
and invariably exploded in the rear.
There was no wire between. The trees on
the hill-top were mostly shot away. A broken
ladder was still tied to a tall tree which had been
used as an observation post. Snipers from both
sides, in trees, were picking off every man who
went into the open.
Here, the attacking parties had been stopped.
In the open, between the woods, dead French-
men still lay in rows, side by side, face to the
foe, where they had been mowed down by ma-
chine guns, lying behind their knapsacks, in
front of which a little dirt had been thrown.
Some had rifles in their hands, others spades.
The camp kettles, strapped to their knapsacks,
were perforated by bullets. At one side of the
opening, dead men had been placed crossways
in front of a shallow trench toes upward, then
a layer of bodies lengthways, cordwood style,
then others, toes up, then bodies lengthways;
and in front dirt was thrown.
146 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Behind this barricade the bodies of wounded
men lay, not straight, but in almost every im-
aginable position, blood-blackened faces, dirty
bloody bandages, muddy shoes, staring eyes,
twisted limbs, — all mixed together.
I was out in front of this line of bodies-, on
picket, lying in the underbrush, when Emery,
the Swiss corporal of the adjoining platoon,
crawled over and began telling me about his
English sweetheart and English homes and
hospitality and Cambridge days, when the cap-
tain, noticing we liad our backs to the enemy,
bawled us out.
So, to make up for our slackness we crawled
a little further, where we noticed something
black between us and the hill-top. Emery was
called away just then. I crawled out and found
it was the body of a French officer wrapped up
entirely in a large black raincoat. He died as
the French officer wishes to die, at the head of
his men; and this one was 100 yards ahead of
the nearest soldier.
Being in bad odor with my captain, I did not
report to him. The sergeant, Bacarret, an
CHAMPAGNE ATTACK 147
Alsatian with German manners, I never ad-
dressed unless compelled to by military neces-
sity. So I told the Parisian bootblack corporal
what I had seen.
. Going on picket again, the corporal and the
retiring sentinel dragged the body down the
hill and I watched him as he artistically frisked
it. First, he deftly transferred a roll of bills
from the dead man's vest to his own, then took
his purse, knife, maps, letters, etc., and, open-
ing the purse, he said, "Look what he had, I am
going to take this money to the captain." There
was one five franc piece, also some small
change. The letters he left on the ground. I
picked them up and read the contents, which
showed they were from his wife, written from
his home at Rheims.
Coming off picket, we were ordered to change
positions. We marched all night. Our feet
through not having shoes off for seventeen
days, at first numb, soon burned and pricked as
the blood commenced to circulate. Many men
fell out of ranks. Those who did not were so
tired and used up they did not fill up the sets of
fours as their comrades dropped out.
148 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
I was in the rear rank of the first set of fours
and marched behind the bootblack corporaL
He was a gritty little fellow and carried a knap-
sack so large that his head could not be seen
from behind. He fell out several times, but
pushed himself up in spite of the men, who
would not budge or get out of the way, — for
every step counts in a long march.
Walking on a canal bank, I noticed some-
thing dangling about his legs — saw it was the
dead officer's raincoat hanging from his belt. I
waited till he came, pushing his way past again,
when I made a false step and he landed, face
down, knapsack and all, in the canal. He did
not show up again till the following afternoon.
CHAPTER XI
LIFE IN DEATH
"If a man die, shall he live?"* Aye — and that
more abundantly !
Realize and believe with Victor Hugo,
"When I go down to the grave I can say like
many others, 'I have finished my day's work.'
But I cannot say 'I have finished my life.' My
day's work will begin again next morning.
The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thorough-
fare. It closes on the twilight, it opens on the
dawn."
They do not die who instil in others love of
country and higher degrees of patriotism.
We know that "except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone : but,
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."t Nature
is constantly demonstrating Life as the mani-
festation of Death. Nature's laws are the laws
of God, to whom are all people subject. So,
with man, is passing his progress, into a higher,
♦Job 14:14. tJohn 12:24.
149
ISO SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
or lower, form of spirit continuance — as he may
have chosen and prepared.
You, who read this book, have you thought
of it as religious ? Religious — "devotional, con-
scientiously exact or strict," (look in your
dictionary — every one accepts it as authority!)
it must be, these days, to rightfully exist. Re-
ligion (see your dictionary again) is "any sys-
tem of faith or worship, love and obedience
toward God.'' Those who . are in this great
strife of Right against Wrong require no dic-
tionary to define Religion — nor do you, oh, my
Americans, as the battle reaches yours and you !
One of our truly great ministers. Rector
James E. Freeman, working in United States
contonments now, stoutly securing the hearts
of America's youth, who shall slay the modern
Minotaur, with the strong Ariadnean thread of
faith which lightens death's darkness into a
glorious labyrinth of life, has told us how,
where a town was utterly destroyed, there
stood what was left of a beautiful church, built
in the fourteenth century. The altar had been
crushed. Huge pillars lay prone. The crucifix
was trampled, into the dust. But, in the midst
LIFE IN DEATH 151
of all that pitiful ruin and desolation, there
stood unharmed a cheap plaster image of the
Virgin Mary, mother of Christ, which shells
and insult spared. Alone, with outstretched
arms, pleading with man to remember her
divine child, that most sacred woman of all the
world calls on us to do what is right and go
straight.
In her own realization — and in proof to a not
always charitable, if mistaken, judging world,
that her spiritual life and power are. of far
greater worth and importance than her vast
material wealth, also in really learning the truth
of that too familiar — "He that loveth his life
shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal,''* is Amer-
ica now finding her soul?
The materialistic profiteer, who evades duty,
and fattens on the soldier's blood, will pass.
But the soldier whose inspiring deeds shall stir
the heart of future generations has kindled the
flame that burns forever.
When the materialist has cashed his coupons,
the money won't keep his body from the mag-
♦John 12:25.
IS2 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
gots. It may buy him a mausoleum, but not the
respect of loyal patriots who are willing to give
their all, in order to live up to their traditions.
Stocks and bonds have a market value — ^but
Honor and Liberty are priceless.
It was the materialism of the Kaiser that
started this war. He is confronted by millions
of dead bodies on the battlefields of France
whose spirits demand that they must not have
bled in vain. He is haunted by Jeanne d'Arc,
by the awakened spirit of 76.
These hover near, stimulating, inspiring the
living to yet nobler deeds. Incorruptible, they
flock to those who fight to the death, and every
death sends forth a living force.
America, sunk in materialism, now hearkens
to her forefathers — Washington, Hamilton,
Greene, LaFayette, Rochambeau, Lincoln,
Sherman and Grant, calling us to Righteous-
ness.
The chastening hand of God has raised us
where we can again see great Ideals, forgotten.
LIFE IN DEATH 153
These are the foundation on which Democ-
racy rests, — not wealth and class distinctions.
We are making the world safe for Democ-
racy? Let us make Democracy safe for the
world. While the soldier kills Prussianism with
the bullet, the civilian must end political and
profiteering abuses with his vote.
■
He who died that men may live now con-
quors and tames him who has lived that men —
and women, and little children, might die !
CHAPTER XII
THE 170TH FRENCH REGIMENT
When we Americans went into the 170th,
Seeger, Morlae, Narutz and others stayed with
the 2nd Legion, which two weeks later was
merged with the 1st Legion. Narutz remarked,
in his philosophic manner, "The 170th is a reg-
iment volante, always used in quick, double ac-
tion work. Their specialty is bayonet attack.
I am too old to go steeple chasing over barbed
wire, in a ripped up country, with not one hun-
dred yards of solid ground, then twenty yards
of nothing, a 70 pound sack on my back, a two
dollar thirst in my stomach and Boche machine
guns in front. Believe me, the Legion is quite
swift enough. I know what this is and will
stick to what I have and am used to — ^what I
have not had, I might not like." Seeger, as
usual, silent, mystic, indomitable, appeared not
to listen. His thoughts were in the clouds.
He had made up his mind to stay. That set-
tled it — no explanation necessary.
154
170th FRENCH REGIMENT 155
Of the Americans who changed, but three,
Sergeant Capdevielle, Sergeant Jacobs and
Lieutenant Mulhauser remain.''' The Colonel,
of that date, is now General Polalacelli.
The 170th is a notable regiment. Time and
again have its members been complimented by
General Joffre. They are his children, his pride.
Never were they called upon when they failed
to make good. They have rushed into almost
certain extermination and come out alive.
Anointed with success, they fear nothing. They
have charged into a cataclysm of destruction
which swallowed up whole companies, and re-
turned with a battalion of German prisoners.
Against all opposition, they prevail. Spite of
death, they live, always triumphant, never de-
feated. Theirs is an invincibility — a contempt
of peril, which only men who have continually
risked and won can have. In the confusion and
complications of battle, they are masters in ob-
struction and counter-attack. They have been
torn, shocked and churned about — but they
have arrived. Faces burning in zeal, exalted
for the cause they serve, stimulated by the com-
♦ All gone, with the passing of Capdevielle, October 3, 1918.
156 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
panionship of kindred spirits, they heedlessly
dash to victory, or, the Sunset.
We turned directly about and went with this
new regiment, back to the front line. We re-
lieved our own old regiment, the Foreign Le-
gion. Eight men, all Americans, were together
in one squad. Inside of a week, only three were
left. That is, there were but three, when I was
sent away for repairs.
We were in a captured German headquarters
with equipment, ammunition, war debris, dead
men and killed horses, strewed about. Along
the edge of a hill was a German graveyard.
About two hundred German soldiers, killed in a
previous engagement, were buried there. Ger-
man batteries, on the opposite hill top, kept
bombarding their lost position, hoping to drive
the French captors out. They shot up those
dead Germans — the atmosphere grew pungent
— the stench penetrated every corner. It set-
tled heavy on the lungs. It was impossible to
get away from it.
It was in late October, 1915. The only time
food or water could be sent up to us was at
170th FRENCH REGIMENT 157
night. Coffee was chilled by morning. Dur-
ing the day, as usual, we slept in the bottom of
the trenches with shoes and cartridge belts on.
At night the regular program was, — patrol,
guard, digging trenches, placing barbed wire,
bringing up ammunition and supplies, with
always that dreadful smell.
One morning, October 19, 1915, looking over
at the Boche, I saw a shrapnel burst overhead.
A second after a bullet embedded itself in my
forehead. Some time later, feeling foolish for
having been caught as shortstop for a German
hit, I heard Bob Scanlon say, "You lucky fool.
You lay rolled up warm in those Boche blankets
all morning, while I was up, trying to find a
place to heat the coffee. Now, you will go
south, where it is warm, and I shall have to stay
here and freeze."
CHAPTER XIII
163RD AND 92ND REGIMENTS
Returning to the front I was sent as a rein-
forcement to the 163rd who had just come from
Verdun, where they had one battalion captured.
After a few days rest, while they were getting
reinforcements and new clothing and equip-
ment, we were sent up to the front where, with
the exception of ten days when we went to Lav-
eline to be refitted again (but two men left in
my squad), my company, the 7th, was in the
first and second line trenches for seven contin-
uous months.
In the 163rd I saw a French regiment at its
best. The Legion is composed of men from all
countries. The 170th is from many French
regiments and sections. The 163rd all came
from southern France. They saw alike, under-
stood one another and worked together. Kind
and considerate, they were a band of ideal
iS8
163rd and 92nd REGIMENTS 159
brothers. They took pleasure in having an
American feel at home. They made sure that
he got his share of clothing, rations and duty.
He, noticing those little courtesies, in his ap-
preciation, became a better soldier.
What I liked about this regiment was the
supreme contempt the officers had for the
Boches — and could not but admire how easily
they slipped things over on Fritz. With such
leaders, hard work and suffering became sport
— as we Kiboshed the Boches !
Owing to the even character of the men, it
was not necessary to have as strict discipline
as in the Legion. Here the soldiers were more
content — more companionable — ^were all veter-
ans — many wounded badly enough so they
could not have remained in a regiment of at-
tack, — yet steady and dependable, and almost
invaluable, where the enemy's trenches were
about thirty yards away, — and the two forces
were in constant touch.
In the winter of 1916-17 weakened by rheu-
matism, after fighting in three active first line
i6o SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
regiments, I was finally sent to the 92nd Terri-
torials, a working regiment, then in a near-by
sector.
These grand-dads, from forty to fifty-five
years of age, the debris of "Papa'' Joffre's old
army, were all physically unfit — ^yet, not old
enough to die. The object in holding them
together was to have a reserve — in order to
use what few ounces of strength they still
had.
Officers and doctors were considerate and
very kind. But, even that could not keep a
number of the men from caving in as Nature's
limit was reached.
One night at Bussang, after unloading coal in
a snowstorm, my wet cotton gloves were as
stiff with frost as were my knees with rheuma-
tism. Quite fed up, I went to the doctor, de-
termined to thrash the matter out with him.
"Yes," he responded, "I know you are not in
condition, but, we are hard pressed now. We
must use every ounce of energy we have." I
quit knocking, stuck it out a few days longer,
then went to pieces.
163rd and 92nd REGIMENTS i6i
Such is soldier life. One starts out strong and
full of pep, fit to serve in the Foreign Legion,
the best in France. Then in the 170th, graded
the fourth. Then to the 163rd, a good trench
regiment. Then to ihe 92nd Territorials, a
working regiment. Then to hospital — trans-
ferred back to the Legion — to be invalided
home.
CHAPTER XIV
HOSPITAL LIFE
In 1915 there were 6,400 hospitals in France
and 18,000 doctors. During large offensives the
wounded arrived in Paris at the rate of thirty
trainloads per day. In Lyons at one time there
were 15,000 wounded men. At Verdun 28,000
wounded men were treated in one hospital dur-
ing a 25 day period. In the spring of 1918, 40
per cent of the entire French Army had been
killed, captured or hopelessly mutilated. Of
the 60 per cent remaining at that time there
were 1,500,000 wounded and crippled men in
the hospitals of France.
With the exception, as far as known, of the
American Hospital at Nice and the Scottish
Woman's Hospital at Royemont, both of
which maintain themselves, the pay for care
and attendance of each patient which comes
from the French Government is limited to one
franc, 25 centimes per day (22^ cents). The
balance is made up by the Red Cross, indi-
viduals and communities, according to the
162
HOSPITAL LIFE 163
J
1
ORDBE GENERAL N 8 " D. E." (EXTRAIT)
PRIVATE JACK'S SERBIAN MEDAL CITATION
i64
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
largeness, or smallness, of the views and pock-
etbooks of those who assist.
Hospitals are of two
classes. They are in or
out of the army zone.
The Army Zone is a piece
of land under strict mili-
tary law, extending, pos-
sibly, twenty miles back
from the trenches.
Ordinarily, weekly Red
Cross trains carry the
evacuated wounded, or
disabled, soldiers from the
Army Zone to the interior.
During a general engage-
ment trains wait, are filled
with wounded from am-
bulances, and sent away
immediately as soon as
filled.
The hospital in the
Army Zone, necessary for
military reasons, is not
looked upon with favor by
SERBIAN MEDAL
A liiaited number of
these decorations were
presented by S. A. R,, the
Prince Regent of Serbia, to
President Poincari of the
French Republic, for dis-
'tiibutlon to officers and nieD
for diilinguished and bril-
liant conduct under fire.
Two were allotted the
163rd Regiment of the IJne
— one for an officer, the
other to a private.
HOSPITAL LIFE 165
the common soldier. It is too military. He has
his fill of red tape and regulations. He wants to
forget there ever was a war, or that he ever was
a soldier. He regards discipline as he does lice,
and medicine and bad neighbors. It may be
necessary to put up with them but he does not
wish to do so any longer than needs be.
If he must have a nurse, he does not want a
limping, growling, medically unfit man. He
prefers placing his suffering-racked body, in-
jured by the hand of hate, where it can be
nursed back to health with kindly ministering
love.
The sick soldier does not want to be pestered
or bothered. He prefers to be left alone. He
does not wish a nosing uplifter to come and tell
him what he shall do, and what he shall not do.
He had enough orders in the army. Because
he wears a uniform, he is none the less a man.
He may not be rich. But riches are no passport
to heaven. He has only contempt for lively
humbugs, who ape superiority, and try to push
something down his throat which he does not
want.
In the Army Zone hospital, supposed to be
sick, he is not allowed outside except under cer-
i66 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
tain conditions, and then in charge of a nurse.
When convalescent, he is quarantined in the
Eclopes. Here, rather than moon his time away,
and to keep from going stark crazy, he asks to
be sent back to the front.
In the hospitals of the interior, he gets much
more liberal treatment. If able, he may wander
about, without a chaperon, in the afternoons.
He will buy a red herring and walk up the mid-
dle of the street eating it. Four men go into a
shop, buy five cents worth of cheese, and each
pays for his own wine.
Store windows have an irresistible attraction
for him.
Post cards hold his gaze for hours.
A whistling small boy brings him to a full
stop. He has not heard such a happy sound
for a long time. He blesses the little fellow for
showing so much cheer in the midst of suffer-
ing.
After several days, he notices people stare at
him a good deal. Yes, he limps too much.
Every step brings pain. He senses their kindly
HOSPITAL LIFE 167
sympathy but, somehow or other, resents it. So,
he goes out into the country, where, while he
rests in the lap of Nature, the warm sun helps
the doctors coax the poison from the wound,
rheumatism from the joints, and shock from
the system.
Away from the front, away from the busy
haunts of merf, all through France, in chateaux,
in old convents and high schools, in sisters' hos-
pitals, conducted by the Union of Femmes de
France, the Society of Dames Francaises, and
the Society Secours aux Malades and Blesses
Militaires, under the kindly treatment of those
unswerving, unflinching nurses, he recovers his
strength, then goes to the front for Freedom or
Glory Immortal.
I shall not forget the many little courtesies
received in the French hospitals at Saumur,
Montreuil-Ballay, Remiremont, Pont de Veyle
and Bourg. Suffering unites the sympathetic.
Pain is the barometer that tests the human
fiber. The soldier, who has been through the
fire with his fellows, who has been wounded, as
they were, who suffered, as they did, has an es-
tablished comradeship that endures. He was
i68 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
interested in them and they in him. When he
is low and the day ahead looks dark and dreary,
he can feel their sympathy. Probably no word
is spoken, but he knows the whole ward is pull-
ing for him. He does not want to disappoint
his friends. He rises to the occasion. That
sympathy means the difference between life
and death.
In the early days of the war, flowers, cigar-
ettes, reading matter and luxuries, were show-
ered upon wounded soldiers. Gradually, as
private and public interests demanded atten-
tion, visitors were compelled to work for them-
selves, or for the State.
The faithful, never-tiring nurses patiently
remain at their posts, color washed from their
cheeks, hands worn, seamed by labor, dark eyes,
flashing stars of a wintry night, unceasingly,
they work to bring back to health those
who almost died for them. In their sweet, white
uniforms, suppressing their own troubles with
a jolly smile, they greet and welcome the mud-
stained, lousy, dirty poilu and give him an affec-
tionate word — far more efficient, a much better
tonic, than medicine.
CHAPTER XV
AN INCIDENT
Early spring, 1916, at Boulogne, dressed as a
French poilu, I stepped off the channel boat
from Folkstone, and, hurrying to the railroad
station, learned that the express would not
leave for Paris till 8 o'clock — a wait of five
hours.
The day was cold. Snow was blowing around
the street corner. The raw sea breeze cut to the
marrow. Buttoning a thin overcoat, still crum-
pled from going through the crumming ma-
chine, sure sign of hospital treatment, I walked
about aimlessly. 'Tish and chips.'' Yes, that
was what I wanted. I wasn't hungry, but it
must be warm inside. It was also the last chance
for some time to indulge in finny luxuries. Lots
of water in those long, narrow trenches, skirt-
ing "No-Man's-Land," but no fish. Grinning,
I recalled one cold, heart-breaking morning,
when an unseen German yelled across:
''Hello, Francais, have you the brandy?"
169
170 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION (
"No, have you?" J
"No, we have not ; but we have the water !" i,
J
We knew that — for we had just drained our 1
trench into theirs.
I took my time and when not picking fish
bones gazed, reflectively, at the miserable
weather outside. I chatted in English with Brit-
ish Tommies and exchanged a few remarks in
French with the little waitress. At the cash-
ier's counter, a stranger, dressed as an English
private soldier, rasped out, in an aggressive, au-
thoritative voice:
"Here! You speak very good English.''
In spite of not liking his tone, I responded,
*'0h, I don't know."
"You don't know? Well, I know. You speak
as good English as I do."
"I don't know that you have any monopoly
on the English language."
"You don't know, eh, you don't know? I
would like to know what you do know." -
"Well, I know something you don't."
"What's that?"
"I kiiow enough to mind my own business."
/
AN INCIDENT 171
After a few seconds dead silence, the Eng-
lishman said, "Who are you?''
"That's my business."
"It's my business to find out."
"Well, find out."
"Let me see your papers."
"I will not."
"If you don't let me see your papers, I will
take you up to the Base Court."
. "You won't take me any place — understand
that?"
I paid the frightened little waitress. The
English Tommies were taking eyesfull instead
of mouthsfull. I was angered. I was minding
my own business. Why could not the English-
man mind his? The more I thought of it, the
warmer I got. Turning to him I said, "You not
only don't mind your own business, but you
don't know where you are. You are in France,
where soldiers are treated as men."
Half an hour later, the Englishman, accom-
panied by a Frenchman in uniform, stopped me
in the street. The Frenchman spoke, —
"Good day, mister."
"Good day." (
172 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
"Will you show me your papers, if you
please ?"
"Who are you — ^are you a policeman ?"
"No."
"What right have you to see my papers?"
"I belong to the Bureau."
"The Bureau of shirkers ?"
"No, the Bureau of the Place."
"Well, I will show them at the proper time
and place."
A small crowd had collected. A poilu, cov-
ered with trench mud, asked, "What is the mat-
ter?"
"Oh, this fellow wants to see my papers."
"Well, haven't you got them ?"
"Yes."
"Let me see them."
At the first glance he saw the Foreign Le-
gion stamp,
"Ha, ha, la Legion ! I know the Legion, come
along and we will have a litre of wine."
So, we two walked away and left the crowd
disputing among themselves. I remarked to
the Englishman, who had stood silently watch-
ing, "I told you before, you were too ignorant
AN INCIDENT 173
to mind your own business. Now, you see you
are.
The wine disposed of, we parted. Looking
back, I saw the Englishman following a hun-
dred yards behind. He crossed the street and
stood on the opposite corner. He stopped three
English officers and told his little tale of woe.
They crossed, in perfect time, spurs jingling,
and bore down, three abreast, upon me, the
pauvre poilu, who did not salute.
"You have come from England, where you
have been spending your convalescence ?'*
"Yes.''
"Have you your convalescence papers with
you?"
"Of course.''
"You must excuse me ; but, would you mind
showing them ?"
"Certainly, with pleasure."
After scanning them, one said to the other,
"They look all right." No answer. "They look
all right, don't they, Phil?" No answer. The
junior officer, a Lieutenant, conducted the
examination. Of the other two older men,
174 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
one turned his head away, looking down the
street, the other gazed at the Lieutenant
with a peculiar, almost disgusted expres-
sion.
I then asked, "By the way, is it the business
of the English in France to demand the creden-
tials of French soldiers? What right has that
man to interfere with me?"
"You must show your papers to the military
authorities."
"Is that man a 'military authority'?"
The Lieutenant looked round and not seeing
the disturber, turned to Phil, "Where is he?"
"Oh, I don't know. He said something about
going to get the military police. Let's go." The
Lieutenant, turning to me, said, "It is all right.
You may go and tell that man we said you were
all right."
I did not move, but stood at attention and
saluted while the officers walked away.
I didn't know who "that man" was, nor yet
the name of "we," but I* didn't care. Half an
hour later "that man" arrived with English
AN INCIDENT 175
soldiers, or military police, headed by a newly
made Corporal and a Scotch veteran who ra-
diated intelligence with dignity and self-re-
spect.
After walking, captive, a few minutes, I
asked, "Where are we going?"
"To the Base Court."
I thought I was a sucker, playing the Butt-
in-ski's game. Throwing my back against the
wall, I answered, — "If you want to take me to
the Base Court, you will have to carry me."
A long silence followed, and a crowd col-
lected. The English corporal started to blus-
ter. I demanded, — "What business have you
to interfere with me?"
"We have orders to make you show your
papers."
"Who gave you those orders?"
The Corporal did not answer. The Scotch-
man turned to him and said, — "Who is that
damned fdol that is always getting us into trou-
ble?"
The Corporal responded, — "I don't know, —
he gave me a card. Here it is."
176 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
I looked over the Corporal's shoulder and
read, Lieutenant P n.
The Scotchman asked, — "Don't you havie to
show your papers?''
"Yes, to those who have the right to see
them."
"Who are they?"
"The gendarmes, the commissaire, and the
proper officials^
ff
Then, that smooth Scotchman slipped one
over on me, — "Look here, soldier, don't be fool-
ish. Think of yourself and look at us — ^we
would look like hell getting into a row with a
French soldier, with this crowd about, wouldn't
we? If you don't want to go to the English
court, let's go to the French commissaire and
get the damned thing over with."
r replied, "You are engaged in a lovely busi-
ness, aren't you? You permit German officers,
who are fighting in the German army against
Great Britain, to retain their titles in the Eng-
lish House of Lords; and you come over to
France and arrest your ally, the French com-
mon soldier."
"We had to mind orders, ma lad, 'E don't
doubt ye're a' richt."
\
AN INCIDENT 177
The Corporal put in, "Fm not so sure about
that."
I replied, "I bet you're making a trip for
nothing."
"What will you bet?"
"Oh, I don't know — a glass of beer."
"Good, that's a go," said the Corporal. "Ah'U
help ye drink it," said the Scot.
The Commissaire examined my papers
closely. Turning to the Corporal, he asked,
"What have you brought this man here for?"
The Corporal replied, "He speaks very good
English and not very good French."
The Commissaire observed, "I don't know
about his English, but he speaks better French
than you do."
"We don't know who he is."
The Commissaire responded, "This man is a
soldier of France, an American citizen, a vol-
unteer in the Foreign Legion. His papers show
that, and his identification badge confirms it.
The papers also state he was wounded in the
forehead. Look at that scar ! The papers show
he is returning to his regiment. Here is his rail-
178
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
• 1
'I.i- 1'.
■tt" ■'
fitat d'Wcuation ti" 38
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U Grade „ R6giniem
N* ti'ordre _.. Au camet de passage N* 2^
Oiag:noslic — - — -
Blesse le ^
. Temp6raUire
Evacu^ - -
A
S*:.
f^"
£^ M6decin:de service^
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I N B. - l^ectele
I ;| Vaiisement fait le .
ftaiiseraent a refeire le
-ff-
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.Si>^""*
CONVALESENCE CERTIFICATE
AN INCIDENT 179
road ticket. What do you want with him?
AVhat charge do you enter against him ?"
The Corporal looked uncomfortable. The
Scotchman walked away. The Commissaire
came around the table and shook hands with
me. In horror, the Corporal whispered, point-
ing to the Commissaire, "He is a Colonel !*' and
started to walk away. I called out, "Here,
where are you going — aren't you going to buy
that beer?''
After buying, the Corporal hurried off. I
followed more slowly and watched half a dozen
English soldiers in animated conversation with
the Corporal, the Scotchman and the Lieuten-
ant Buttinski.
I studied the pantomine for some time, then
wandered about, till my train was ready to start
for Paris. Seeing Lieutenant P n look-
ing through the iron railing, I waved him fare-
well; but he did not respond. A Frenchman
would either have waved his hand or shaken his
fist!
CHAPTER XVI
NATURE'S FIRST LAW
The American soldier in France finds new
scenes, new conditions, new customs. Uncon-
sciously he compares life back home with his
new experiences, often to the latter's disadvan-
tage. He sees things he does not like, that he
would change, that he could improve. But,
what does appeal to him as perfect is the large
number of small farms (53 per cent of French-
men are engaged in agriculture) with the little
chateaux, built upon miniature estates, exqui-
sitely tended, artistically designed, that give
joy to the eye and food for the stomach. These
beautiful homes encourage thrift, they show
him, often, the better way.
Pride of possession makes the Frenchman
patriotic, national. When the enemy struck
France, they struck him. He rushed to the ^
frontier to meet invaders who sought to subdue |
him and destroy his happy home. From a
cheerful, mirth-loving man, he has become se-
i8o
NATURE'S FIRST LAW i8i
rious and morose. Not now does he sing or
laugh. He has been treated unjustly. An
overwhelming power tried to force on him
something he will not have. He does not blus-
ter — he waits. He does not scold — he works.
"When the time comes — he acts.
To the non-land-owning German industrial
slaves, driven by the strong hand of Autocracy,
he says, — "You shall not enslave us. If you
have not the brains to free yourselves, we shall
free you, whether you wish it or not." To the
robbers' cry for peace (so they can legalize
their stolen loot) the French soldier replies, —
"Yes, when justice has been done, justice to the
wronged, the oppressed, the raped. Justice is
obtained by regular procedure in a criminal
court, not by negotiation between equals. Ar-
bitration is not possible between a crazy man
and the woman he has assaulted. The mad man
must be caught and properly judged. If in-
sane, he should be confined, if not, he must
be punished."
As civilians become city broke, soldiers take
on army ways. Instead of walking in mobs,
they move in rows. Near the front, from march-
i82 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
ing in companies, they advance in sections.
These disintegrate, when an apparently stray
shell comes along. Units become individuals
of initiative and intelligence, adaptable to sud-
den, strange environment. Necessity super-
sedes the regular book of rules. Books are
printed, orders given, to regulate ordinary con-
ditions.
The soldier's conditions under fire are neither
ordinary nor regular. Instinct tells him when
to brace, when to duck. He knows an order
to stand up or lie down won't stop that shell,
put his cocoanut back, or reassemble his family
tree. So, he does what he thinks best. He may
obey or disobey the order, and save or lose his
life. The man who gave the order may die be-
cause he did, or did not, obey.
A good soldier can generally kick off unnec-
essaries as fast as a poor officer can load them
on. He runs light before the wind. Instead of
wearing himself out as a hewer of wood and a
hauler of water, he saves his strength for the
enemy.
A luminous watch on the wrist, a compass in
the pocket, a 2x6 box, with toilet necessaries,
NATURE'S FIRST LAW 183
are his private stock in trade. The other sixty
pounds are regular army. He always hangs
onto his gun, cartridges, bombs, little shovel,
and tin hat. He doesn't want tight-fitting
shoes, but prefers them a size or two large. He
doesn't buckle his belt regulation style. In-
stead of buckling his cartridge belt in front, he
fastens it on the side, so he can slide the cart-
ridge boxes around, where they won't gouge
into his body when he sleeps. He covers his
rifle with oil. He wipes out his mess tin with
dry bread crumbs. He does not gormandize be-
fore a long march, or fill up on cold water. He
keeps his feet in good condition. He covers up
his head when asleep, so the rats won't disturb
him. He keeps his rifle within reach and is
always ready to move at a moment's notice.
One day, he may have eaten up the regula-
tion hand-book of rules, for breakfast, dined
comfortably on regimental orders, and, going
to sleep, with taps blowing in his dome, dreamed
sets of fours and double time. Next day, he
wakes up, to find by actual experience that,
while plans are made and ordered, everything
is actually gained by opportunity, individual-
ity, initiative.
i&t SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
He may pass years in peaceful climes, going,
like a side-walk comedian, through the empty
mummeries of a Broadway spectacular produc-
tion. Put under shot and shell, he just knows
he is a soldier, who must keep his feet warm
and his head cool.
The Poilu is first, first on outpost, first at the
enemy, first in his home, first in the affection
of his country. From the ranks of the poilu the
officers are drawn. He is the Foundation. He
honors France, France honors him.
When, in 1914, he, with the original Tommy
Atkins, turned at the Marne, attacked fifty-two
army corps of well-equipped, well-drilled, rap-
idly advancing, victorious Huns, outnumbering
him 8 to 5, and drove them back with his bay-
onet (for some regiments had no cartridges),
he saved not only France, but England, Amer-
ica and civilization.
During the terrible year of 1915, it was the
bare breast and naked bayonet of the poilu and
the little French 75 that halted superior forces
of the enemy, flanked and aided by longer-
NATURE'S FIRST LAW 185
ranged, heavy artillery, Zeppelins, liquid flame
and aeroplanes.
Remember, German casualties, the first year
of the war, were 3,500,000 men.
For eight continuous months, he was ada-
mant, behind Verdun. One million men (600,-
000 Germans and 400,000 French) were inca-
pacitated within the three square mile tract
that guards the entrance to that historic
town, where, a century before, Napoleon
kept his English prisoners. Here, the poilu
sent the German lambs to glory as fast as
their Crown Prince could lead them to the
slaughter.
With face of leather, his forehead a mass of
wrinkles, which hurt neither the face nor his
feelings— -a man as careless of dress as the
French poilu, naturally, doesn't care whether
his clothes fit him or not, — ^^he goes his fine,
proud way. His once happy countenance, now
saddened by suffering, will yet light up in ap-
preciation. A little kindness makes him elo-
quent. Strong in the righteousness of his
cause, he does not bow his head in sorrow, or
i86 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
bend in weakness. He stands upright, four-
square to the world. He has lived down dis-
comfort. He cares nothing for exposure or
starvation. He has seen what the brutes have
done in the reconquered villages he passed
through. He is determined they shall not do it
in his home, or, if his home is in the invaded
territory, he declares they shall pay for the
damage. Animated by the spirit of justice, en-
nobled by the example of St. Genevieve, of
Jeanne d'Arc, of Napoleon, inspired by the
courage and devotion of the wonderful women
of France, supported by a united country, he
knows he is fighting for self-preservation and a
world's freedom.
He closed, locked, barred the door at the
Marne. Now he guards the gate. He makes
no complaint and asks no favors. With almost
certainty of death in front, trouble in his heart,
body racked by fatigue, with dark forebodings
of the future, bled white by repeated onslaughts,
he remains at his post and does his duty, with-
out a murmur.
French officers are real, improved property,
not vacant lots. They are leaders, not follow-
NATURE'S FIRST LAW 187
ers. Ordinary people see what goes on before
their eyes. The French officer is not an ordi-
nary person. Anything that is happening, or
has happened, his quick mind connects with
something else a mile away — not yet arrived.
When it comes along, it has already been met ;
and he is waiting for the next move. His spe-
cial study is the German Military Manual, his
long suit concentration and initiative.
He will grasp another man's opportunity, tie
a double knot in it, and have it safely stowed
away, before the bungler misses it. He dis-
counts the future, beats the other man to it and
arrives with both feet when not expected — ^just
before the other is quite ready. Endowed with
foresight, farsight, secondsight and hindsight,
he sees all about and far away in front. Every
isolated movement is noticed. He connects it
up with some future possible development,
eventuality or danger.
Men of other nations may have delusions
about German organization and system, but
the French officer has none. He has beaten
Fritz, time after time. He knows he can do it
again; and, if there is any one thing he espe-
i88 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
cially delights in, it is to throw a wrench into
that ponderous, martial machinery and break
Kultur's plans. Germans are lost with no rule
to follow, and their head-piece won't work.
They are at the mercy of the man who makes
precedents, but who does not bother to follow
them.
Many a soldier has an aversion to saluting
officers — it looks like servility. We do it with
pleasure in France, as a token of respect. The
French officers at the front do not insist upon
it, and often shake hands after the return salute.
Mon Capitaine is the father of his company, the
soldiers are mes enfants (my children). They
go to the captain when they have a grievance,
not as a favor, but because it is their right; and
he grants their request — or gives them four
days in prison, as the case demands, with a
smile. Soldiers accept his decision without
question. The French officer does not mistake
snobbishness for gentility or braggadocio for
bravery. In the attack, he takes the lead. In
the trench warfare he shares dangers and dis-
comforts with his men.
It is a great honor to be an active French of-
ficer. He is there because his achievements
NATURE'S FIRST LAW 189
forced him upward. He has climbed over ob-
stacles, and been promoted on account of merit,
not through influence. He holds the front,
while the inefficient, the aged, or crippled, are
relegated to the rear.
The soldier pays with his hide for the civil-
ian's comforts. The civilian, in turn, apes the
soldier, presents a military bearing, in khaki
coat, with swagger stick, a camera, a haversack
and Joiners' decorations. While the citizen
works (or shirks) to sustain the soldier, he is
either using his strength on the front, or build-
ing it up in the hospital.
An enthusiastic, spirited volunteer, gradually
becomes a silent, sober, calculating veteran. His
days have been troubled. His nights knew no
peace. Recognizing discipline as the first prin-
ciple of organization, that it is necessary to
have individual obedience, for a group to act
harmoniously, he submits. On the front, he
finds — himself.
Half a dozen men are taking comfort in the
shelter of a dugout. The next instant, five are
^90 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION _
one hundred feet in air, snuffed out, torn into
atoms. But one is left, staring, mouth open.
The others, swift arrivals at Kingdom Come,
went so quickly into the great Beyond, they
never knew or felt the shock.
So with the rum ration low and the water
high, the morning bright in sunlight, surround-
ings dark with death, one's thoughts spring
from the mind. Words fill the mouth. One
grasps his pencil to catch burning impressions
that flood his brain. He might as well try to
tell his grandmother how to raise babies as to
think straight! He reaches out and connects
up, apparently isolated, strings of thought. He
links a chain of circumstance bearing on de-
struction's delirious delusion that now rocks
the foundations of the world, which reacts on
and affects every civilization and individual on
earth.
He looks at things from an angle different
from that of the civilian. He has a new con-
ception of life. He is not the same person he
was before the war. No longer does he smell
the flowers, eat the fruit, or dwell in the home
of civilization. He has lived, like a beast, in a
NATURE'S FIRST LAW 191
hole in the ground, and slept in a seeping dug-
out with the rats and the lice. He has seen his
companion go over the top, killed off, changed
from a human comrade into a clod. He has
lived long between two earthen walls, the blue
sky above, a comrade on each side, with Fritz
across the way.
It was a narrow prospect. His point of view
was limited; but he knew that, while appar-
ently alone, he and his comrades were links in
that strong, continuous chain of men who keep
back the enemies of Freedom. Behind that
chain are others, bracing, reinforcing, — artil-
lery, infantry, aviators, reserves, money, pro-
visions and ammunition, flocking to his aid
from America, from Great Britain, from the ut-
termost parts.
Those larger operations in the rear affect him
but indirectly. The details in front are of vital
interest. They mean life or death. Every al-
teration in the landscape demands closest in-
vestigation. Boys do not play, nor old women
gabble, in No-Man's-Land. Nothing is done
there is a cause. An unusual piece of cloth
without a reason, and, for every change.
192 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
or paper is scrutinized by a hundred men,
while a suspicious movement empties their
guns.
The soldier acquires the habit of noticing lit-
tle things. He sees a small, starved flower,
struggling for sunshine and strength, alongside
the trench. He wonders why it chose such an
inhospitable home. Next day, there is no
flower, no trench — ^just an immense, gaping
hole in the torn ground.
He watches the rats. Why are they so im-
pudent and important? He grows so accus-
tomed to them, he does not even squirm, when
they run across him in the darkness at night.
He knows they have enough camp offal and
dead men's bodies — they do not eat the living.
He watches the cat with interest. She is an
old timer and has seen regiments come and go.
Her owners are in exile — they have no home —
the Germans took it. So, pussy, a lady of sense
and good taste, dwells with the French soldier.
He looks at her long, lanky frame and wishes
for some milk to give her, to counteract the poi-
son of the rat food. A shell comes along. Pussy
runs into the dugout, but comes out again to
NATURE'S FIRST LAW 193
be petted. Another shell, again she scurries
away. Kitty does not like shells any more than
do humans.
War is the great leveler. Deplored as piti-
less destroyer, it more than equalizes, a creator
of good. It annihilates property, kings and
thrones; but it produces men. It taps hitherto
unseen springs of sympathy and mutual help-
fulness, where thrived formerly but the barren
waste of self-sufficiency. It unmasks the hum-
bug and reveals the humanitarian. It teaches
individual self-lessness. The cruelties of the
oppressor are overcome by love for the op-
pressed. The dominance of wickedness is
brought low by sweet charity for its victims.
CHAPTER XVII
THE INVADED COUNTRY
I have seen the German under many condi-
tions. In the early days of the war, I used to
listen to his songs — sung very well. But, he
does not sing now. I have watched the smoke
rise, in the early morning, as he cooked his
breakfast. I have dodged his flares, his gren-
ades, and his sentinels, at night. T have heard
his shovels ring as he dug himself down, and
have listened to his talk to his neighbor. I have
seen him come up on all fours, from his dugout,
crying "Kamerad"; and I cannot say, that, as
a common soldier, he is a bad fellow. }
The brutality seems to start with the sous-
officer. It gets more refined and cruel as rank
goes up. I have noticed the dazed, hopeless ex-
pression of pregnant women at Sillery-Sur-
Marne. They stayed under fire of the guns,
rather than carry their grief into safety. They
emerged from their Calvary, with faces as of
the dead, impassive, masklike, hiding scars of
agony.
194
THE INVADED COUNTRY 195
I talked with a youngs woman shop-keeper at
Verpeliers. The Germans had been in her house
— slept on the floor, thick as sardines in a box.
They ate up her stock and did not pay. Was
she not afraid? She laughed a happy laugh.
"What me, Monsieur, afraid ? I am Francaise.
What do I care for those swine? The sous-of-
ficers tried to make me give in. They pointed
guns at me, and tried to pull me along with
them when the French returned. I screamed
and fought. Four of my lodgers are where those
crosses stand at the bend of the road. The
others are prisoners. I am paid, all right, and
am satisfied." "Yes," she continued, "they
charged our old men with being in telephonic
communication with the French Army. Twelve
were arrested, marked with a blue cross on the
right cheek, and have not been heard from
since. Two, M. Poizeaux, aged 47, and M.
Vassel, 78 years old, were brought back and
shot the same evening."
At Rodern, in reconquered Alsace, where the
natives spoke German, the streets were marked
in German letters, German proclamations were
on the walls, and German money was current,
I sat with Tex Bondt, in a low Alsatian room.
196 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
by candle light. The heavy family bed was let
into a wall and screened off by a curtain, the
floor was of stone, the furniture primitive. A
short, squat woman was bewailing her misfor-
tunes. This mother had six sons and three
daughters. Three boys mobilized with the Ger-
man Army. Two were killed. The other is on
the Russian front. Of the three, who ran away
and joined the French army, one was killed and
two wounded. Two of her girls, nurses in the
German Army, were killed during a bombard-
ment. As she listened, I watched emotion come
and go in the eyes of the remaining daughter.
In the hospital at Montreuil-Ballay, I met an
old man, wounded in the arm. The fracture
would not knit. Unable to sleep, weeping re-
lieved him. He said, "My wife and I were at
home near Lille, in bed one night. The Ger-
mans broke in the door, came upstairs, jabbed
me with a bayonet and made me get out. I kept
going and joined the French Army."
"And your wife, what of her?"
"I don't know, I have neither seen nor heard
from her from that day to this."
Again, in the hospital at Pont de Veyle, a
young man on a neighboring cot told me, "Yes,
THE INVADED COUNTRY 197
I am from the invaded country. My name is
La Chaise. Before the war, my father was In-
spector General of railroads for the Depart-
ment of the North, with headquarters at Lille.
When the Germans advanced he was taken
prisoner. I' ran away, joined the French Army,
and my mother and sister were left at our home.
A German Colonel billeted himself in the house.
He liked my sister, — she was very beautiful.
This is her photograph, and these are tresses
of her hair when she was twelve and eighteen
years of age. This is her last letter to me. One
night the Colonel tried to violate my sister. She
screamed, my mother ran in, shot him twice
with a revolver and killed him. The sentry en-
tered, took my mother and sister to prison ; and,
next morning they were lined up against a wall
and shot."
One night at Madame's, — the bake-shop
across the road from the hospital at La Croix
aux Mines, with Leary, an Irishman, Simpson,
a New Zealander, and an Englishman who was
in charge of the Lloyds Ambulance service, we
listened to Madame.
"'Yes, the Germans descended on us from the
hilltops like a swarm of locusts, ate and drank
198 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Up everything in sight, hunted us women
out of our houses into the road and told us it
was our last chance for liberty. We ran and
the Germans followed. We did not know we
were being used as a screen, that we were shel-
tering the Boche behind. The French would
not shoot at us but they got the Germans just
the same, from the flank. I shall never forget
our selfishness. All we thought about was get-
ting to our French friends, and we were cover-
ing the advance of our enemies! If we had
known, we'd have died first.*'
The Englishman, who had been in the retreat
from Mons, drawled out, — "Yes, you Ameri-
cans think the Germans are not bad people. I
used to think so, too, but when I listened to the
Belgians telling how some little girls were
treated, though I felt they were telling the
truth, it was too horrible to believe. So three
of us Red Cross men went out one night, —
where they told us the girls were buried. We '
dug them up ; and, let me tell you, no person on
earth will ever make me associate with a Ger-
man again."
At Nestle, they carried away .164 women.
The official German explanation was that they ^
THE INVADED COUNTRY 199
should work in Germany, while the cynical of-
ficers said they would use them as orderlies. On
August 29, 1914, when the Germans entered the
city, a mother of seven children was violated by
three soldiers. Later, she was knocked down
and again assaulted, by an officer. Five inhab-
itants were lined up against a wall to be shot,
when a French counter-attack liberated them.
In the spring of 1917, at Vraignes, in the in-
vaded district, the Germans told the people they
were to be evacuated. After the inhabitants
had gathered their personal belongings, they
were driven into the courtyard, stripped and
robbed of their possessions. Twenty-four
young women were carried away from this town
of 253 population.
At Le Bouage, a suburb of Chauny, before
the Germans retreated, the French refugees
were lined up a distance of two kilometers on
the Chauny-Noyon road and kept there, in a
pouring rain, four hours. Even the invalids
were carried out on stretchers. German officers
passed along the line and picked out thirty-one
young girls and women, one an invalid girl,
thirteen years of age, and carried them away
200 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
with the retreating army. Of the remainder
within two weeks, fifty persons succumbed
from the exposure.
On February 18th, at Noyon, when the Ger-
mans were compelled to retreat, in addition to
burning, wrecking and looting, they carried
away by force fifty young girls between four-
teen and twenty-one years of age. They looted
the American Relief store, dynamited the build-
ing, then turned the canal water into the base-
ment.
From Roubaix, Turcoing and Lille 25,000
civilians were deported.
"These slave raids commenced, April 22,
1916, at 3 o'clock in the morning. Troops, with
fixed bayonets, barred the streets, machine guns
commanded the roads, against unarmed people.
Soldiers made their way into the houses, offi-
cers pointed out the people who were to go.
Half an hour later, everybody was driven, pell-
mell, into an adjacent factory, from there to the
station, whence they departed." Taken from
the Yellow Book, published by the Minister of
War, dated June 30, 1916.
THE INVADED COUNTRY 201
At Warsage, August 4, 1914, the day Bel-
gium was violated, three civilians were shot, six
hanged, nine murdered.
■
At Luneville, eighteen civilians were killed,
including one boy of twelve, shot, and an old
woman of ninety-eight, bayoneted.
At Liege, twenty-nine civilians were mur-
dered, some shot and others bayoneted — yet
others burned alive.
At Seilles, fifty civilians were killed.
At Audennes, August 20 and 21, 1914, 250
civilians were killed, according to French rec-
ords, while General Von Bulow, over his own
signature, in a written order to the people of
Liege, dated August 22, says that, he com-
manded the town to be reduced to ashes and
ordered 110 persons shot.
The process of terrorism is invariably the
same: — First, the crushing blow of invasion,
followed by pillage, rape and murder; then,
when the victims are paralyzed, crushed in
202 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
spirit, shocked to the heart's core, obnoxious
regulations are published and enforced to pre-
vent their recuperating.
At La Fontenelle, Ban de Sept, and many
other villages along the front, manure had
been thrown into the wells, the fruit trees were
cut down, the copper was torn from coffins of
the dead, the farm houses were demolished, and
all property was taken away or destroyed. One
would not pay $10 for the whole outfit of a peas-
ant farmer's home: table, a half dozen chairs, a
bedstead in the corner, a crucifix hanging on
the wall, a marriage certificate and a picture
of the virgin, yet all was gone. The ammunition
trains that came up from Germany went back
loaded with such poor people's belongings. |
Nothing left, an old woman's bonnet on a dung-
heap, a baby's shoe in a corner, a broken pic-
ture frame or two — that's all.
Talk about forgiving the Germans! Rob-
bing the poor, the destruction of property, pos-
sibly may be forgiven. Property can be re-
placed. But, the systematic, deliberate ruin of
non-combatant, innocent women and children,
is a crime against civilization that can never be
I
-^
THE INVADED COUNTRY 203
forgiven or forgotten. For generations to
come, the German will be treated as an outlaw.
He will be shunned — ^worse than a beast. Un-
clean, he will have to purge himself before he
may again be accepted in the society of decent
women and men.
Think of those fine-grained, sensitive French
girls, compelled to live with brutes — generally
surly, often drunk, who have killed their hus-
bands, their brothers, their fathers! They
have broken all the rules of war. They have
outraged every decency. They are so sunk in
the abyss of shame that they know neither re-
spect for the living nor reverence for the dead.
CHAPTER XVIII
LOVE AND WAR
Love and war go together. War destroys
the body but love lives on with the soul. Love
and war have transformed the hitherto seem-
ingly empty-pated, fashionable woman to an
angel of mercy. Socialists have developed into
patriots, artisans have become statesmen, good-
for-nothings are now heroes, misers have
grown to be philanthropists.
Man, missing woman's ministrations at the
front, turns instinctively to her when oppor-
tunity offers. Hard, fierce, unyielding to his
fellows, he relaxes in her sheltering affection.
He is but a boy grown. He wants to be petted,
coddled, civilized again.
The woman realizes he has suffered for her.
He knows what she has sacrificed for him.
War has brought them together, brushed aside
false pride and hypocrisy and revealed refresh-
ing springs of patriotism and love out of which
204
LOVE AND WAR 205
flows a union of hearts and hopes that only
those who suffer, sacrifice and endure together
can realize.
The man is better for having been a soldier.
He is self-reliant, stronger in mind and body.
Through discipline he has become punctual
and dependable. All snobbishness, fads and
isms are now out of him. He is more tolerant
and charitable. He recognizes the value of
woman's work in the home, in the hospital and
in the munition factory. As a representa-
tive of her country, whose uniform he wears,
he carries himself more proudly, more up-
rightly.
What a soldier is to the army, a home is to
the nation. The home is safe only so long as
is the country. With foreign invasion, all
values become nothing. The woman, the man,
the home, the country are interwoven. Beyond
lie the right to live their lives, personal liberty,
representative government, the preservation,
yes, even the propagation of the race.
To check that on-coming German tide which
threatened to wipe away everything he holds
2o6 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
dear, the soldier 4ias fitted himself into that
surging, bending, human wall. Behind it,
under the shadow of death, woman works and
waits, in a quiet that knows not peace — often
in vain — filled with care and dread, ever striv-
ing to be calm, she hides her heart's pain.
Ancestors died for the liberty his flag rep-
resents. Posterity must enjoy the same free-
dom. So, he bridges the gap, shoulders the
load and becomes a better lover, husband,
father. Having learned his obligation to the
nation, he is a better citizen for all time. One
man's daughter loves and marries another's
son and they become one. War tears them
apart. He goes to the trenches. She keeps
the home fires burning. Love holds them to-
gether while he fights to protect and preserve,
she works to support and maintain.
That man is not yet whose pen can do jus-
tice to the incomparable woman of France.
She is a wonderful combination of heart, head
and health. The women of colder climes love
with their minds. The French woman with her
heart. She gives all, regardless of conse-
quences.
LOVE AND WAR 207
Cynical critics may have their cool sensibil-
ities shocked at the sight of a well-turned
ankle, crossing a muddy street. That is as near
as they get to the sweet creature they out-
wardly condemn, but secretly approve. She
plays square and wants to love as well as be
loved. She gives love and is loved in return.
While the woman who wants something, but
gives nothing, instils her selfishness into others.
The selfish person loves him or herself and
gives no love to friend, family or country. The
unselfish woman absorbs love, and, as a flower
its perfume, scatters fragrance. She inspires
the noblest sentiments of loyalty and patriot-
ism. She places herself and her best beloved
upon the altar of her country. It is always she
who has given most, who is willing to give all.
Mere man notices her dainty figure, her
happy disposition, her cheery, outspoken
manner, her charm and goodness of heart, the
utter absence of vulgarity and ill-temper. Her
tears are shed in solitude. Laughter is for her
friends. He admires her at a distance, because
she is sheltered in the home until marriage.
The French man must pass the family council
2o8 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
before becoming an accepted suitor. He con-
sults them in his business ventures. His
troubles become theirs when Mademoiselle
changes to Madame and is his comrade as well
as a continued sweetheart. She devotes her
whole time and attention to him. Her clever,
home-making instinct is combined with good
business sense. She is a valuable partner in
life's g^eat enterprise.
One of the most beautiful sights in France
is, on a Sunday afternoon the poilu home on
furlough, satisfied to drink a bottle or two of
wine with his family, and rest. He did not want
to see anyone else. But she insists he must
see grandmother and sister-in-law, drop into
the cafe and inquire about old comrades, then,
enjoy a walk out into the country.
In the gathering twilight Madame conducts
her straggling brood home, her hands full of
flowers, her eyes full of love — the little doll-
like children, with long, flowing hair, romping
nearby. The poilu has lost that dark, brood-
ing look. That little touch of Nature and the
woman diverted his mind from suffering and
revived his sentiment. She sent him back to
LOVE AND WAR 209
the front with a smile on her lips — hiding the
dread of her heart.
The thought of peace is ever with her — she
longs for it. But her conscience will not permit
her to ask it. She thinks of the thousands of
graves that dot the hillsides with the cross at
their heads. She will suffer the torments of hell
rather than that such devoted men shall have
passed in vain.
Their little savings have been used up. The
clothes are worn thin. She works, slaves to
keep the wolf from the door. She manages to
send an occasional five-franc note to her poilu.
She labors in munition factories, the tram-
ways, the postal service, in the fields, replacing
the man, while cows and dogs do the work of
the horses, who, like the men, are on the front.
She wears wooden shoes and pulls hand-carts
about the street. She drives the milch cow
that plows the land, cleans the cars and wipes
the engines on the railroad, cooks the food and
nurses the wounded and sick in hospitals,
does clerical work in the commissary depart-
ment and military bureaus — chasing out
the fat slackers who were strutting in the
rear.
210 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
In spite of all, she retains her feminacy. She
is still as alluring, as good a comrade, as cheer-
ful and gay, outwardly, as though her body
were not racked by fatigue, her heart not
choked with sadness. Occasionally she forgets
herself. The mask falls off and trouble stares
through the windows of her soul. Catching
that look in the eyes of my nurse once, I
exclaimed: "Cheer up! It will be all right
after the war.'' She replied: "After the war?
There will be no 'after the war.' You'll be dead,
I'll be dead. We shall all be dead. There'll be
no 'after the war.' ".
Many French girls have deliberately married
mutilated cripples to cheer and to help them
earn their living. A beautiful young woman,
gazing into the eyes of her soldier, said:
"Why should we not? They lost their legs and
arms for us — we cannot do too much for them."
Does the poilu appreciate this? Does he?
What if he did lose one leg for such a woman ?
He would give the other with pleasure !
On furlough one evening, eating supper in
my favorite cafe in Paris, I observed a most
horribly repulsive object. He had once been a
LOVE AND WAR 211
poilu, but a shell battered his face so that it
resembled humanity not at all. His nose was
flattened out. His skin was mottled and dis-
colored. A hole was where the mouth had
been. Both eyes were gone and one arm was
crippled. He sat and waited for food. Madame
came from behind the counter and looked on.
A fat boy, repelled and sickened, forgot his
appetite and gazed, unconsciously stroking his
stomach, fascinated by that mutilated creature.
A very beautiful girl, whose face might pass
her into Heaven without confession, left the
well-dressed gormands with empty plates.
She went and served the unfortunate one. She
cut his meat and held his napkin that caught
the drippings. She was so kind and gentle and
showed such consideration, I asked her:
"Is that the proprietor?"
"Oh, no."
"Your husband or sweetheart, perhaps?"
"I have none."
"Who was he?"
"Un pauvre poilu."
Again, we were in a peasant woman's farm-
house. She wore wooden shoes, without socks.
212 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Just home from work in the fields, she asked
two convalescent soldiers to help drink a bottle
of wine, and we sat and talked with her.
"Yes," she said, her dark eyes shining with
pride, "my husband was a soldier, too. He is
now a prisoner in Germany. This is his photo-
graph. Don't you think he looks well? He
was a machine gunner in Alsace. He did not
run away when the Germans came, but stayed
and worked the gun." Then, speaking of a well
dressed little girl sitting on my Egyptian com-
rade's knee: "He has never seen her — she is
only two years old and thinks every soldier is
papa."
Hanging from the roof was a row of dried
sausages. Pointing to them she said: "Yes, I
send him a package every week and never for-
get to put in a sausage. Don't you think from
the photograph he looks well?"
In the stable were two milch cows and a
young heifer. Indicating the latter, she said:
"He has not seen her, either. When he comes
home I am going to kill her, f aire le bomb, and
ask all the family."
LOVE AND WAR 213
The look of pride changed into a haunted,
pained, far-away gaze: ''Oh, dear, we shall
all be women! Except my husband and Fran-
cois, my brother, all our men are dead — four of
my brothers! Francois is the last. The Gov-
ernment sent him from the front to keep the
family alive. Don't you think France was good
to us to do that?''
When in hospital I met the grand dame from
the nearby chateau. She harnessed her own
horse and drove through the rain, on a wintry
morning, to play the organ at early mass. She
nursed a ward in the hospital through the day
and returned home alone in the darkness to
make her own supper.
^'Oh," she said, "I don't mind it. I do what I
can. I was not brought up right or I could be
of more use. Before the war, we had fifteen
servants. They are now fighting. We have
only two left, a half-wit and a cripple."
"Do you know," she said, "I have never heard
the English marching song Tipperary.' I just
love music. In Tours the other day, 1 saw it
I
214 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION '^
on sale, my. hand was in my pocket before I
knew. But I happened to think of our brave
soldiers; they need so many things" —
Noticing the troubled look on the usually /
serene countenance of a very good friend, I
asked her: ''Why those clouds?"
*
"Oh," she replied, "they have just called
Gaston to the colors. His class is summoned.
You know how I have pinched and saved to
bring that boy up right. Now, he must go
and I cannot make myself feel glad. I ought
to feel proud, but I cannot. I don^t feel right.
Every time I look at him I think of my husband
and his one leg."
During the early days of the war I was out
with my landlady, whose calculating instinct
in the matter of extra charges separated me
from all my loose change. Going past the
Gare d'Est Paris we noticed a crowd about a
French soldier. He had a German helmet in
his hand. Walking up to him, she said:
"What is that?"
"A German helmet, Madame."
"Did you get that?"
LOVE AND WAR 215
Yes, Madame/'
Did you get it yourself?"
''Certainly, Madame."
"Here, take this, go back and get some
more." She passed her pocketbook over to the
poilu.
The soldier stared ; the crowd stared ; but the
soldier was a thoroughbred. Crooking his
elbow and sticking the helmet out on his index
finger, he bowed :
"Will Madame give me pleasure by accepting
the helmet?"
Would she! Boche helmets were scarce in
those days. Beautiful Mademoiselles in that
crowd would have given their souls to possess
such a treasure! Neither they nor I knew
Madame. Her eyes looked level into those of
the soldier as she demanded :
"You are not a Parisian ?"
'No, Madame.
To what province are you going ?^
^Brittany.^
When?^
"At six o'clock tonight."
'Have you a wife ?"
d'
2i6 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
(r
it'
Yes, Madame."
'Will you do something for me ?"
'With the greatest pleasure!"
Well, keep that casque in your hand until
you arrive in Brittany. Then give it to your
wife. She will always love you for it and your
children will never forget such a father!"
Walking away, Madame dropped into
silence. I looked at her curiously. Was she
sorry she had given away her money? Did she
regret not accepting that highly-prized helmet,
or was she thinking of the pleasure that gift
would give the soldier's wife?
Suddenly she turned and said: "Well, one
thing is certain."
"What is certain?"
"You will have to pay my car fare home."
The self-sacrifice and devotion of the woman
permeates the atmosphere — from the lowest to
the highest. It is contagious. It is evident,
even to a stranger, and it restores his faith
in human nature. She is the other half
of the poilu. He excels in courage and forti-
tude. She completes him with an untiring zeal.
CROIX DE GUERRE CITATION
2i8 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
One beautiful, romantic feature of French
army life is the adoption of soldiers by god-
mothers. In one in-
stance, a girl fifteen
years of age, having
enough money, adopted
a half dozen. One of
them proved to be a
Senegalize, who wished
to take the young lady
back to Africa to com-
plete his harem!
The uncertainties and
possibilities of the situa-
tion distract the soldier's
mind from his real,
staring troubles. His
.iS SJ">hrB'o«t '"oughts are directed in-
an American citizen, en- to pleasant channels,
gaged in the active army, ' ■ .. .
who in spite of his age The lady sends him little
(past the limits of military r . i i j
service) has given an es- COmfortS, extra fOod, Of
furXvoion.^ U'^pcn^'t^he- ^^"^V' ^"d- ^^Y^^' *""
front since the 9fh of May, vitCS him tO Spend his
191S, he has aiways volun- , , , ,
teered for the dangerous furlOUgh at her rCSl-
■ms^andtbe most peril- jg^^,g She always doeS,
CROIX DE GUERRE
LOVE AND WAR 219
if he is from invaded territory. If they prove
congenial, friendship sometimes ripens into
love and love into marriage. It relieves the
lonesome isolation of the soldier, and gives
the woman a direct, personal interest in the
war.
In the spring of 1916, 1 stood at the Spouters'
Corner in Hyde Park, London, where Free
Speech England allows its undesirables to ex-
press themselves. Here the authorities classify,
label and wisely permit each particular crank
or freak to blow off surplus gas. If suppressed,
it might explode or fester and become a menace.
In French uniform, I was listening to the
quips of a woman lecturer who really was a
treat. "Yes,'' she cried, "Mr. Asquith has
asked us poor people to economize. Instead
of spending three shillings a day, we must only
spend two ; and our average wage is but a bob
and a half. The high cost of living is nothing
to the cost of high living. When Mr. Asquith
pushes that smooth, bald head of his up through
the Golden Gates, St. Peter will think it is a
bladder of lard, and lard is worth two shillings
per pound. So he will 'wait and see* if he can
220 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
use it at the price." (English call Asquith Mr.
"Wait and See.") "Yes," she continued, "I
try to be careful to make things last as long
as possible. Instead of buying a new petti-
coat, I now change the one I have wrong side
out and make it last twice as long."
I was absorbing these subleties when a
French lady, dressed in velvet and furs, notic-
ing my faded blue uniform, stepped up, excused
herself, and asked if I were not a French sol-
dier, and would I have a cup of tea with her?
Thus, I found my god-mother.
One year later, again on furlough, passing
through London, I called on my good friend
and was invited to accompany her to church.
After a long prayer, so long as to excite my
curiosity, she whispered : "I used to come here
every Sunday and pray for you. In this seat, at
this part of the service, I prayed you would
come back again. I wanted you here with me
today so I could show you to God. Now I am
content. He will take care of you."
Opening her prayer-book, she took out a piece
of paper and pressed it into my hand. It was
LOVE AND WAR 221
an extract from a London newspaper, which
told of my being decorated by the French Gov-
ernment. I had not told her, and was not aware
the news had been in the London papers.
At the house, later, Captain Underwood, one
of Rawlinson's invalided veterans, who was in
the retreat from Antwerp, inquired : "Did our
friend show you the paper?"
"Yes/^
"Well, she bought that newspaper one night
and came here crying out, *See what my poilu
has done, and he never said a word to me about
it!' When you blew in, she made us promise
we would not mention it till after you came
back from church/*
CHAPTER XIX
DEMOCRACY
Democratic Government is the direct oppo-
site of the German system. In America the
individual is superior to the state, on the
principle that man was born before the state
was organized. He was there first, endowed
by Nature with certain inalienable rights,
such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness.
He organized a government to make those
rights secure with the state as servant — not
master of his destiny. The public official is
just the people's hired man. He is not paid to
give, or to permit, one set of individuals to gain
advantage. He must enforce equality, and see
that every citizen has equal rights with equal
opportunities. Where rights are equal, priv-
ileges must be. Where there is inequality of
rights there is inequality of privilege. The
burden, shirked by the privileged class, is
thrown upon those whose rights have been
usurped, making their load doubly heavy.
222
DEMOCRACY 223
In time of peace, preparedness is the pre-
mium paid for war insurance. During war,
impartial, obligatory military service is based
on equality of men.
The danger to democratic institutions lies
not in the people, but in those that prey upon
them, who, having obtained unfair privilege,
not satisfied, continually grasp for more. We
have seen what inequality has done to the Ger-
mans and we do not want it in America.
This war should sound the death knell of the
professional politician. The trimmer, carry-
ing water on both shoulders has schemed for
power while others worked. Afraid of losing
votes, he did not stand up for the right. He
goes into the discard, replaced by jnen of ability
and courage. Leaders of the people will
remove the inefficient tool of privilege.
War is a habit breaker ? It is a series of jolts.
The start of the war was a jolt. The day of
peace will be another. Just as one trench is
wiped out and another made, some day we shall
wake to find frontiers gone, the whole map of
224 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Europe changed, with the people ruling where
were kings. Nothing will be the same. 014
thoughts, ideas, beliefs, prejudices, humbugs —
social, political and religious, will have been
thrown into the melting pot. The bogus will
disappear and only Truth remain.
French Law and Equality are based on nat-
ural justice. What the people have won are the
bases of their liberty. The magistrates, the
judges on duty, the legislators, are the means
used to secure these liberties.
They maintain that men are born and should
live, free, with equal rights and duties, that
social distinction should be founded, not on
wealth or nobility, but on public benefits to the
community, that honors should be given to the
most able, to the most faithful, without regard
to wealth or birth.
Rights are, liberty, property, security and
resistance to oppression. Liberty is a natural
right. Force, time, circumstance shall not
abolish it. It is not liberty to do one's own will,
regardless of others. Individual liberty stops
where the rights of the community commence.
DEMOCRACY 225
The object of political association is the preser-
vation of rights.
The principle of sovereignty rests in the
people, as expressed through their representa-
tives. The Law is the written expression of the
people's will. It is the guarantee of rights to
all. All citizens need the law. All are eligible
to be honored by dispensing or enforcing its
requirements.
•
All shall pay toward the administration of
Government, and all shall fight to maintain it.
No man shall be stopped or delayed except by
law. Those who issue arbitrary or unlawful
orders shall be punished. All men are accepted
as innocent till proved guilty. A man has a
right to express his opinion and religious con-
victions, provided they are not contrary to law.
The law, on its part, does not interfere with
dogmas or schisms, but assures to each man
liberty of expression and action, to think, and
speak, write and circulate, that which he be-
lieves true. This free expression of ideas makes
Public Opinion, which is for the advantage of
all, not for the exclusive use of some few to
whom it may be confided. It is the safeguard
226 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
of independence and does not make for oppres-
sion. Public Opinion creates the Law, which,
in turn, becomes the guarantee of the people.
All law-makers, dispensing agents, public
servants, must make a report of their admin-
istration when called on for it by the people.
The rights of men are absolutely guaranteed by
the laws being rigorously applied, impartially.
Those, who, elected to power, use that power
for their own private ends, rather than for the
good of all, are punished.
Behind the army and the woman, are the
Cabinet, the Senate, and the Chamber of
Deputies — the leaders of thought and action.
The people, as thus represented, are the
supreme power, the army is subordinate.
France is a people with an army. Germany
is an army with a people. Democratic France
insists on equality, even in military life. It
will not permit an officer to grant himself, or
his friends, furloughs which are denied private
soldiers. As the private soldier may be court-
martialed for his sins, so may the general offi-
cer, who, through drunkenness, inefficiency or
treachery, sacrifices his men or betrays the
DEMOCRACY 227
people. He is not whitewashed, or taken from
the front and given an appointment in the
rear — kicked upstairs instead of down. He is
given his sentence and compelled to serve it.
No brutal or surly officer can chain a private
soldier to an artillery wagon like a dog. No
drunken officer can hurl insults at him. Hang-
ing over the heads of all, like the suspended
sword of Damocles, is French equality, which
insists on results, not excuses. It falls on bru-
tality and inefficiency. Consequently, French
officers are invariably gentlemen and treat their
men as such.
«
Every country has its slackers, its pacifists,
its millionaires, its religious fanatics, who do
not scruple to use their isms, wealth and special
privilege to undermine the fabric of a govern-
ment which compels them to bear their share
of duty. Consequently, civilian leaders must be
strong, determined, resolute men, who swerve
not from the good ahead, who will neither tol-
erate special pleadings nor permit incapacity.
They know that, prevented by continually
changing officers, graft conditions cannot be-
come established, also, that all around expe-
rience begets perfection.
228 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
If this war has demonstrated any one thing,
it is that those "born to rule" have not the
capacity to do so. Filling places of public
trust, through accident of wealth, or birth,
or political expediency, at the outbreak of hos-
tilities — that cunning, calculating fraud on
democracy, the political machine — ^appointed
or elected to serve the people, scheming for
partizan advantage, really blocked national
effort and actually, through inaction and
obstruction, aided the enemy.
Incapable of mastering a new set of cir-
cumstances, persisting in playing the new.game
according to the old rules, those appointed
failed. Others took up the burden. From the
ranks of men rose the leaders of thought and
action, stepping, climbing, pushing over the
incompetents of title, money and birth, who,
unable to save themselves, now accept salva-
tion from those whom they have hated, de-
spised, oppressed.
Advancing in spite of obstacles — the more
opposition, the better, the man worthy to lead,
clarified by adversity, true to form, takes the
public into his confidence, talking, not glitter-
DEMOCRACY 229
ing generalities, but in concrete truths, Lloyd
George of England, Hughes of Australia,
Briand, Clemenceau and Viviani of France,
Kerensky of Russia, Veneviolis of Greece, Sam
Hughes of Canada, Teddy Roosevelt and
Woodrow Wilson of America, strong, upright
and brave men, who scorn the bended knee and
itching palm, are hated by the professional
politician and the piratical profiteer.
Every man, who has courage to stand for the
right and denounce the wrong, becomes a mark
for bricks thrown at his devoted head — by
shirkers who won't protect their own — by
rascals who have been looting the public — and
by traitors who would betray their country.
These leaders have terrific opposition in
their fight against systematized, anti-national
organizations. It is the duty of every citizen,
in times of national danger, to support the Gov-
ernment, regardless of party.
Politics should now be adjourned in fact and
in earnest. Remember Abraham Lincoln's,
"This is a very critical period in the life of the
nation. It is no time to consider mere party
issues."
CHAPTER XX
AUTOCRACY
German Government is founded on the prin-
ciple that the State is superior to the individual.
Being superior, it is not subject to that code of
honor, that respect for decency, which binds
men of different races, religions and countries
and distinguishes man from the brute.
The Reichstag of Germany is supposed to be
the popular assembly. In reality, it is the bul-
wark of wealth. Under this system, man be-
longs to property, not property to man. Voters,
who have paid one-third of the total income
tax, elect one-third of the electors, who choose
one-third of the Reichstag. Voters who pay
the next third do likewise, and the same system
applies to the last third. In 1908, 293,000 voters
chose the first third; 1,065,240 selected the sec-
ond, and 6,324,079 elected the last third.
Thus, 4 per cent of the voters elected the first
third, 14 per cent the second, and the last third,
82 per cent — all the poor people were thrown
230
AUTOCRACY 231
together and controlled by the other two-
thirds, or 18 per cent.
In free countries, the State exists for the
benefit of the individual. In Germany, the
individual lives exclusively for the State. He
has no right to free speech, free thought, the
pursuit of happiness, nor even to existence
itself, unless the Kaiser sees it to his advantage
to grant, or permit, those luxuries.
In case a popular measure slipped through
the Reichstag, it would have to be voted upon
by the Bundesrath — a secret upper house ap-
pointed by the princes — not the people, of each
separate State of the German Empire. Each
State votes as a unit. No amendment can pass
the Bundesrath if fourteen out of the sixty-
one votes are cast against it. The Kaiser, rep-
resenting Prussia, holds seventeen votes, and
three for Alsace-Lorraine. So, the individual
German voter's work is carefully nullified by
this system, over which he has no control. He
is outvoted by wealth in the Reichstag. The
Reichstag is outvoted by the aristocracy of the
Bundesrath. This, in turn, is outvoted by the
Autocracy of the Kaiser.
232 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Autocracy, aristocracy and wealth compose
the Board of Strategy and officer the army.
The army is superior to the Reichstag. It is
outside of and above the law, within the coun-
try but not responsible to it. It is not an army
of the people, it is the Kaiser's army.
So the Bundesrath, the Reichstag, the Board
of Strategy, the controlled newspapers and
political professors, extending up from the
throneroom to the kindergarten, are meshes in
the net that entangles man whose rights they
have usurped. Through that system, the child
is caught in infancy, given Kultur with
mother's milk, then taught to spy upon family
and neighbors; he listens to political professors
at school, political parsons at church. The
more he informs the further he advances, till
he reaches the army, where docility and obe-
dience and respect for authority are instilled
into him till he can have neither original ideas
nor independent thought.
Consider the German soldier's ideal as de-
scribed in the Portland Oregonian:
AUTOCRACY 233
^'In their effort to Germanize Finland the
Germans publish a newspaper in that country
which commends to the Finns the 'German
Soldiers' Ideal.'
'Between the soldier and his superior officer/
this article reads, 'there yawns a tremendous
gulf. The latter is always right, the former
never. The duty of a soldier is to obey blindly,
without reflection. He himself can have no will
or wish of his own;' He 'must not speak, he
must not even think.' Then comes this deifica-
tion of the officer :
'The recruit is not a man; he is merely
destined to become a man under the command
of his superior officer. * * * He must first lie
mother naked in the dust and feel about his head
the whistle of his officer's knout; only after
weeks and months does his superior officer, by
his grace and help, raise him up out of the dust,
wash 'him, clothe him and make of him a man
and a soldier.
* * * The image of the superior officer must
bear not the slightest flaw; it is perfection; if
the soldier imagines that he perceives a fault in
234 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
him, this is merely a proof of the incompetence
and incapacity of his own faculties. ♦ * ♦ The
officer is the soldier's Lord God. ♦ ♦ ♦ The
soldier's God is never satisfied, he never returns
thanks even for the best of work, but his pun-
ishment for transgression and disobedience is
cruel. For in the hands of the superior officer
are the keys of hell upon earth.'
There follows a description of the soldier's
hell, 'filled with wailing and gnashing of teeth,
full of evilsmelling filth,' from which the su-
perior officer can help him up again 'only when
he has plunged about in it sufficiently.' Then it
will have 'purged the wretched fellow of his
sins, rooted out the passionate, mutinous spirit
of his own will' and 'transformed him into wax
soft and pure, which the superior officer can
knead to his heart's delight until he pro-
duces that masterpiece, a proper, thorough and
obedient soldier.' "
He is told he is under no obligation to observe
elementary decency, that there is no honor
among men or nations. He is taught to hate,
not to love, to depend on might, not right, and
AUTOCRACY 235
to work for war instead of peace. The French,
the British, the Americans are only human, but
the good Kaiser is divine, and the German is
a super-man, chosen by God to rule the world.
The "good Kaiser'' was chosen by God to dom-
inate the German race, who are to conquer the
world, and the German super-man, under the
Kaiser, is to obtain that domination through
war.
A woman who has compassion in her soul
for the unfortunate has no right to live. Pity
is not German. Miss Cavell had pity in her
heart, even for German wounded, for homeless
Belgians. So she was executed.
The wounded in hospital ships were tor-
pedoed without warning, murdered by unseen
hands reaching out from the darkness, and the
perpetrators were promoted for gallantry.
After robbing and burning the towns of
northern France and Belgium they turned
around and demanded an indemnity, having
picked the victim's pocket, they asked for his
money. They robbed the priceless libraries to
preserve the books. They drove the van-
236 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
quished victims into slavery to protect them
from laziness, and raped woman to save her
virginity. The French, English or American
who rapes a woman, desecrates a church, or
murders innocent women and children, knows
he commits a crime — the German lacks such
consciousness.
So, unchecked, uncontrolled, responsible to
no one, they are wild beasts at large. Backed
by an army of 11,000,000 men, they tried to
overwhelm peace-loving Europe. They over-
ran Luxemburg. They turned the garden of
France into a desert. They could see in Bel-
gium only the nearest road to France. Sub-
ject to no restraint, responsible to no one, their
passion for power, for money, for lust, recog-
nized no authority, contract, nor law.
Their ungovernable tempers become in-
flamed at the slightest opposition and they do
not scruple to commit the most odious crimes
upon the unfortunate people in their power.
Repression, terrorism, theft, rape and murder
are elevated into virtues and rewarded with
honors. By brute force they override decency,
freedom, arbitration and liberty. Murderers
AUTOCRACY 237
at bay, they fight to keep from being exe-
cuted.
And, as the German people were compelled
to work for them in time of peace, now they
must die for them.
Such is the German Government.
At The Hague Convention, 1907, the follow-
ing were agreed to and signed by Germany.
ARTICLE 24. '^t is forbidden to kill or wound
an enemy who has dropped his arms or has no means
of defense, and who surrenders at discretion."
ARTICLE 46. "The honor and the rights of the
people, the lives of the family, the private property
must be respected." »
"August 23, 1914, at Gomery, Belgium, a Ger-
man patrol entered the ambulance, fired upon
the wounded, killed the doctor and shot the
stretcher bearers." Part of a deposition of Dr.
Simon, in Red Cross Service, 10th Region.
"The night of the 22nd (August, 1914), I
found in the woods at 150 yards to the north
of the crossroads, formed by the meeting of
238 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
the large trench of Colonne with the road of
Vaux de Palaneix to St. Remy, the bodies of
French prisoners shot by the Germans. I saw
thirty soldiers who had been gathered together
in a little space, for the most part lying down,
a few on their knees, and all mutilated the same
way by being shot in the eye." Affidavit of a
captain of the 288th Infantry.
"We saw there an execution squad. Before
it lay, on the slope of the side of the road, fifty
bodies of French prisoners who had just been
shot. We approached and saw one hapless Red
Cross man who had not been spared. A non-
commissioned officer was finishing off with
revolver shots any who still moved. He gave
us, in German, the order to point out to him
those of our men who still breathed." Report
of Dr. Chou, who was captured and repatriated.
He related the above to a Danish physician. Dr.
De Christmas.
"I saw a British prisoner killed by a sentry
at point blank range, because he did not stop
at the command. Another British soldier was
shot by a sentry with whom he had a discus-
sion. The shot broke his jaw; he died next
AUTOCRACY 239
day." Report of Sergt. Major Le Bihran, nar-
rating conditions at Gottingen.
The French Government has the note book
of a German soldier, Albert Delfosse of the
111th Infantry of the 14th Reserve Corps. "In
the forest near St. Remy, on the 4th or 5th of
September, I encountered a very fine cow and
calf, dead, and again, the bodies of French men,
fearfully mutilated.''
Order of the Day, issued by General Stenger
near Thiaville, Meurthe and Moselle, August
26, 1914:
''After today we will not make any prisoners;
all the prisoners are to be killed; the wounded,
with arms or without arms, to be killed; the
prisoners already gathered in crowds are to be
killed; behind us there must not remain any
living enemy.''
Signed,
The Lieutenant commanding the Company,
STOV.
The Colonel commanding the Regiment,
NEUBAUER.
The General commanding the Brigade,
STENGER.
240 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
General Stenger was in charge of the 58th
Brigade, composed of the 112th and 142nd Ba-
varian Infantry. Thirty soldiers of these regi-
ments, now prisoners, have made affidavits to
this, signed with their own names, which are
in the possession of the French Government.
The attack of September 25, 1915, brought
the French within two kilometers of Somme-py.
Lying in the trenches under the furious bom-
bardment, we considered the diary which was
found on the German soldier, Hassemer, of
the 8th Army Corps, when they captured the
town in 1914: "Horrible carnage; the villages
totally burned; the French thrown into the
burning houses; the civilians burned with all
the others."
I have many times been at St. Maurice,
Meurthe and Moselle, where I saw and pon-
dered over, fire-blackened houses and somber-
faced, solitary women. The tall chimney of
a demolished manufacturing plant stands guard
over desolation. From the diary of a Bavarian
soldier of the German army, evidence written
by the perpetrators, the following is quoted:
*'The village of St. Maurice was encircled, the
AUTOCRACY 241
soldiers advanced at one yard apart, through
which line nobody could get. Afterward the
Uhlans started the fire, house by house.
Neither man, nor woman, nor child could get
away. They were permitted to take out the
cattle because that was a drawing out method.
Those that risked to run away were killed by
rifle shot. All those that were found in the
village were burned with it."
In the first lot of exchanged English prison-
ers returned from Germany was a Gloucester
man shot in his jaws, his teeth blackened and
broken. Pointing to where his chin had been,
he told me: "That is what they did to me —
what they did after I was taken prisoner and
was wounded in four places and unable to
move. A Boche came along, put his rifle to my
face and pulled the trigger. But that wasn't
anything to what they did to my comrade. He
was lying in his blanket seriously wounded,
and a Boche ran a bayonet into him sixteen
times before he died."
In the clearing house hospital at Lyons I
saw two old comrades meet, one wounded,
from the front, the other from a German prison
a*
242 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
camp. "Yes," said the latter, with a peculiar,
vacant expression in his eye. "Yes, I was cru-
cified. I was hung from a beam in the middle
of the camp for two hours, hands tied together
over my head, in the form of a cross, body hang-
ing down till my feet were eighteen inches
above the ground."
Is that true?" I demanded.
True, look at these arms. Ask those com-
rades over there. I swear it, I will write it
down for you."
He wrote the above statement and signed
his name, Gandit, Pierre, 19th Infantry.
August 28, 1914. "The French soldiers who
were captured were led away. Those seriously
wounded, in the head or lungs, etc., who could
not get up, were put out of their misery, accord-
ing to orders, by another shot." An extract
from the diary of a German soldier, Fahlen-
stein, 34th Fusiliers II Army. The original
is in the hands of the French Government.
At Ethe, finding twenty wounded men
stretched out in a shed^ unable to move, they
burned the shed and roasted them alive.
AUTOCRACY 243
At Gomery a temporary, first aid hospital
was captured. A Boche sergeant and a group
of soldiers rushed in, assaulted the doctor in
charge and burned the building. The wounded
men, some of whom had had amputations that
same morning, maddened by the flames,
jumped out of the windows into the garden,
where they were bayoneted by the waiting
fiends. Dr. De Charette, Lieutenant Jeanin
and about one hundred and twenty wounded
French officers and men were butchered. This
hospital was under command of Dr. Sedillat.
"The Russians were treated like beasts, but
among those emaciated, ragged creatures, the
most miserable of all, the most cruelly used
of all are the British. They were always the
last and the worst served. If ill, they were
always the least cared for. When they had no
more clothing to sell to buy food, they carne
to the hospital utterly exhausted, stark naked,
and died of hunger. It was^ a sight to pierce
the heart.'' Report of Dr. Monsaingeon, of the
French Medical Service, on conditions at Gust-
rout in 1914 and 1915. Confirmation furnished
the French Foreign Officers and printed in
"Treatment of French Prisoners in Germany."
244 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
The following letter, written by Officer
Klent, 1st Company, 154th German Infantry
Regiment, was published in the ^'J^^^^sches
Tageblatt," Harmonville, September 24, 1914:
"We reached a little hollow in the ground,
where many red breeches, killed and wounded,
were lying. We bayoneted some of the
wounded and smashed in the skulls of others.
Nearby I heard a singular crushing sound. It
was caused by the blows one of our 154th men
was raining on the bald skull of a Frenchman.
Our adversaries had fought bravely, but,
whether slightly or severely wounded, our
brave Fusiliers spared our country the expense
of having to nurse so many enemies.
%-
1
I
<;
CHAPTER XXI
THEIR CRIMES
We must make it absolutely impossible for
the wild beast to break out again. Our living
should know the crimes committed in the name
of Kultur, so they can establish needed precau-
tions against their recurrence. To our mar-
tyred dead, we have a sacred duty, that of
Remembrance.
A little book was published at Nancy under
the patronage of the Prefect of Meurthe, G.
Simon, Mayor of Nancy, and G. Keller of Lune-
ville, aided by the Mayors of the following
towns, located at or near the battle front : Bel-
fort, Epinal, Nancy, Bar-le-Duc, Chalons,
Chateau-Thierry, Nelien, Beauvais, Baccarat,
Luneville, Gerberviller, Nomeny, Pont-a-Mous-
son, Verdun, Clermont, Semaise, Rheims, Sen-
lis, Albert.
It is a record of robbery, rape, repression and
murder that will taint the German blood for
generations, from Prince Eitel Fritz, the son
of the Kaiser, who looted the Chateau Brierry
245
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
FRENCH FURLOUGH (Front)
This furlough, in spite of its "sans prolongation," has
been extended twice — for 3 months each time, since it became
effective, Seplember, 191?, Trench rheumatism and 2 years'
hard lighting having seriously impaired Mr. Bowe, Washing-
ton has now written Paris, asking for his discharge for disa-
bility. France hardly sends a soldier home until he is be-
THEIR CRIMES
FRENCH FURLOUGH (Back)
lieved worth more there than at the front. "Private Jack"
says he will not resume business till the war is over. He
can probably do more good in America than under German
fire — his writings and speeches must replace the rifle and
grenades. With Jeanne d'Arc, he declares, "You can enchain
me, but you cannot enchain the fortunes of France."
248 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Avocourt, down to the under officers, who
searched private residences, which, open to the
captors, it was forbidden to lock. It is a record
of shame and dishonor, of brutal force, with-
out a saving element of mercy. They struck
their helpless victims singly, in groups, in
hecatombs.
Individually, they followed the systematic
teaching of organized butchery. The world
knows about the murder of Miss Cavell, the
Red Cross nurse ; of Eugene Jacquet, the Free-
mason ; of Captain Fryatt, the civilian sea-cap-
tain. This little book records the death of
many others, innocent martyrs to the same
glorious cause.
At Foret, the public school teacher refused to
tread the French flag underfoot and was shot.
At Schaffen, A. Willem was burned alive, two
others were interred alive. Madame Luykx
and daughter, twelve years of age, refuging
together in a cave, were shot. J. Reynolds and
his nephew of ten years were shot, out in the
street.
THEIR CRIMES 249
At Sompuis, an old man, Jacquimin, 70 years
of age, was tied to his bed by an officer and left
there three days. He died shortly after his
deliverance.
At Monceau-Sur-Sambre, they shut up the
two brothers S. in a shed and burned them alive.
At Nomeny, M. Adam was thrown alive into
the fire, then shot at with rifles and Mme.
Cousine, after being shot, was thrown into the
fire and roasted.
At Maixe, M. Demange, wounded in both
knees, fell helpless in his house, and they set
fire to it.
At Triaucourt, Mme. Maupoix, 75 years old,
was kicked to death because not enough loot
was found in her closet.
At Conis, Madame Dalissier, 73 years, who
declared she had no money, was shot through
the body fifteen times.
At Rouyes, a farmer refused to tell where he
got some French military clothes. An officer
shot him twice.
250 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
At Crezancy, M. Le Saint, 18 years of age,
was killed by an officer because some day he
would be a soldier.
At Embermeuil, Mme. Masson was shot be-
cause her servant, an idiot, gave a wrong direc-
tion. The madame, pregnant, was made to sit
on a chair while they executed her.
At Ethe, one hundred and ninety-seven were
executed, among them two priests, who were
shot because they were accused of hiding arms.
At Marqueglise, a superior officer stopped
four young boys, and, saying that the Belgians
were dirty people, he shot each one in succes-
sion. One was killed outright.
At Pin, the Uhlans met two young boys,
whom they tied to their horses, then urged
them to a gallop. Some kilometers away, the
bodies were found, the skin worn away from
the knees, one with throat cut, both with many
bullet holes through the head.
At Sermaize, the farmer Brocard and his son
were arrested. His wife and daughter-in-law
THEIR CRIMES 251
were thrown into a near-by river. Four hours
later, the men were set at liberty and found the
two bodies of the women in the water, with
several bullet holes in their heads.
At Aerschot, the priest had hung a cross in
front of the church. He was tied, hands and
feet, the inhabitants ordered to march past and
urinate on him. They then shot him and threw
the body into the canal. A group of seventy-
eight men, tied three together, were taken into
the country, assaulted en route, and shot at and
killed the following morning.
At Monchy-Humieres, an officer heard the
word "Prussians'' spoken. He ordered three
dragoons to fire into the group, one was killed,
two wounded, one of them was a little girl of
four years.
At Hermeuil, while looting the town, the
inhabitants were confined in a church. Mme.
Winger and her three servants, arriving late,
the captain, monocle in his eye, ordered the
soldiers to fire. The four were killed.
At Sommeiles, while the town was being
burned, the Dame X. with her four children.
252 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
sought refuge in a cave with her neighbor,
Adnot, and his wife. Some days later, the
French troops, recapturing the town, found
the seven bodies, horribly mutilated, lying in
a sea of blood. The Dame had her right arm
severed from the body, a young girl, eleven
years of age, had one foot cut off, the little boy,
five years old, had his throat cut.
At Louveigne, a number of civilians took
refuge in a blacksmith shop. In the afternoon
the Germans opened the door, chased out the
victims, and as they ran out shot them down
like so many rabbits. Seventeen bodies were
left lying on the plain.
At Senlis, the mayor of the town and six of
the city council were shot to death.
At Coulommiers, a husband and two children
testified to the rape of the mother of the family.
At Melen-Labouche, Marguerite Weras was
outraged by twenty German soldiers before she
was shot, in sight of her father and mother.
At Louppy le Chateau, it is the grandmother
who is violated, and, in the same town, a mother
THEIR CRIMES 253
and two daughters, thirteen and eight years
old, were also victims of German savagery.
At Nimy, little Irma G., in six hours, was
done to death. Her father, going to her aid,
was shot, her mother, seriously wounded.
At Handzaerne, the mayor, going to the aid
of his daughter, was shot.
At St. Mary's Pass, two sergeants of the
31st Alpines were found with their throats cut.
Their bayonets were thrust into their mouths.
At Remereville, Lieutenant Toussant, lying
wounded on the battlefield, was jabbed with
bayonets by all the Germans who passed him.
The body was punctured with wounds from the
feet to the head.
At Audrigny, a German lieutenant met a
Red Cross ambulance, carrying ten wounded
men. He deployed his men and fired two
rounds into the vehicle.
At Bonville, in a barn, a German officer shot
in the eye nine wounded French soldiers, who,
lying stretched out, were unable to move.
254 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
At Montigny le Titcul, the Germans dis-
covered M. Vidal dressing the wounds of a
French soldier, L. Sohier, who was shot in the
head. M. Vidal was shot at sight, then the
wounded man was killed.
At Nary, they compelled twenty-five women
to march parallel with them as a shield against
the French fire.
At Malinas, six German soldiers, who had
captured five young girls, placed the girls in
a circle about them when attacked.
At Hongaerdi, they killed the priest.
At Erpe, the Germans forced thirty civilians,
one only thirteen years old, to march ahead,
while, hidden among the crowd, were German
soldiers and a machine gun.
At Ouen-Sur-Morin, on Sept. 7, 1914, the
Death's Head Huzzars, the Crown Prince's
favorite regiment, drove all the civilians into
the Chateau, then, sheltered by those innocents,
they told the English, "Shoot away."
THEIR CRIMES 255
At Parchim, where 2,000 civilians, French
prisoners, were interned, two prisoners, hun-
gry, demanding food, were clubbed to death
with the butt end of rifles, while the young
daughter of one of them was immediately given
eight days ''mis au poteau/'
At Gerberviller, at the home of Lingenheld,
they searched for his son, a stretcher bearer of
the Red Cross, tied his hands, led him into the
street and shot him down. Then they poured
oil on the body and roasted it. Then the father,
of 70 years, was executed, along with fourteen
other old men. More than fifty were martyred
in this commune alone.
Sister Julia, Superior of the Hospital Ger-
berviller, reports: "To break into the taber-
nacle of the Church of Gerberviller, the enemy
fired many shots around the lock, the interior
of the ciborium was also perforated."
Statement of Mile. — , tried and acquitted for
the murder of her infant, in Paris.
"At Gerberviller, I worked in the hospital.
Going to the church one night, three German
hospital stewards caught and assaulted me. I
256 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
did not understand their language. I thought
they were men. I did not know they were
brutes."
"Yes, I killed the child; I could not bear to
feel myself responsible for bringing anything
into the world made by the workings of a Ger-
man."
In Belgium alone, more than 20,000 homes
have been pillaged and burned. More than
5,000 civilians, mostly old men, women and
children, with fifty priests and one hundred
and eighty-seven doctors, have been murdered.
At Timines, 400 civilians were murdered.
At Dinant, more than 600 were martyred,
among them seventy-one women, 34 old men,
more than 70 years of age, six children of from
five to six years of age, eleven children less than
five years. The victims were placed in two
ranks, the first kneeling, the second standing,
then shot.
The foregoing statements, vouched for by
the most resjponsible representative men in and
near the invaded district, show some of the cases
continually being brought to public attention.
THEIR CRIMES 257
This evidence is accumulative, convincing,
damning proof, it is furnished by the bodies of
the victims, by neighbor eye witnesses, by de-
vastated homes, and by mutilated wre^cks, who
survived — some being recaptured by French
troops, others, repatriated as useless, sent back
to France via Switzerland.
FROM A GERMAN DIARY
"The natives fled from the village. It was
horrible. There was clotted blood on the
beards, and the faces we saw were terrible to
behold. The dead^about sixty — were at once
buried; among them were many old women,
some old men and a half-delivered woman, aw-
ful to see. Three children had clasped each
other and died thus. The altar and vault of the
church were shattered. They had a telephone
there to communicate with the enemy. This
morning, Sept. 2, all the survivors were ex-
pelled, and I saw four little boys carrying a
cradle with a baby five or six months old in it,
on two sticks — all this was terrible to behold.
Shot after shot, salvo after salvo — chickens,
etc. all killed. I saw a mother with her two chil-
dren, one had a great wound in the head and
had lost an eye.'*
2S8 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
These, and other crimes, are corroborated in
the four reports of the French Inquiry, in "Vio-
lations of International Law," published by or-
der of the French Foreign Minister, by the
twenty-two reports of the Belgian Commis-
sion, the reports of a German book published
May 15, 1915, diaries and note books found on
bodies of dead German soldiers, wounded men
and prisoners. They are books of horror, but,
books of truth, glaring evidence of murdered
men, misused women, ruined homes. Much of
them was actually furnished by perpetrators of
the deeds. Comments are unnecessary, words
inadequate, cold print fails.
UENVOI
Into Europe's seething cauldron of blood and
tears, American youth have been cast.
Patriotism and justice resolutely demand
that the Devil incarnate, who stirs his awful
mess of ghoulhash, shall perish.
Our national peril, the whole earth's dire
need, assembling the Country's selected young
manhood, now make this a United States in fact
— probably, for the first time since Washington
and Valley Forge.
I have tried to make you see war as I know
it, war with no footballs, portable bath tubs, vic-
trolas nor Red Triangle Huts. Such blessings
are God-sends — more power to His messen-
gers !
I met a company of the 18th U. S. Engineers
swinging along the tree-fringed macadamized
highway toward the front. Clean-cut, well
dressed, smooth-shaven, happy and gay, it was
259
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
L'ENVOI 261
a joy to see them. It made a man proud to
belong to the same race. They yelled a greet-
ing in broken French to the dirty Poilu, who re-
sponded in the latest American slang. They
marched away singing into the darkness, the
words resounding loud or low, as different sec-
tions took up the tune:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the
Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of
wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible
swift sword,
His truth is marching on/*
Yes, Julia Ward Howe's hymn is quite right.
It sounds the keynote of America's part in this
world's greatest tragedy of all history.
They returned a month later, boys no longer,
but men who had been through the fire and
stood up to the grief. Tired, weary, chins
pressed forward, hands on the straps to permit
free heart action, dust swirled about the mov-
ing feet, climbed, settled on the stubbly, un-
shaven faces, streaked with perspiration, rose
and formed an aura about the knapsacks which
bobbed up and down like buoys on the sea.
TJbz SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
From behind the dust-topped bristles flashed
the steely eyes of the Soldier. Such eyes! Not
the calm, contemplative eyes of the sissy, but
strong, fierce, exultant eyes of the man who has
fought, and won.
One month changed him. The longer he is
in the Army the greater the growth. He has
realized that union is strength, that soldiers by
acting together gain the objective, bring the
victory. He is learning that, as Nicholas Mur-
ray Butler puts it, ''The international mind is
nothing else than the habit of thinking of for-
eign relations and business, and that habit of
dealing with them, which regard the several na-
tions of the civilized world as friendly and co-
operating equals in aiding the progress of civili-
zation, in developing commerce and industry,
and in spreading enlightenment and culture
throughout the world/'
He wondered at the confidence of the French
Poilu, and discovered that behind that soldier is
every man, woman and child, every ounce of
energy, every cent of money in France. His
mind returned to his native land across the
sea. True the Government is behind him —
but all the people are not back of the Govern-
L'ENVOI 263
ment. The International Socialist is still bent
on destruction, and working for Germany, the
pro-German is hiding his galvanized American-
ism behind Red Cross and Liberty Loan but-
tons, the chatauquaized pacifist, bemoaning this
"terrible bloodshed,'' wanted to dig himself
into a hole, there, to escape the U. S. draft.
The foreign-language minister — exempted
from military service, the only privileged class
in America — is still talking denominationalism
instead of patriotism. The Big Business banker,
a deacon in church, prays with the Methodist
sisters, works hand in glove with monopolists
who have preyed upon the people, then offers 5
in competition with Government 4^ per cent.
He wants to make a profit for himself, rather
than have the Government use the money to
feed and clothe the soldiers on the front. The
prohibitionists, not satisfied with war-time pro-
hibition, with the control of liquor through the
Food Administration, further embarrass the
Government by agitating minor issues when
every ounce of energy is needed to win the war.*
They know the soldier will come back a broader
*Mr. Bowe and his collaborator failed to agree, only on
this point. For it, I must disclaim any responsibility, be-
lieving that while the world is in its- present fluidity it can
best be, and should be, re-formed. — MacG.
264 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
and wiser man, and they want to slip this legis-
lation over in his absence. Then there is the
political lawyer who thrives on trouble, gets fat
on disaster, whose capital is wind, surplus hot
air, whose services are on sale for cash. Usu-
ally a trimmer who crawled on his stomach for
favors, he pledged himself in advance for votes.
Backed by special interests, these decoys play
upon the passions and prejudices of men, they
array class against class, religion against relig-
ion, section against section. Elected by the peo-
ple, they betray them. The people in turn or-
ganize for protection, then the hypocrites wrap
the robes of loyalty about themselves, rush to
the head of the procession, climb the band wag-
on, seize the bass drum, and cry out: "All
those who don't follow are drunken, dishonest
or disloyal."
Beclouding the main issue — America's dan-
ger — scheming for power while soldiers die,
too busy serving themselves, they have not
time to serve the nation, they do not see that
their day is past and that they must give way
to the men who will win the war — the soldier,
the laborer, the producer.
L'ENVOI 265
The living soldier is part of the Government,
he sees through and past the self-seeking tool
or profiteer. He is not fooled by the political
machine. He is no longer Republican, Socialist
or Prohibitionist — he is American. He is no
longer Baptist, Methodist or Mormon — his re-
ligion is confined to Right and Wrong.
While watching a film of trench-fighting, in
"The German Curse in Russia," a week ago, it
startled me to hear an electric orchestra play
the Hallelujah Chorus :
((
Hallelujah ! For the Lord God
Omnipotent Reigneth.
The kingdom of this world has become
the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ ;
and He shall reign forever and ever and ever,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
Hallelujah !"
But, that stirring shout of Joy is Truth. On
the front, we soldiers discover a something in-
side that is larger, greater, stronger than our
fear — a Belief that there is something more last-
ing than human life. We learn that we are
266 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Souls with bodies, instead of mere mortals of
passion and appetite. We begin to realize that
the Day's Work is building tomorrow's More
Stately Mansion.
Young men in our Expeditionary Force and
Training Camps learn the value of physical fit-
ness and clean morals as they were not taught
at home. They will help us "read aright that
most significant world-reconstruction message,
trench etched with the outraged blood of her
choicest on agonized Europe's face, indelibly
engraved with the sacrificial lives of innumer-
able sons of man — 'Ye must be born again!' "*
Those not listed as travelers on that longer
journey, returning, will remind us that the Fa-
ther of his Country, in a farewell to Congress,
admonished, ''Let us, with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained
without religion. Whatever may be conceded
to the influence of refined education, reason and
experience both forbid us to expect that na-
tional morality can prevail in exclusion of re-
ligious principle !"
* "Everybody's Business," Charles L. MacGregor, published
in 1916 by The Roycrofters, East Aurora, N. Y.
L'ENVOI 267
They will tell us their personal experience of
that great, practical demonstration, in which
devoted women and men of all beliefs and
creeds now help hasten the desire of Him who
knelt, 1900 years ago, and prayed, "that they
all may be one ; as thou, Father, in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us; that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me/'*
Remembering all who went further, it shall
be for us to ''resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain/'t
Dead?
Who are the dead?
Surely not the unselfish spirits who sacrificed
their bodies on the altar of Freedom.
Their deeds and glory are immortal.
Are they, themselves, anything less?
''They have passed into eternity,'' we are ac-
customed to say.
Eternity?
Do you limit eternity?
Can you locate eternity's beginning, etern-
ity's end?
♦John 17:21. fLincoln's Gettysburg Address.
268 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Then shall we presume to think those noble
spirits who went forward to keep our own tem-
porary abiding place safe for us a while longer,
dead?
*'No man/' said Canon Farrar, "can pass into
eternity for he is already in it. The dead are no
more in eternity now than they always were, or
than every one of us is at this moment. We
may ignore the things eternal; shut our eyes
hard to them; live as though they had no exist-
ence — nevertheless, eternity is around us here,
now at this moment, at all moments ; and it will
have been around us every day of our ignorant,
sinful, selfish lives. Its stars are ever over our
heads, while we are so diligent in the dust of our
worldliness, or in the tainted stream of our de-
sires. The dull brute globe moves through its
ether and knows it not; even so our souls are
bathed in eternity and are never conscious
of it."
Water rises to its source — that is common
knowledge. But, if we actually cannot see the
thing, we often rely on established mental
habit, prescribed for us, long since, by others.
L'ENVOI 269
The soldier, facing the truly big things of
life, who learns to discard, in emergency, the
book of rules, cannot believe his comrade,
whose lifeless, torn body he left on the field, but
whose spirit still inspires him, dead. In the
strong days of his youth, he remembers, now,
his Creator. He knows his absent comrade's
spirit lives — as does his own, responding to that
urge to victory! and he knows that they shall
both return unto God who gave them.
It is for us, still humanly on the job, to so
manage that, when such brave spirits come
back, either to resume their interrupted tasks
or to take on greater, we shall have faithfully
done our Might to make this old world a better
place in which to live and work.
Science, from her laboratory, reports that
nothing is ever lost.
Real religion and science agree.
INDICES
SOME AMERICAN MEMBERS SOME FOREIGN MEMBERS
SOME OTHERS
SOME AMERICAN MEMBERS
PAGE
Appletqn, Walter 84
American Veterans in
France 47
Arrowsmith, Robert 11
Augustine, Guy 103
Back, James J 45, 104
Barclay, Norman 83
Barriere 53
Barry, Arthur 43, 70
Baylies, Frank J 57, 59
Bigelow, Braxton 91
Blake, Dr. James A 97
Blount, Allen Richard 93
Bonnell, Brock B 97
Bouligny, Edgar
39,42,44,104, 105, 110,131
Bowe, John, cover to cover!
Bresse, William Lawrence 72
Brown, John 47
Buckley, Everett 92
Bullard 50
Capdevielle, F.
47, 55, 106, 110, 116, 155
Carstairs, J. S 99
Casey, J. J 43, 131
Casmese, G 87
Chamberlain, Cyrus F. . . . 59
Champollion, Andrew C..101
Chapman, Victor 81, 104
Charles, Christopher 83
Charton, John 78
PAGE
Chatcoff, Lincoln 51,132
Clair, N. Frank 97
Claude, Henry 91
Coit, Henry Augustus. . .100
Collier, Edward M 91
Collins 54
Cowdin, Elliot C 91,104
Culbert, Robert L 100
Curtis 104
Davis, Maurice 75
Delpesche, George. 70, 106,110
Deming, Schuyler 96
Demetire 101
Depew, Albert N 100
Doolittle, James Ralph... 67
Dowd, Dennis, 41, 44, 108, 132
Drossner, Charles Jean. . . 75
Dubois 92, 94-99, 101, 104
Dugan, William E 88
Escadrille, The Lafayette. 104
Earns worth, H. W 98
Fike, John Earle 95
Galliard, Eugene 82
Ganson, Geo. W 99
Gehrung, Dr. Julian A. . . . 68
Genet, Edward Charles. 48, 93
Hall, Harmon Edwin 94
Hall, James Norman 95
Hall, W. R. or "Bert". 94, 104
Hard, R 63
Haviland 80
271
272
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
PACE
Hoskier, Ronald Wood. 48, 80
Huffer, John 82
Huffert, John 87
Ingmer, Paul 59
Jacobs, Eugene 53,155
Karayinis, Nicholas 59
Kelly, Russell A 87
King, D. W 42, 110,132
Kroegh 52
Lafayette Escadrille, The. 104
La Grange, Henry 63
Larson, Nelson 97
Laurent, John 54, 132
le Dous, Paul Raoul 79
Littaner, Kenneth Proctor 88
Lufberry, Raoul 58, 76
Maffart, Paul 80
Marquet, George 62
McConnell, James B 95
Meyer, George 11
Milkovich, Mjojlo 64
Morlae, Edward, 45,
46, 55, 98, 106, 108, 131, 154
Molter, Bennett 83
Mouvet, Oscar 55
Moyet, Manuel 61
Mulhauser, Robert... 84, 155
Musgrave, Frank 57, 143
Narutz 44, 88, 110, 154
Needham, Henry Beech.. 101
Nelson, Elof . . .44, 62, 108, 131
Nock, Ivan 72
Noe, Jack 63
Norton, Paul 72
O'Connell 55
Orlinger, Professor ... 18, 56
Paringfield, M 93
PAGE
Paul, James 69
Pavelka, Paul 56, 143
Pellissier, Robert 99
Peixotto, George 50
Perigord, Paul 81
Phelizot 53-55,57
Pollet, Tony 48, 105
Prince, Fred " 89
Prince, Norman 88, 104
Putnam, David E 59
Roche, Marius 97
Rockwell, Kiffin
Yates 56,72, 104
Rockwell, Paul IZ
Rockwell, Robert 74
Rosenberg, Sylvain 103
Roxas, Juan 87
Sartoris, Algernon 56
Scanlon, Bob
44, 46, 48, 108, 132, 157
Scanlon, Laurence 47
Seeger, Alan
44, 85, 110, 132, 154
Soubiron, Bob. 50, 57, 106, 116
Starr, D. Parrish 101
Stehlin, Joseph C 11
Stone, Edward Mandell.. 97
Sweeney, Chas. S.55, 106, 107
Thaw, William 90, 104
Thorin, D. W. or "Billy" 74
Trinkard, Charles 54
Van de Kerkove, Emil E. 70
Van Vorst, Dr. . . .89, 106, 109
Veterans, American in
France 47
Walbron, Andrew 80
Walbron, Ernest 80
\
INDICES
273
PAGE
Watson, Dr 57
Weeks, Kenneth 79
Wheeler, Dr. David D . . . . 78
Whitmore, Frank 98
Williams, Snowy 92
PAGE
Willis, Harold Buckley... 75
Wilson. F 74
Wright, Harold E 60
Wright, Milton 66
Zinn, F. W 44, 94
SOME FOREIGN MEMBERS
Alsatians 37 ^ 38
Ariel, M.— Turk 70
Authoine, General 37
Aza, Nagar — Persian 59
Azef, Ben — Arab 65
Ballala, Michal —
Abyssinian 67
Bazaine, Marshal 29
Betrand, Rene — a
Problem 79
Blomme, Chas. — Belgian. 20
Bondt, Jan Der Tex —
Hollander... 17, 70, 105, 195
Bucher, Edwin — Swiss ... 60
De Chamer — Swiss 65
Degoutte, General 23
de Montesquion, Marquis. 60
Deville, Colonel 36
Djebelis, Abel — Maltese.. 61
Duritz, Lieut. Colonel ... 36
East Indian (no name) ... 60
Eilyaken — Egyptian 62
Elkington, Colonel —
Englishman 67
Emery — Swiss. 65, 146
Etchevarry — French
convict 78
Francois, Alexandre —
Swiss 20
Garabaldi, Bruno —
Italian 34,62
Garabaldi, Peppino —
Italian 34, 62
Gorky, PiechkoflF —
Russian 62
Guimeau — French 75
Hochedlinger, Ch. A. —
Pole 67
Korneis, Nick — Greek.!.. 78
Lobedef, M. — Russian. ... 61
Lorraines 27, 38
MacMahon, Patrick 29
Mousseine, Said — Turk... 68
Pellisser, 'Marshal 29
St. Gaudens, Augustus. 17, 69
Salifon, Dinah — African.. 77
Seriadis, E. — Greek 70
Sorenson — Dane 74
(Valsamakis, M. — Greek. . . 61
Varma — Hindoo 69
SOME OTHERS
Americans,
"comers"
and
<<
goers
»»
8
Angerau, Marshal of
France
28
274
SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
PAGE
Anglo-Saxon, early 26, 27
Asquith, Mr. "Wait and
See" 219
Berwick, Duke of 27
Bonaparte, Napoleon....
17, 28, 186
Boxers, Chinese 35
Briand, of France 229
Broglie, of Broglie 27
Butler, Nicholas Murray. .262
Cavell, Edith 248
Christ, Jesus
27, 151, 261, 265, 267
Clemenceau, of France... 229
Coeur-de-Lion, Richard.. 26
Cornwallis, General 25
Dahomey, women warriors 35
D'Aubigne, Philip 26
Democrats, Social 33
Devil, the incarnate 259
Eitel, Fritz, Prince 245
French, early 26, 27
Fryatt, Captain 248
Garabaldi, General 30
George, Lloyd 229
God, Father. . 152, 265, 267, 269
Grant, General 152
Greene, General 152
Hamilton, Alexander. .63, 152
Herald, The N. Y.47, 49, 111
Hills, Nora K., "Peace". .281
Hughes, of Australia 229
Hughes, Sam, of Canada. .229
Hugo, Victor 149
Indo-China, pigtails of... 35
Jacquet, Eugene, Free-
mason 248
PAGE
Jeanne d'Arc.l24, 152, 186,247
Kerensky, of- Russia 229
Kings, Irish 29
Kipling, Rudyard, "Dcr
Tag!" 31
Kitchener, Lord 59
La Fayette, General... 9, 152
Lincoln, Abraham. . . .152, 229
Louis XVIII 28
Ludwig, Dr. O. P 17
Mohammedans, the 30
Napoleon, Bonaparte
17,28,186
Napoleon III ; 30
Noix, General 57
Nordemann, Albert F 59
Pershing, General 9
Peter, King of Serbia 59
Poincare, President 36
Rantzan, Ancient Soldier. 27
Revolutionists, the
French 27
Rochambeau, of France. . .152
Roosevelt, Teddy 229
Sherman, General 152
Spirit of 76, Awakened. .152
Stuarts, Scottish 27
St. Genevieve, of France. .186
St. Peter, Gate-tender 219
Veneviolis, of Greece 229
Virgin Mary, Mother 151
Viviani, of France 46, 229
Vernof, Russian Prince.. 59
Washington, George
25, 114, 152, 259, 266
Wilson, Woodrow 229
I
THE MINNEAPOLIS SUNDAY TRIBUNE
JANUARY 6, 1918
Monk's Omens in 1600
Fit Dire Events of
Present World s War
It Will Be Necessary to Kill More
Men Than Rome Had, Said
Brother John.
"ARMIES TO COME FROM
ALL PARTS OF GLOBE."
But "Anti-Christ Will Lose His
Crown and Armies and
Die in Solitude.'
>)
BY OHABLES L. MAOGBEGOB.
Have you read that remarkable
prophecy of Brother John? Brother
John^ a monk, lived in 1600 — 300 years
ago. His forecast points to the events
of the present war with amazing close-
ness.
It is said there is no doubt that this
is a genuine ancient document. It was
published shortly after the war's out-
break, by M. Pelandan, a French liter-
ary man of high reputation, who gave
275
276 SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
its history since the Sixteenth cen-
tury. Here are some of its most strik-
ing passages:
*'The real anti-Christ will be one of
the monarchs of his time, a Lutheran
Protestant. He will invoke God and
give himself out as His messenger (or
apostle).
**This prince of lies will swear by
the Bible. He will represent himself
as the arm of the Most High, sent to
chastise corrupt peoples.
"He will have only one arm, but his
innumerable armies, who will take for
their device the words 'God with us,'
will resemble the infernal legions.
' ' For a long time he will act by craft
and strategy, his spies will overrun the
earth, and he will be the master of the
secrets of the mighty.
''He will have learned men in his
pay who will maintain, and undertake
to prove, his celestial mission.
"A war will furnish him with the op-
portunity of throwing off the mask. It
will not be the first instance of a war
which he will wage against a French
monarch. But it will be one of such
nature that after two weeks all will
realize its Universal character.
"Not only will all Christians and all
Mussulmans, but even other more dis-
tant peoples will be involved. Armies
will be enrolled from the four quarters
of the globe.
"For, by the third week the angel
will have opened the minds of men, who
will perceive that the man is anti-
Christ, and that they will all become his
slaves if they do not overthrow this con-
queror.
"WIU Murder Helpless.'*
"Anti-Christ will be recognized by
various tokens, in especial lie will mas-
sacre the priests, the monks, the women,
the children and the aged. He will show
i
BROTHER JOHN'S PROPHECY 2^^
no mercy, but will pass^ torch in hand,
like the barbarians^ but invoking Christ.
'*His words of imposture will resem-
ble those of Christians, but his actions
will be those of Nero and of the
Boman persecutors.
''He will have an eagle in his arms
and there will be an eagle also in the
arms of his confederate, another bad
monarch.
**In order to conquer anti-Christ, it
will be necessary to kill more men than
Bome has ever contained. It will need
the energies of all the kingdoms, because
the cock, the leopard, afid the white
eagle will not be able to make an end
of the black eagle without the aid of
the prayers and vows of all the human
race.
'* Never will humanity have been
faced with such a peril, because the
triumph of anti-Christ would be that
of the demon, who will have taken pos-
session of his personality.
**The black eagle, who will come
from the land of Luther, will make a
surprise attack on the cock from an-
other side, and will invade the land of
the cock up to one-half.
'*The white eagle who will come
from the North will fall upon the black
and the other eagle and completely in-
vade the land of the anti-Christ.
**The black eagle will find itself
forced to let go the cock in order to
fight the white eagle^ whereupon the
cock will have to pursue the black eagle
into the land of the anti-Christ to aid
the white eagle.
''The battles fought up to that time
will be as nothing compared with those
which will take place on the Lutheran
country; for the seven angels will
simultaneously pour out the fire of
their censors upon the impious land. In
other words, the lamb ordains the ex-
termination of the race of anti-Christ.
278 . SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
Hunger and Pestilence.
**Men will be able to cross the rivers
over the bodies of the dead, which in
places will change the courses of the
streams. Only the bodies of the most
noble, the highest captains and the
princes, will be buried; for to the car-
nage of the battlefields will be added
the destruction of myriads who will die
from hunger and pestilence.
'*It will be made manifest that the
combat, to be fohght out in that part
of the country in which anti-Christ
forges his arms, is no human conflict.
The three animals, defenders of the
lamb, will exterminate the l^st army
of anti-Christ. But it will be neces-
sary to make the fields of battle a
funeral pyre as great as the greatest
of cities, for the corpses will have al-
tered the features of the land by
forming ranges of little hills.
"Anti-Christ will lose his crown and
die in solitude and madness. His em-
pire will be divided into 22 states, but
none will have any longer either forti-
fications or army or ships of war.
'^The white eagle, by order of Mich-
ael, will drive the crescent out of
Europe, where there will be no longer
any but Christians. He will install
himself at Constantinople.
' ' Then will commence an era of peace
and prosperity for the universe and
there will be no longer any war. Each
nation will be governed according to its
own heart, and will live in accordance
with justice.
'^The lamb will reign and the hap-
piness of humanity will begin.
"Happy will be those who, escaping
the perils of this marvelous time, will
be able to taste of its fruit. This will
be the reign of the Spirit and the sanc-
tification of humanity, which could not
come to pass until after the defeat of
anti-Christ. ' '
BROTHER JOHN'S PROPHECY- 279
Get Out Greatest Book.
Brother John says: '*He will only
have one arm."
Madam Thebes, the celebrated palmist
of Paris, says: '*I have seen the hand
of William II, his left hand is that of
a fatalist, withered and smaller than
the other, on an arm shorter than his
right. This weakness William sought
to conceal all his life."
Suppose we get out the Old Book, the
Bible, the Greatest book in the world,
the world's ^'Best Seller"— with
presses working day and night, unable
to supply the present demand for it —
and ^ find what it contains for us. There
is something there, depend upon it, of
great interest and of vital importance,
that we should be noticing carefully.
You remember that dear old lady,
who, when the minister called, went
and got out her Bible, in the most
natural and off-hand way possible. She
allowed it to open where it would as
she handed it to her pastor, and her
spectacles fell out, causing her to ex-
claim in her surprise, '*Why if there
ain 't my specs I lost pretty nigh a year
ago ! * *
Let's find our specs, then use 'em!
Don't read simply, — Think. Keep the Dome
fires burning!
Did America's war vaccination ''take"?
Are we at the end of War?
Which end?
Or, may we not be but in the midst of World
Travail ?
28o • SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION
What of the Classes, inflamed and in flames?
Does not Sammy come marching home too
soon? Our British Brother may have too much
on hands, — and not enough of his own coal ! to
take two-thirds of an American Expeditionary
Force across a second time.
Did not our United States almost at Thanks-
giving Eve, with the anniversary of the Christ-
child's birth just around the corner, quit pray-
ers and vows somewhat hurriedly? When you
read published instructions to discontinue the
noon-time 60 seconds' quiet meditation, did you
hear, out of Gethsemane, in anguish-wearied
voice, *'What, could ye not watch with me one
hour?"*
Business? Yes, and work like the Devil!
But, make more than just a conversational
fad of Reconstruction, too; and, while Amer-
ica labors — and gives — and Watches, let not
feverish haste which discards morning news-
papers, with their lists of casualties, on the way
to the office make us forget that lingering sad-
♦Matthew 26:40.
BROTHER JOHN'S PROPHECY * 281
ness of the stricken-hearted Mother, full of sor-
row,— only a few, here and there, yes. But, in
her loneliness. She is paying for what we cele-
brate.
Pray a bit more, even if unofficially, while
waiting for press dispatches of
PEACE
At last.
The tired mother closes wide-strained eyes.
The tears have come, the tears so long delayed.
Her boy, her loved one, who in Flanders lies —
Her sacrifice ! Ah, not in vain 'twas made !
She weeps.
At last she weeps, and, softly weeping, prays
That God, who understands, will so forgive
The hardness of her heart these many days
Because he died while those less worthy live.
She knows
That fitly to accomplish this great end —
To free the world through sacrifice and pain —
The noblest hearts, the bravest souls, must lend
All that they have, the final good to gain.
She smiles.
He is not dead, not dead, her splendid boy ;
Forever he lives on ! And to her heart
There comes at last a thrill of purest joy.
That he and she together did their part.
—Nora K. Hills.
SOME COMMENT
Galley Slaves in ^^ "^vek sleef
our fourfold Tri-
reme — Yes, make
it "Try-Ream" if
you prefer, and
absolutely insist!
Anyhow, our Gal-
ley Slaves hardly
regard a new
manuscript,
though it be for a
book — even a
War book — as a
novelty in their
very busy lives.
Much less do they
ship their oars to
peruse and dis-
cuss one.
But that is ex-
actly what hap-
pened when the first form of "Soldiers of the Legion,"
Second printing — first edition having lasted not quite one
month ! — reached the lock-up room ; and we were in a
hurry for it, too. down on the presses.
An hour and a half after the final, corrected proofs
reached the stone, one of our hardened old- timers was
discovered, attentively bent over the sheets. Asked if the
"rush" form had gone downstairs, he replied, "No. I'm
going to lock it up as soon as I get done reading it." Then
he called another of our men and read to him a while !
A few days before, one of the boys came and asked if
he might have some copies of "Soldiers of the Legion" to
sell. He told us he had been setting type, nights, on this
A fter-t he-War book, which he believed people would sit
up nights to read, that he is an experienced magazine
agency manager, whom recent Government requirements
forced out of business, that the baby was sick and that his
good wife is a regular Private Secretary who can handle
the correspondence and work while he sleeps. Would we
prove that What We Want Is Orders?
We thought we Would. On investigation, we learned
that Mr. Bowe*s collaborator and representative who was
personally supervising getting out this Second Edition and
whom the day shift always left at work evenings, and
found on the job mornings, had amiably proceeded to
break about all the rules of Book-making and was actually
putting out something Different. The conservative Su-
perintendent of our Book Department declared, ''There
is a book which will attract Attention, it is so very Un-
usual that folks, when they see it, will insist on know-
ing why it's made that way.''
So, we organized a new department, the Individual
Circulation Department. If you patronize it and encour-
age us, we shall try to prevent your missing some of the
other Good Things we have to print here, now and then.
Meanwhile, do remember old Hood's sarsaparilla and be
a Loving Friend.
Somewhere between our tested and capable employees
— for we hire none other! and the several different sorts
of persons quoted in what follows, you probably will find
your own place. If not, make a place for yourself the
way the manager of our new Individual Circulation De-
partment did ; and be sure, like him, also, to tell us your
opinion of "Soldiers of the Legion." Please bring it to
the attention of your friends — and your enemies, too^ if
you have any (their appreciation of your kind thought-
fulness may fix things up and get you at least an armistice.
if not actual peace of mind). Let us know what You
think about it, at least, so we can retain your name on
our mailing list. Note, we print "Who's Who In
America" !
Oh, yes, we are Printers, you know ; not "Publishers"
yet; and, in hurrying the production of this particularly
timely volume, which is a bit ahead of the times, as you
will see, we omitted to emphasize the fact that this book,
^'Soldiers of the Legion," so ably "Trench Etched" by
Legionnaire Bowe, contains Some Pictures. You may
have noticed them — however, the real depicting of the
Great War, its Actors, its Problems, you will find in the
text itself. Here are some comments that have been
made by folk who saw the manuscript, or parts of it :
Mrs. J. M. Green, Manager Book Section, Marshall Field and
Company, Chicago:
"It is good. I did what I seldom can do — read some in it.
Those first two Historical Chapters interested me very much.
We have been selling the first edition. We shall be glad to
have the Second printing and I am glad it is necessary. You
may as well leave that Picture hanging there till after the
Holidays."
Nathaniel McCarthy, Veteran Bookseller, Minneapolis:
"It should have had a Publisher. That man's material is
solid gold but, in just having it printed, he has taken his
gold to a Blacksmith and the watch made of it probably will
not keep time. It is different from all the other more than
300 War Books. While it is crude in places, it simply had
to be. Scribner's would have been glad to put that material
out and push it from coast to coast."
John Bowe, Himself, Private **JsLck,** Soldier of The Legion,
Minnesota Mayor, Produce Commission Merchant, Farmer,
Canby, Minnesota:
"Mac, old man, that's the way I felt; how did you know?
That is quite right — that Start is a stemwinder. Can you
keep it up? It's Military, steps right along — not an unneces-
sary word! And that Ending — My God, man, ye could never
have stopped without that!"
Janet Priest, Publicity Woman Metro Picture Corporation,
New York City:
"I believe your book will go. It looks good to me. I know
a number of the men whom you describe. Anything about
them is bound to be interesting and well received. You are
darn right about the war not being over!"
Elizabeth Gordon, "The Miniature Writer/' Beloved of Kid-
dies, Chicago:
"This will sell. Too bad it did not have a Publisher — but
it is probably not too late yet. It has the merit of being
entirely Unique also, Truth. Congratulations, fellow scribbler.
I said you would do it — or, rather, that you should do it."
John T. Hoyle, formerly Chief Editorial Department Roycroft
Shops, for 10 years Literary Adviser of Elbert Hubbard.
Felix Shay admits, "When it comes to Books and the things
that are in them, John T. Hoyle has not his equal in America."
Mr. Hoyle is Instructor in Business English, and in Editorial
Studies, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh:
"Your work for John Bowe is superb. I read it all with
sympathy and intense interest."
Gratia Countnrman, Librarian Public Libraries of Minne-
apolis:
"When our Boys come home I believe they are going to
be so far ahead of us Spiritually that we shall have to hurry
to catch up with them. You are bringing out this fact with
new points which others have seemed to overlook; and you
have written beautifully. Historically, too, the work has real
value. We shall want your book here, also in our 12 branches.
There is a place for this Book."
Elizabeth Wallace, Associate Professor of French, University
of Chicago :
"I was much interested in the book. It is vivid and original.
But it seems rather loosely put together and not as well organ-
ized as it might be in order to make the most of the material.
I am frank, you see — but you asked me!"
Ruth Wickersham, Public Library, Denver, Colorado:
"Material good but rather hard to handle properly. The
story is inclined to be disconnected; but, on the whole, as good
a book of personal experiences as any I have read. Should
take well with the ordinary reader."
Mrs. J. B. Sherwood, Former Chairman Art Committee Gen-
eral Federation of Women's Clubs, President Holiday House
Association, Chicago:
"This book is very Unusual. It is True and Beautiful. In
places, it is rough; but it is going to Help — and that's the
Great thing to consider in anything we do."
Rector James E. Freeman, St. Mark's Church, Minneapolis,
Personal Representative of Secretary of War Newton D.
Baker at United States Cantonments :
"I have read with interest your manuscript. You have
written exceedingly well. The underlying sentiment of all
that you have written is altogether good. I think I like par-
ticularly your introduction, for here you have crisp, epigram-
matic sentences."
' Kenneth M. Bradley, President Bush .Conservatory, Chicago:
"I am glad your work has Historical values which make
it deserve to live — thefe have been many of the other kind. It
clearly suggests my own definition of Religion, 'That which
sustains me when I can't depend on myself.' "
Rev, Frederick W. Oakes, B. t). Chairman and Vice-President
The Oakes Home Association, Church Home for Sick Stran-
gers, Denver, Colorado:
"You were kind and courteous to send me the enclosed
pages of strong and pure — Christian philosophy. I have read
them with inspiration. I can but say Dr. Freeman did well
indeed when he caused you to turn up your lamp. And such
words cannot fail to give light to a very great number of peo-
ple with great encouragement. Do not expect everyone to
enter into their full meaning — Only those who have caught the
Greater Truth can you expect to see and understand. *God is
in His world* is the saying many hear and leave it there. Of
course, He is in His world; but it will make but little difference
to us unless we find out why He is in His world. He is in His
s world, I take it, to help man, every man, to his Divine Right.
First came The Divine Right of Popes,— Abused, then the
Divine Right of Kings, and now the greatest Of unfolding
of God's truths — The Divine Right of Man. I pray we may
all see it, and appreciate the wonderful truth in its clearer
sense and light, as it is being worked out by so many of those
who have gone forth to the call of Country — Yes, the call of
the World's great privileges.
You may do more to help than you know by thus following
the cue Mr. Freeman has given you, but which really came
from God."
John Bov^e and his Collaborator — who says he's "de
guy what put the labor in col/a^orator !" are like the Sol-
diers they portray in that they believe in changing "im-
possible" to rm possible. It is a big job they're on, mar-
keting an unadvertised, unpublished — just a printed —
Book, against formidable obstacles; but we believe you
will be glad if you assist us in helping them get it across.
Send us *orders for ''Soldiers of the Legion/' Get it
into your Public and School Libraries. Mention it to
your Bookseller.
PETERSON LINOTYPING CO.,
523-537 Plymouth Court, Chicago.
* Orders (singular fact, perhaps, but more than One order — and we are
as much surprised as you may be) have already begun to come in from
Boston. We'll say, Boston people have Some BEANS.
sf*/
AUG 18 1930