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diff --git a/old/54057-0.txt b/old/54057-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3bb2652..0000000 --- a/old/54057-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5951 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Soldiers of the Legion, by John Bowe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Soldiers of the Legion - Trench-Etched - -Author: John Bowe - -Release Date: January 27, 2017 [EBook #54057] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, Brian Coe and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -Photographs have been moved to fall on paragraph breaks. - -The few footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they -are referenced. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of issues encountered during its preparation. - -[Illustration: - - LEGIONNAIRE BOWE - - This matricule (aluminum wrist-tag) is No. 11,436—Foreign Legion. - 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 - - BY - - LEGIONNAIRE BOWE - - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - - - - PRESS OF - PETERSON LINOTYPING CO. - CHICAGO, 1918 - - - - - - - - - COPYRIGHTED, 1918, BY - JOHN BOWE - - - - - - - - - THIS AMERICAN CITIZEN’S BOOK IS - AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED - TO HIS 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 responded to the news that I had -joined the Foreign Legion, for an explanation. She said: - -“In the early days of the war, when the Germans 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 sympathy for our misfortunes.” - -“But,” she continued, “the same ship that took these people away brought -us other Americans. Strong and vigorous, they did not remain 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 Americans than is their cafed, -boulevarded, liqueured-up artificial, gay night-life Paris—the only -Paris they know (specially arranged and operated, by other foreigners, -for their particular delectation and benefit!)—the real Paris. - -Such Americans, whose self-centered world stands still when their checks -are but unhonored scraps of paper, the light of whose eyes fades if -their personal baggage is gone, with just one idea of “service”—that -fussy, obsequious 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 angels’ white, men and women -of scant impedimenta, 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 Americans think, shoot and -shout, Pershing for the perishing, “the Yanks are coming over till it’s -over, over there!” - - 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 glamour, 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. -Cosmopolitan, born on the Scotch-English border, 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 recuperated 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 villages of France whose -Names he did not know—nor could he have pronounced them if he did. -Indian file, in black night, he has tramped hundreds of miles of -Trenches, which he could not have recognized in the morning. -He has endured twenty days and nights of continuous cannonade. -Experiencing every sort of military warfare on land, he has also - survived a -Collision at sea. -He has been Mayor of his own 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, international composite of -Individual fearlessness, the Foreign Legion. -“Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass, -And the wildest tales are true.” - - CHARLES L. MacGREGOR, - Collaborator. - - CONTENTS - - PAGE - Dedication 5 - Introductory 7 - Foreword 11 - - CHAPTER - I Joining the Legion 17 - II History of the Legion 27 - III Americans in the Legion 38 - IV First American Flag in France 92 - V Foreigners in the Legion 97 - VI Englishmen and Russians Leave 109 - VII Trenches 114 - VIII July 4th, 1915 121 - IX Outpost Life 130 - X Champagne Attack 146 - XI Life in Death 159 - XII The 170th French Regiment 162 - XIII The 163rd and 92nd Regiments 166 - XIV Hospital Life 169 - XV An Incident 177 - XVI Nature’s First Law 186 - XVII The Invaded Country 199 - XVIII Love and War 208 - XIX Democracy 225 - XX Autocracy 233 - XXI Their Crimes 245 - L’Envoi 259 - - =Alone= - =They Went Before= - - ------- - -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 they have -not suffered in vain—and are not forgotten. - - - - - Soldiers of the Legion - - - - - CHAPTER I - JOINING THE 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 home and refuge for his worn-out veterans. The well-known -statue of the Man of Destiny, with three cornered hat and folded arms, -gazed broodingly 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 photograph of -Dr. O. P. Ludwig, formerly of Winona, now of Frazee, Minnesota. - -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 develop, -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 man 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. A few -minutes later, I was giving the latest American news to Professor -Orlinger, formerly instructor in languages at Columbia 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, or 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 millionaire with -his wealth, or the aristocrat of birth and pedigree, has no more -privilege than the poorest Legionnaire, who has not any. - -[Illustration: - - OLD TIME LEGIONNAIRES - - ALEXANDRE FRANCOIS CHAS. BLOMME - Switzerland Belgium - - Comrades in 27 campaigns. Photograph taken in hospital. One left a - leg, the other an arm, to fertilize the soil of France. Francois has - four decorations, Blomme has six. He carries the gold medal - presented by Queen Anne of Russia in his pocket and fought for - France and Liberty for one cent. per day. -] - -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 channels 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. - -[Illustration: - - VOLUNTEER - - JAN DER TEX BONDT - - From Holland. Man of birth, wealth and title in his own country. In - the Legion a private soldier. Photograph taken the day he enlisted. - Seriously wounded, was cared for in the American Hospital at - Neuilly. Reported dead on the field. On his return to headquarters - had to prove his own identity—and he had no papers. Someone stole - them as he lay wounded, unable to move. -] - -The Legion is a shifting panorama, international debating ground, -continuous entertainment, inspiriting school of practical human nature. -The Legionnaire lives in realms of romance, 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 sheltered corner by a -flickering camp fire, in the gathering darkness, not hearing the ever -present cannon’s roar, nor watching the illumination of the distant -star-shells, while Legionnaires and volunteers tell of the Boer, -Philippine, Mexican, Spanish wars, the South American revolutions, or -describe conditions on the Belgian Congo and in Morocco. Comrades in the -flesh recount deeds with the thrill of rollicking adventure. The -listener gets a grasp on himself, and learns world problems. He becomes -a divided person, one half living an unnatural present, the other -absorbed in the excitement of yesteryear. - -Social life is that of the ancient buccaneer of the Spanish Main. Here -the Legionnaire finds a kindred spirit, who shares his joys and dangers -when alive, and inherits his wealth (?) when dead. Each shields the -other in the small incidents of life. In larger affairs all are secure -in the sheltering, comfortable traditions of the Legion, which, -insisting on strictest obedience, provide, in return, unflinching common -protection. Never is a comrade deserted, 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 his eligibility. He is taken at -his face value—“No questions asked.” He does not impair his citizenship. -He does not swear French allegiance. He retains his own individuality. -No one pries into his private affairs. His troubles are his. He carries -them, also his fame, without advertising. 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 weaklings. Invariably they are used up in the training. 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 emulation, between officers and men—a -mutual respect, 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 of their leaders, French officers are -equally complimentary in their appreciation, which the following -citation from General Degoutte, Commander of the Moroccan Division, -shows,—“The folds of your banner are not large enough to write your -titles of 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 wages of one cent per day. After two years the -pay was raised to five cents, subsequently, 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 underdogs, -who are sweating their brass collars. Some fight for hatred of Germany -and of the 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 Washington to -dispatch 5,000 red-breeched Frenchmen, who marched from Newport News to -join 1,500 American infantry under Alexander Hamilton. They captured -Yorktown and compelled the surrender of Cornwallis and gained 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 France from invasion even as France -saved us. - - - - - 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 civilization. On the result of this -clash with the barbarous Hun depends the preservation of the 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, lie the remains of Philip D’Aubigne, a French knight, who -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 people of all earth’s free countries. - -Among ancient soldiers of the Foreign Legion were Broglie of Broglie, -Rantzan, Lowendall, 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 Legionnaires, were respected, even by their enemies, the -Revolutionists, who, April 20, 1792, appealed to them to “desert the -cause of Royal oppression, range themselves under the flag of France, -and consecrate their efforts to the defense of liberty.” They responded, -gathered under the tri-color, and, in 1795, commanded by Angereau, -Marshal of France, one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s most trusted generals, -won such renown that companies—frequently whole regiments 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 -return 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 created the Royal Foreign Legion -which later became merged into the 86th Regiment of the Line. - -May 9th, 1831, the French Chamber of Deputies decreed the Foreign Legion -should not be employed on the soil of France, so the Regiment was sent -to Africa, with headquarters at Sidi-bel-Abee’s, Algeria. - -In 1842 Patrick MacMahon, a descendant of Irish kings, was lieutenant -colonel of the Foreign 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 commander, 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 evacuation -of Sebastopol followed. In 1859, he defeated the Austrians at Magenta. -He was given the title of Duke of Magenta, and rewarded 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. - -They participated in the Mexican War, in 1861, and in the Franco-German -War of 1870, after the fall of Sedan, and the capture of Napoleon 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, demanding an apology from France; but the -response of M. Clemenceau, who stood firm, was so direct 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 provoke a holy war among the Mohammedans, relying on -his personal friendship with his master, the Kaiser, laughed when the -French commander told him he would be shot in an hour. “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 German Regiment used abusive -language and insulted the French flag, while warning the Alsatian -conscripts against listening to French agents, who the Germans claimed -were inducing 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 other prominent citizens; who in response -to 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. - -This brutal act resulted in the officer being again court-martialed for -wounding an unarmed civilian. Sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, said -sentence was annulled by a higher court, who claimed that he acted in -“supposed self defense.” - -The demand for justice caused by the injustice of the decision was so -loud and threatening that the Reichstag was compelled to investigate the -matter. For the first time in the German 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 refusal of the Social Democrats in the Reichstag to -stand up and cheer the Kaiser, was one of the determining factors that -helped bring on the war. - - -In the spring of 1915 the Foreign Legion in Europe consisted of four -regiments. In November, the small nucleus gathered about the 1st -Regiment was all that remained of those splendid men. - -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 into the -1st Regiment. - -The 3rd Regiment, officered by Parisian firemen, had a very brief and -sanguinary existence, and later were merged into the 1st Regiment. - -The 4th Regiment, the Garibaldeans, 4,000 strong, after a famous bayonet -attack in Argonne, captured three lines of trenches, losing half their -effectives, including the two Garibaldi brothers, Bruno and Peppino. The -survivors went to Italy to aid their own country, upon her entry into -the war. - -Many English, Russians, Italians, Belgians went home during that summer. -When Legionnaires 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 through, is -it any wonder they were scattered? Killed, missing, the hillsides were -dotted with their graves; their wounded were in every hospital. - -During this last generation, the Foreign Legion made history in the -sand-swept plains of the Sahara and in the spice-laden Isle of -Madagascar. They marched to Peking during the Boxer troubles; fought -against the pig-tails in Indo-China, and the women warriors of Dahomey. -They have been in every general attack 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 personage. His comrades have suffered 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 Foreign 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 decoration is the 152nd, -which has been cited four times. The Legion now stands cited five times -in the orders of the day.[A] - ------ - -Footnote A: - - July, 1918. The Legion has again been decorated, this time with the - Legion of Honor. - ------ - -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 chief’s being -mortally wounded, accomplished their advance march by the orders of Col. -Deville under a continuous bombardment, night and day, fighting, man to -man, for five uninterrupted days, and, regardless of heavy losses and -the difficulty of obtaining ammunition and supplies, 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, September 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 Legion, 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 comrades behind. - -The Germans promised no mercy. The Legion adopted the motto: “Without -fear and without pity,” and on the flag is written, “Valor and -Discipline.” The march of the Foreign Legion, roughly interpreted, -reads: - - 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. - -[Illustration: FOURAGERE OF THE FOREIGN LEGION] - -In Artois, after the Legion attacked and captured three lines of German -trenches, in 1915, 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?” - - - - - CHAPTER III - AMERICANS IN THE LEGION - - -The world’s one organization which, for a century, has offered refuge to -any man, no matter 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 names 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 excelled in, it was disobedience. Independence and servility -do not go hand-in-hand. He considered himself just as good as anyone -placed in authority over him. He knew that he must 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 convictions. His -conscience had demanded that he put himself on the side of Right. Always -courteous to strangers, Americans would dispute 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. - -A corporal, who, for obvious reasons, 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 -continued, “one night I heard an awful noise down the trench;—it was -bitter cold and sound traveled 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 -chattering teeth, till he wore a hole through the snow to solid footing. -Every time he jumped, his loaded rifle hit the ground. - -“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, between -the lines, others would get all shot up and never come back. The -Americans always got there; always returned; if shot up, they 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, extending his finger with the diamond on would say,—“These are the -Americans, mon General.” - -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 soldiers 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 exhibition got their goat. - -However, each man carved out his own particular block and put his mark -thereon. Strong characters, they cannot be passed over living, or -forgotten dead. M. Viviani said, at Washington:—“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.” - -[Illustration: - - EIGHT AMERICANS OF THE LEGION - (Taken on the Summit of Ballon d’Alsace, August, 1915) - - Left to right—Zinn, wounded; Seeger, killed; Narutz, killed; Bowe, - wounded; Bouligny, wounded three times; Dowd, killed; Scanlon, - wounded; Nilson, killed. -] - -=Denis 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 different days—again met in same hospital. While in -hospital, he received a package from the ladies of the American Church -of the Rue de Berri, Paris, in which was a letter. This was followed by -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 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 connected with -cement products interests in England and America, 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 himself on the side of Human -Liberty, as the son, later, put in his fortune and health for -International freedom. He went from Alaska to France. He rose to be -sergeant in the Foreign 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. Casey=, 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 on 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 on U. S. -battleship Dakota, now acts as an Irish battleship ashore and throws -grenades on the dry land Boche, whenever an opportunity occurs,—of a -happy, devil-may-care disposition, all work is a lark to him, while -growling and his temperament are total strangers. Twice wounded, the -last time I saw him was in hospital at Lyons, where he was waiting till -a shell splinter could be extracted. He had already decided that he -would go direct to the front instead of to the regimental depot on -recovery. He was decorated for bravery at Chalons, July 14, 1917. Was -later transferred to the American 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 Aviation in the early part of 1915. -It was announced in “La France,” Bordeaux, September 2, 1917, that he -was taken prisoner by the Boche. When his machine broke, he fell inside -the German lines. He was taken before a court martial, 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 over two years -old. - -=Bob Scanlon=, professional boxer, soldier of the Legion, kept having -narrow escapes from death so often that he became 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, in September, 1917, in Bordeaux, coming back to -his old gait, he gave a boxing exhibition with Lurline, the French -Champion. - -=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 of 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 attack in Champagne, in 1915. 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 longevity, having been through the -successive attacks of the two regiments volonté, 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. - -=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 because the Legionnaires -caught a pet cat, skinned it and 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 furlough in -America, he had forty-two cents. He stowed away on a Trans-Atlantic -steamer to New York, where the authorities claimed, he was not an -American. If he had declared his intention to be an American, he had -lost the evidence of it. So they locked him up two days at Ellis Island. - -When in hospital one night, he stole out to see his girl, caught, and -standing 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 Legionnaire can do!” 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 Peixotto=, 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 artillery. Now, instead of making life-like -figures, he makes figures lifeless! - -=Bullard.= After the Champagne attack, in 1915, was changed from the -Legion to the 170th, 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 beginning of the war,—member of the Foreign Legion, took part in -battle of the Aisne, in 1914, and the attack in Champagne, in -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 Chatcoff=, 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 permission 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?” - -“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 confession, or had said their -prayers, then turn a double somersault, finish with an Egyptian side -wiggle and land his victims, 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 he went to Norway, when he -organized and brought back a detachment of Norwegian Ski-runners, who -hauled provisions 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. - -=Barriere= 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. - -=John Laurent=, a quiet, gentlemanly man, was in the Legion till October -12th, 1915, when he changed into the 170th. An actor in civil life, he -became a real, living actor in the most stupendous drama 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 was 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 Campaigne -affairs with the Foreign Legion. He was wounded in Champagne September -25, 1915. Afterwards he 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 S. 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’Connel’s coffin—the Stars and Stripes, and the -Tri-color, to the latter’s home at Carthage, Mo. - -=Mouvet=, San Francisco, Cal., brother of M. Maurice and Florence -Walton, the dancers, joined the Legion, August, 1915. He was wounded, -also, decorated with the Croix de Guerre, July 4, 1916. He served five -months in the Aviation, then returned to the Legion; and in December, -1917, was again seriously wounded. - -=Prof. 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 General 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. 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, he was buried at Salonica. - -=Frank Musgrave=, San Antonio lawyer, a long-limbed raw-boned Texan, not -only looks the part but acts it. 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 -in the spring of 1916 by the Boche, during an attack. He is now a -prisoner in Germany. - -=Frank J. Baylies=, New Bedford, Mass., drove ambulance in Serbia in -1916. Went into the French Aviation. At Lufberry’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 Boche machines, was -promoted to lieutenant, and decorated with the Legion of Honor. - -=David E. Putnam=,[B] Brookline, Mass. 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. - ------ - -Footnote B: - - Descendent of General Israel Putnam. Killed in combat Sept. 18, 1918. - ------ - -=Paul Ingmer=, New York City. American of - -Danish extraction, 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. - -=Cyrus Chamberlain=, Minneapolis, Minn. Killed in combat while he and a -Frenchman were fighting twelve German aviators. Odds 6 to 1. 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. Friends -interceded, and he was ordered to report at the Bureau 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 him being catalogued with the U. S. Army. Provost -Marshal receipted for him like 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 Vilers-Bretioneaus combat, withstood -effectively with his automatic 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 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. This company, the 8th of the 6th Regt. -of the Line, while defending 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 French lines. - -=R. Hard=, Rosebank, Staten Island, New York, having only one eye, went -into the gas manufacturing works, and commenced 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 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, Cal., a professional boxer, left -the Golden West with $6,000 in his pocket and an elaborate 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?” “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 second 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?” - -“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: “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 for 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 ambulance. He found -it too slow for a live man, so he joined the Foreign Legion. He was -decorated with the Croix de Guerre, with palm. He was a splendid fellow, -good soldier and a gentleman. He was three times wounded. The last time -he dropped 600 feet, breaking an ankle and seriously disfiguring his -face. He passed his convalescence in America, November, 1917. - -=Dr. Julian A. Gehrung=, of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, offered -his services to the then personally conducted 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 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, in July, 1916. He was killed 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 “Kamrad,” Paul started to run to the next dugout, when the -German grabbed a rifle and shot him in the back through the heart. -Barry and other Americans paid special attention to that prisoner. -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 member 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 Belgian descent, -three times wounded, was decorated while in the 246th Regiment 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. - -=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 decorated with the Croix de Guerre, with the -following brilliant citation: “A grenadier of remarkable courage, -wounded April 20th, 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 at Atlanta, Georgia. 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 bayonet attack at Arras, June, 1915. He helped to -form the Franco-American Escadrille. He was killed at Rodern, in -captured 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 Loscieul, Vosges. Asked why he entered the Legion, -he said: “I came to pay the debt we owe, to Lafayette, to Rochambeau.” - -=Paul Rockwell=, brother of Kiffin, also spent the first winter 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 Mlle. Jeanne -Leygenes, whose 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 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.” - -=Chas. 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 liking 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 something for -the boys.” He opened his vest and handed over three 1,000 franc notes. - -=Maurice Davis=, of Brooklyn, New York, rose to the rank of lieutenant -and was killed in action. - -=Harold Buckley Willis= was reported killed September 3, 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. - -=Rouel Lufbury=, Wallingford, Conn., Foreign Legion, changed to -Aviation, a real cosmopolitan American, for fifteen years roamed the two -hemispheres. Now, crippled by rheumatism, he rides his aerial carriage -and kills 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 Lufbury’s boot. He traveled in Turkey, -Japan, China, Africa and South America October 12, 1916, the day Norman -Prince was mortally wounded, Lufbury got his fifth Boche machine. By -December, 1917, he had brought down, officially, eighteen. He is the -first American to be awarded the gold medal of the Aero Club of France. -He is also decorated with the Croix de Guerre with six palms; and is a -chevalier of the Legion of Honor. In the spring of 1918, he was -transferred and promoted major in the American Army, and when engaged in -battle, a bullet from the enemy punctured the gasoline tank, and 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, and lying in -hospital when America entered the war. The wound not healing quickly, he -objected to hospital life, because: “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 -knapsack en route, who tented alone, who never bent the body or dodged a -bullet, who was supposed killed at the Bois Sabot, but who 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 machine gun -bullet in the attack on Balloy-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 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. Acting 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 sergeant, 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 his 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 machine, April 28, -1917. - -=Ronald Wood Hoskier=, South Orange, New Jersey, a Harvard graduate, -Aviator. His father is also in France in Red Cross work. - -Hoskier fell while he and his companion were fighting six Boche -machines. He and two Boche fell among the advancing English troops and -were all killed, April 24, 1917. - -Cited in General Orders of the French Army: “Sergeant 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 lecturing mission. - -=Victor Chapman=, son of John Jay Chapman, was one of the splendid -fellows that it was a pleasure to meet and never 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 cementing 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 lieutenant and returned to America. - -=John Huffer=, an American of the Legion, was decorated with the -Medaille Militaire, and the Croix de Guerre, with five citations, four -being palms. - -=Bennet Moulter=, an American, went from Mexico to France, changed his -animosity from Caranza 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 September, 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. - -=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 American 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, Legionnaires -looking after their own, and ready to pick up any straggling food. Dead -horses and men lay alongside, a German captured cannon pointed to the -rear was near-by, surrounded by broken cassions 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. - -=Alan Seeger=, a Harvard graduate, killed in bayonet attack, 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 flow 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 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, - 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 Givenchy, 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 Huffert=, 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. - -=John Roxas=, Manila, Philippine Islands, son of the largest land owner -in the Philippines, having absorbed American freedom, he is carrying it -to Germany. - -=William E. Dugan=, 27 years old, Rochester, New York, graduate of -Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joined the Legion, Sept. 19, -1914, changed to aviation, October 15, 1915. Decorated 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 -showing energy and coolness, especially on Feb. 8, 1917, in course of an -engagement with a German machine, his aeroplane 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 in July, 1916. - -=Norman Prince=, Boston, Mass., a Harvard man of splendid character, was -descending in the early darkness at Corceuix, 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 -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 bombardment, -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 October 15, 1916. - -=Fred Prince=, brother of Norman, is now in the aviation, while the -father, Mr. Prince, is one of the best friends of the Foreign Legion -boys, and they, like France, do not forget. - -=Dr. Van Vorst=, from the middle west, a Spanish War veteran in America, -adjutant in the Foreign Legion. He introduced new sanitary ideas into -the camps of repose and kept the stretcher bearers busy cleaning up. - -=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 observe 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 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 grenadiers, was cited -in the Orders of the Day and decorated for conspicuous gallantry at -Auberieve, 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 Cedarhurst, L. I. - -First American to receive the Medaille Militaire. - -=Citation=:—“Cowdin, Sergeant, Pilot in Squadron V. B. 108, an American -citizen engaged for the duration of the war; executes 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 automobile -driver, having competed with Barney Oldfield. On Dec. 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, was 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 again for more. - -=Edward Charles Genet=, Sassening, New York, killed in aeroplane near -Ham, is buried at Golancourt in a German cemetery. The machine was -smashed, the body placed in a wagon, drawn by one horse, which also -carried the wooden cross which marked the grave and the U. S. flag which -covered the coffin. - -=F. W. Zinn=, Battle Creek, Michigan, graduate of University of -Michigan, passed the first year in the Legion, was hit by a chunk of -metal in Champagne attack, September 1915, which did not break the skin, -but broke bones and made internal 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 I.” - -=Harman Edwin Hall=, killed at Givenchy, June 17, 1917. - -=W. R. Hall, or Bert Hall=, one of old Legion, who went into the -Aviation, well-known, well-liked, good soldier, decorated with the Croix -de Guerre with three citations. On furlough in America June, 1918. -Author of “En l’Air.” - -=James Norman Hall=, Corporal, Colfax, Iowa, aviator, author of -“Kichinger’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 Fike=, Wooster, Ohio, Foreign Legion, killed at Givenchy, -June 17, 1915. - -=James B. McConnell=, 28 years of age, born in Chicago, graduate of -Haverford, Pennsylvania, and University of Virginia, 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 de 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 -marked propeller from this wrecked machine, which formerly marked his -grave, has now been superseded 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. - -=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 the hospital in the Ave. du Bois du Bologne with 300 -beds. 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 de Guerre, wounded at Verdun. - -=Edward Mandell Stone=, a Harvard graduate, was the first American -volunteer killed in France. - -=N. Frank 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, decorated with the Croix de Guerre, -the Medaille Militaire and a wooden leg. - -=Frank Whitmore=, Richmond, Va., decorated for conspicuous 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 -aggressive character, he is one man who will always be remembered by -Americans in the Legion. - -=H. W. Farnsworth=, Harvard graduate, Boston, Mass., killed in attack -1915, was a correspondent of the Providence 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 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 battle ship Cassard. After his -honorable 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 German prison camp. He has written a book, -“Gunner Depew”; and is at present on a speechmaking tour of America. - -=Demetire=, St. Louis, Mo., soldier of the Legion, killed four -Germans,—two with grenades, two with rifle, in an outpost engagement the -night previous to 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 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. Champollion=, 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 Champollion, who deciphered the Rosetta -Stone, and grandson of Austin Carbin. His ancestors had followed -Napoleon’s Eagles through Italy and Egypt 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 -bravery 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 Regiment, wounded on the Marne, Sept. -7, 1914;—in Argonne, Dec. 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, Chapman, 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 became the start, or foundation, of that immense -fleet of aeroplanes that is to furnish the eyes that will find the weak -places in the enemy’s line through which the Allies will 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, but these -aviators did not change their emblem. The Red Indian sign is still on -the machines. The old boys from the Legion are in the seats, and we hope -to see every man an officer, dressed in the uniform of his own country. - -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 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 -voluntarily, 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 forgotten? - -“The two aviators, Genet and Hoskier, who have died since April 3, were -in French uniform. Frenchmen respect them; do not Americans? - - A French Mother.” - - -The Continental edition of the New York Herald is not a mail order -catalogue, or a political 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 cutting criticism of its own policy -with the greatest of pleasure. It prints every appeal for charity—from -humans to cats. - -It fought for International Honesty, when leaders and trimmers were -silent. When the leaders woke up, it pushed. Its accurate information, -often suppressed by the censor, makes every blank space an honor mark. -While the editor, like the petite Parisienne, whose demure 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 strengthened his -convictions. He felt better for knowing 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 cheerfully. He knew he was following the -right path and he was not alone. The Herald gave him comfort. It -sustained him in adversity. - - - - - 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 to eternity. Missing they disappeared 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 mobilization of foreigners, who, in admiration for France, -placed their lives at her disposal. Grouped together, each under a -separate standard, these cast the vote of inspiring constituents, lovers -of freedom, back home. - -Next day, the American volunteers assembled at No. 11 Rue de Valois, and -had breakfast through the courtesy of M. Georges Casmeze at the Café 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 -Revolution, these latter day revolters against the “Divine Right of -Kings” and absolute monarchism began the greatest venture the world has -ever known. - -The volunteers marched through the Place de l’Opera, Phelizot carrying -high and proudly the Stars and Stripes, which received a great ovation -en route. Thence to the Gare St. Lazare, to Rouen, where they met -retreating English soldiers, many wounded and utterly exhausted. 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 misunderstandings, which, in spite of official -far-sightedness, occasionally happen in the best regulated -organizations. Begun in fun, it ended in 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 little 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. -Phelizot, coming on the scene just then, overhearing 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 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, Capdeville and other volunteers ran to Phelizot’s aid. -Legionnaires flocked from all corners. A pitched battle seemed imminent. -An officer heard the tumult, happening along, and separated them. The -Arabs were transferred to another battalion. The Americans were herded -into a loft, and placed under arrest; 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 canteen. At -any rate, he did not give an anti-tetanic injection. The injured man -steadily grew worse. He was not a squealer, and insisted on marching in -line till the pain became unbearable. When too late, his condition was -discovered. 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 consignment 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 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 beautiful place in the Hall of Honor in the Museum of the -Army.” - -[Illustration: - - United States Army - INDIVIDUAL SERVICE - MEDAL - Spanish-American War - 1898 -] - -[Illustration: - - United States Army - INDIVIDUAL SERVICE - MEDAL - Philippine Insurrection - 1899 -] - - - - - CHAPTER V - FOREIGNERS IN THE LEGION - - -Within this present generation, men like Lord Kitchener, King Peter of -Serbia, Vernof, 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. This chapter presents some illustrious foreigners who -have served during the present war. - -=Nagar Aza=, son of the Persian minister to France, decorated for -bravery and three times cited in Army Orders, again cited and decorated -for brilliant conduct at Auberieve, April 17, 1917. - -=Edwin Bucher=, a Swiss sculptor, pupil of Roden and Bourdelle, has -marked the resting places of the Foreign Legion by carving exquisite -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. - -=M. Lobedef=, a Russian, promoted to lieutenant in 1915. He later -returned to Russia and became Minister of Marine. - -=Abel Djebelis=, a Maltese, winner of the Marathon race between Windsor -and London, England, June, 1914. He was wounded at Champagne 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 Legion of Honor. He returned home and was arrested in -Athens for participating in the street riots of December, 1916. - -=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. - -=Bruno and Peppino 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 Legionnaire, 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 burlesqued the -military system of the Legion so accurately that the sous-officers -managed to keep him in prison in order to silence his cutting 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, like a blaze of glory, between -two French military policemen. He was dressed in English khaki—clothes, -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 in London, who had equipped -himself, and arrived 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 headquarters?” - -“How can I report myself, till I can find the place to report?” - -“Why don’t you report to your superior officer?” - -“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 out, in disgust,—“Here, sergeant, take this fool to -prison.” - -=De Chamer=, Swiss, a major in the Swiss National Army, fought his way -up in the Legion from a private to a captaincy. The Swiss residents 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 University, England, outspoken, -independent and intelligent—a good comrade, was killed on the Somme, -July, 1916. - -=Ben Azef=, 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 on the trench and rail at the -Germans for their swinish propensities and ruthless rapacity. - -A shell dropped into his section. His comrades threw themselves on the -ground and yelled out:— - -“Get down, you, blamed fool, you’ll get killed!” - -Ben Azef stood majestically erect, gazed calmly and contemplatively at -the shell (fortunately it was a dud—one which fails to explode) 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. - -=Ch. A. Hochedlinger=, an educated Polish gentleman, 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. - -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 returned to England and was -reinstated in his former rank. - -=Said Mousseine= and his two brothers, sons of Sultan Ali 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 to corporal and transferred -to the 22nd Colonials. - -=Augustus St. Gaudens=, 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 advance of the -army. - -=Varma=,[C] a Hindoo, black whiskered, silent. Let those speculate about -him who would, let them glean what information they could. - ------ - -Footnote C: - - In Aug., 1918, a man same name, same type, was arrested in Paris by - the gendarmes for making and selling bogus diamonds. - ------ - -=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 serious|y 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 character, a splendid specimen of -manhood, brave 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 single 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 -missing. Four hours later, he reported 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. - -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 about -the Legion, it would make your hair stand on end!’” - -=Sorenson=, a Dane, from Schleswig-Holstein, formerly a policeman at St. -Thomas, Danish 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 loose earth and freed himself, I -listened to him as in broken 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 Station. 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 energetic -character and a valuable member of the machine gun section. - -In 1915, after taking several lessons in tactics, 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 Ambassador explained to Guimeau the -benefits of changing armies. After listening to the finish he -said,—“Will you repeat that in French? I did not understand a word you -said.” Knowing 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 Legionnaire, 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 Commissioner of Police at Brazzarville. - -=Etchevarry=, a French convict, escaped from French Guiana, made his way -to the United States and returned to France, under an assumed 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. Measures were taken in his behalf by the Society of -the Rights of Men, in response to whose appeal President Poincaré 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 decorated for -bravery at Verdun, with the following 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 conquest of a trench, -which was defended with energy, and which was captured along a distance -of 1,500 yards, after several hours of bloody combat;—took single -handed, numerous prisoners;—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 famous 19th Army -Corps. He received the Croix de Guerre for bravery, and at Douaumont, -Oct. 4, 1915, the Legion of Honor for personally finishing off 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 fouragere 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 arrested him -as the world’s greatest fakir, declared he had lost the arm and leg in a -railroad accident and that five imprisonments instead of five citations -composed his record. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - ENGLISHMEN AND RUSSIANS LEAVE - - -About 350 Englishmen were with the Americans in the same Battalion of -the 2nd Legion. They had enlisted when the Huns were advancing 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 patriotism -and money.” He overlooked the foundation of both—MEN, the Englishman who -dares to do and does it. He knows his rights, and insists on them. - -After the Germans were driven back at the Marne and trench conditions -established, these men demanded to be sent home to fight for their -native land. They went to the Captain, 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 results. -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. - -“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 yesterday.” - -“Yes, but we ate that yesterday.” - -“Well, I am sorry. That is the regular rations of the French Army. I -cannot change it.” - -Walking away, disgruntled, a cockney muttered 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, -two powerful silent fellows, who were in hospital, 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 brothers with half -the detachment went out to investigate. The other stayed at work. A -German shell dropped into the emplacement and killed, or knocked -senseless, every man. Red Cross workers, who gathered together the -mutilated and the shell-shocked Darcy, were startled 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. - - -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 absolutely 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 return to their native land. - -Possibly, the negotiations had been completed, perhaps not. Perhaps the -Colonel was 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 refusing 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 Merfy, blindfolded—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 us also—we are not afraid to die.” They were not killed -but were court-martialed and sentenced 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 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 sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude. - -There were many Russians. They showed no disposition to yield. The load -was getting too heavy,—even for the broad shoulders 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 to life. - -Inside of one month, Battalion F of the 2nd Legion, to which the unhappy -men belonged, was merged into others. In two months, the Russians were -transferred to the Russian Army. Four months later, the Regiment had -ceased to exist. - - - - - 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 (raking lengthwise) fire. Here only -are narrowness and crookedness virtues. - -Each trench is embellished with channels, mines, saps, tunnels, -subterranean passages, and bomb proof structures of various sorts. Out -in front, are from ten to fifty yards of barbed wire entanglements, -through which a Jack rabbit 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 -observations 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 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 75’s and field artillery. About the third line, with the reserves, -stand heavy artillery. So, when one side attacks the other, 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 understand 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 trench opposite, and walked away. The post -was well protected by sandbags and solid timbers overhead, with an -observation hole, one inch deep by three inches wide, cut into armor -plate, in front. The usual, intermittent warfare was in progress, and it -suddenly developed into a battle. The post was out on an angle. Rifle -clashes were all about. No one was near in the open trench. So, getting -uneasy, 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 sheltered post was better than the open trench, then -glued my eye on the 1 × 3 observation hole. Yes, no doubt, the Germans -were advancing in 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 attention. 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 bath-robe, tassels hanging down in front, shoes unlaced, -rifle in hand, ruefully gazing at a new stack of sandbags, 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 acting, 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 -feelings or soothed the senses. Darkness and grotesque shadows, -intermingled with colored illumination, scattering streams of golden -hail, followed by red flame and acolytes, while sharp, white streaks of -cannon fire winked, blinked, and were lost in the never-ending din. -Between the occasional 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 cheapskate -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 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 handkerchief. Here I have taken five or six pair of -Russian socks from it, and bandaged up 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 American -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, 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-kilometer 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 lieutenant 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! - - - - - 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 Brooklyn 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 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 granted ten days every four months. - -[Illustration] - -Evening of July 3d 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 not expect any. - -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 captain and was told we had forty-eight hours permission; to pack up -at once and go. - -We walked through the communication trenches to battalion headquarters -among falling 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 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: “It’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 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, leaving 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 working. I drew eight days for trying to be reasonable. 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 devil are you fellows going? -Come up and have a cup of coffee.” It was Tony Pollet, of Corona, New -York.[D] - ------ - -Footnote D: - - 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 out, “Pollet?—that’s me!” - ------ - -In the early morning we walked fifteen kilometers to the railroad and -waited for the other Americans to arrive. Capdeville 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 Delpeshe: “You do that again and I will turn you -over to the gendarmes.” Delpesche replied: “Who in hell are you? I am -taking no orders from you. I belong to Sergeant Sweeney’s section!” - -Soubiron had the time of his life. He rode down on the foot-board of the -coach. He was 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 permissionaires; 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 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 underclothes—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 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?’ - -“‘I 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 appetite 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 looked very nice and clean but did not recognize 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.” - -=Capdeville=: “What do you think I am carrying this American flag for? -Of course, I am going to use it.” - -=Delpesche=: “What are all you fellows carrying 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. Occasionally new blue uniforms were sent -to the front, which, wet a couple of times—the new dyes not -holding—quickly become drab. Torn clothes, ripped, crawling through -barbed wire, are held together by finer wires. New York Heralds and -Daily Mails wrapped around socks to help keep in the heat, warm not -alone the cockles of the heart, but the soles of the feet. No smoking -cook-kitchen, with steaming kettles filled with tasty food followed our -ranks on march. Soup dishes and kettles are carried on knapsack, as in -the days of Napoleon. At the end of a long march, at bivouac time, if -the commissary has not made connection weary soldiers throw their -kettles away. If caught, eight days in prison, they 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 stabs. -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 buried 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, as he stepped on a slippery substance, -what it was—he knew. In the spring grass grew around and through these -inanimate shapes. Rats and dogs waxed fat as badgers. - -[Illustration] - -From the day the 2d 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 reinforced, was kept at full -strength. - -[Illustration: - - UNITED STATES CONGRESSIONAL - MEDAL - (Reverse side reads) - FOR - PATRIOTISM - FORTITUDE - AND - LOYALTY -] - -Americans there endured pain and suffering, the depth of which -Washington’s Army at Valley Forge never reached. Those old Continentals -had nothing in discomfort on these modern heroes in front of Croane. -Washington’s Army, in their own country, had access to the necessities -of life. They held communion with their fellows. These later-day -Americans, under 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 man 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 -confiscated en route. They were in a foreign country, 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 output and -alongside. They saw him stop, heard a familiar sound (the striking of a -grenade cap), but it was in the rear. Suddenly Rockwell yelled, “Aux -Armes.” Metteger, 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 attackers, they jumped from the -scaffold to the ground. Capdeville’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 came back. Buchanan had -discovered that some one had made his gun unworkable, tramping mud into -the magazine. He stopped and had it out with Brooks. - - -It was at La Fontenelle and Ban de Sapt, 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 perpendicular mountains, with sunburned base and snowy, dripping -tops. Dog trains carried provisions in winter. Pack mules clamber in -summer, wearing breeching to keep from slipping 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 about, up among -the clouds of mist, in drizzles, sleet, snow and the intense cold. A -sieve was a water-tight compartment compared to those shut-up dugouts. - -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, as he was the night before. - -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 all the time. - -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 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 -straggling, 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 deserted 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 eloquent, though silent, monuments of kultur. - -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 terrific bombardment, I was -sent to relieve him, out between two German outposts, one eight, the -other fifteen yards away. Instead of going to the safety of the sap in -the rear, that Frenchman 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 would 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. - -Was with Renaud, an old 170th boy, 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, 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 disturb him. When his thought was of his wife, -he looked a glorified choir boy. Once in Lorraine, during repose, he and -his companion, Perora, a theological student, invited me to a church to -hear the curé lecture on Jeanne d’Arc. While the student and the curé -conversed, 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 bottoms. It -wasn’t necessary to watch the rifle after that. I could follow by the -smell. - -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 life?” “I was engaged in -commerce. And you?” “Me? I am an artist.” - -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. - -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 163d 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 mountain side. Our cotton shirts, soaked with perspiration, -felt like a board as the body 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, hearing a suspicious noise in front, I threw -a grenade. We got such an avalanche in return it almost took our breath -away—and Deporte laughed! Home on furlough, he overstayed his leave five -days and drew sixty days prison. He smiled—it was sixty days on paper! - -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 situation to Deporte: - -“You have the grenades?” - -“Oui, mon capitaine.” - -“You see this hill?” - -“Oui, mon capitaine.” - -“It is higher than that trench.” - -“Oui, mon capitaine.” - -“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 shoulder. Deporte, looking -squarely into his eyes, grinned back. They understood each 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 dodging about -to avoid being maimed for life. We held a mountain top on the frontier. -The Germans 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 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. - -The Germans did not seem to like it. They got more angry and threw all -kinds of metal at our dodging 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 no -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. - -“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” (moppers-up), put in Scanlon. - -“And a square white patch of cloth sewed on our backs, so our own -artillerymen can recognize and not blow us up,” finished John Laurent. - -“I’d 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 established -in a badly demolished trench from which we emerged at the time set for -the attack, 9:15. - -The four hours between daylight and the attack were passed under a -furious bombardment. Many were killed or wounded while we waited 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 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 himself, 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 opening for -advancement and gain the objective with very little loss. - -In the first run to the outlet the slaughter was terrible. Stretcher -bearers carried a continuous stream of wounded with bloody bandages 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. Side -trenches were filled with wounded, waiting 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, mustache 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, running 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, making -holes. - -At every corner stood calm, square-faced, observing officers directing, -demanding, compelling. 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. - -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 minutes, three -minutes, one minute, En Avant!” The Colonials, the Moroccans and the -Legionnaires, 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 -artillery. 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 Germans are shooting. Boches run out -at the entrances, climb from the dugouts, hands in air, crying, -“Kamarad.” - -More grenades inside and more German prisoners. The first line men keep -going. German dead lie all about. German equipment is piled around; we -pass the wounded, meet the living enemy. A running Zouave met 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 man (his bayonet had broken) got inside the other’s -guard, forced him to the ground, and was choking him to death 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 ride 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 German 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 comrades. Many had broken, bruised heads. -Prisoners bore French wounded on stretchers. The dead lay in all -directions, riddled, peppered by the 75’s, mangled with high explosives, -faces dried-blood, blackened. - -Behind the first line, into the newly-made communication trenches, -noticed where dirt had been thrown to the bottom of the trench, walking -on dead Germans’ grazed faces bristling whiskers, partially covered with -loose dirt, so that their bodies were not noticed by comrades going to -the front. Continued bombardment, more dead. Germans running, equipment -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 got my eyes and lungs -full. Then felt weak and comfortable. The Luxemburg corporal came along -and pulled me out. Dropping behind, we finally came upon the Legion, -waiting in a communication trench to flank the Germans. 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, back again to the front. I noticed the Legionnaires running, -chin forward, bayonet fixed, greatly bunched, and thought the Germans -could not miss hitting so many men. So, being the last man in the -company, I kept running 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 magazine -will not work. I grabbed a rifle laying 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 understand 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 made another attack over the top. Got into a Boche machine gun -cross-fire; orders were to dig down. Noticed a large shell crater about -20 yards to the left, where a half dozen Poilu were laying in comfort -below the earth level and fairly safe. Was crawling toward them on my -stomach, with nose in the ground, when 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, when they had rested on a teeter after -going up and before coming down,—I saw a number of blue overcoats, and I -looked over to the shell crater and saw it was larger, fresher and -empty. However, 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, and I lived to tell about it. Soldiers -naturally become fatalists, and will not be called till the shell comes -along with his number on. They see a shell fall, a cloud of dirt and -dust goes up—no damage done. Another shell falls,—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 right then it is time -enough to worry,—if it does you won’t need to worry. - -On September 28, the Legion attacked the Bois Sabot or wooden shoe, a -wooded eminence protected by fifty yards of barbed wire entanglements, -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 up and see what kind of a show they put up.” The section -went, 35 or 40 men. Just two, both Americans, Musgrave and Pavelka, came -back. - -That attack lasted all night. Daybreak was coming. All the officers had -been killed, except a little squeaky voiced Lieutenant. He was afraid to -give the order to retreat. But, daylight in sight, he finally said, -“Gather up the wounded and go back to the trench we left.” The dead were -left 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. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - LIFE IN DEATH - - -“If a man die, shall he live?” Aye—and that more abundantly! - -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.” Nature is -constantly demonstrating Life as the manifestation of Death. Nature’s -laws are the laws of God, to whom are all people subject. So, man, is -passing his progress, into a higher, or lower, form of spirit -continuance—as he may have chosen and prepared. - -They do not die,—who instil love of country, and the highest degrees of -patriotism, in those who live. - -The materialistic profiteer, who shirks his duty, and fattens on the -soldier’s blood,—will die and pass away as a clod. But the soldier whose -inspiring deeds will warm the blood of future generations has started a -flame that will burn forever. - -When the materialist has cashed his coupons, he will find the money -won’t keep his body from being eaten up by the maggots. It may buy him a -tombstone, but not the respect of loyal patriots who are willing to give -their all, in order to live up to the traditions of those gone before. - -Stocks and bonds have a market value—but Honor and Liberty are beyond -price. - -Spiritual life and power are of far greater value than vast material -wealth. - -It was the materialism of the Kaiser that started this war. He cannot -stop it. Why? Because he is confronted by the millions of dead bodies on -the battlefields of France whose spirits demand they shall not die in -vain. He is confronted by the spirit of Jeanne d’Arc,—by the awakening -spirit of 76. - -These spirits are hovering around, stimulating, inspiring the living to -yet nobler deeds of heroism. - -Indomitable, incorruptible, they flock to the living who fight to the -death, and every death brings forth another living soldier. - -America, sunk in materialism, now hearkens to the call of her -forefathers. - -The spirit of Washington, Hamilton, Greene, Lafayette, Rochambeau, -Lincoln, Sherman and Grant is calling us to the post of duty. - -The stern hand of fate has elevated us to a level from which we can see -the great ideals we have forgotten—Honor, Patriotism, Equality. - -Those are the level foundation on which democracy rests,—not on wealth -and inequality. - -We must stamp out materialism and save the soul of America. - -While we are making the world safe for democracy, let us make democracy -safe for the world. - -While the soldier kills the German junker with the bullet the civilian -must kill off the political and profiteering junker with the ballot. - -Instead of Safety First, we must place America First. - - - - - 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 -regiment volante, always used in quick, double action 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 hundred 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 -settled it—no explanation necessary. - -Of the Americans who changed, but three, Sergeant Capdeville, Sergeant -Jacobs and Lieutenant Mulhauser remain. The Colonel, of that date, is -now General Polalacelli. - -The 170th is a notable regiments. 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 came out alive. Anointed with -success, they fear nothing. They have charged into a cataclysm of -destruction, which swallowed up whole companies, and returned with a -battalion of German prisoners. - -Against all opposition, they prevail. Spite of death, they live, always -triumphant, never defeated. 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 -obstruction 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 companionship of kindred spirits, -they heedlessly dash to victory, or, the sunset—for the secret of -victory rests in the hearts of the combatants. - -We turned directly about and went with this new regiment, back to the -front line. We relieved our own old regiment, the Foreign Legion. 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. German 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 settled 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 was during the night. -Coffee was chilled by morning. During 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 reinforcement to the 163rd who -had just come from Verdun, where they had one battalion captured by the -enemy. - -After a few days rest while they were getting reinforcements and new -clothing and equipment we were sent up to the front where with the -exception of ten days when we went to Laveline to be refitted again (but -two men left in my squad). My company, the 7th, were in the first and -second line trenches for seven continuous months. - -In the 163rd I saw a French regiment at its best. The Legion is composed -of men from all countries. The 170th are from many French regiments and -sections. The 163rd all came from southern France. They saw alike, -understood one another and worked together. Kind and considerate, they -were a band of ideal 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 appreciation, -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 easy they slipped things -over on Fritz. - -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 veterans—many wounded bad enough so -they could not have remained in a regiment of attack,—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 with each -other. - -In the winter of 1916-17 weakened by rheumatism, after fighting in three -active first line regiments, I was finally sent to the 92nd -Territorials, 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 rheumatism. Quite -fed up, I went to the doctor, determined 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. - -Such is soldier life. He 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 the 92nd -Territorials, a working regiment. Then to hospital—transferred 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 during 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 (22½ cents). The balance is made up by the -Red Cross, individuals and communities, according to the largeness, or -smallness, of the views and pocketbooks of those who assist. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: SERBIAN MEDAL] - -Hospitals are of two classes. They are in or out of the army zone. The -Army Zone is a piece of land under strict military law, extending, -possibly, 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 -engagement trains wait, are filled with wounded from ambulances, and -sent away immediately as soon as filled. - -A limited number of these decorations were presented by S. A. R., the -Prince Regent of Serbia, to President Poincaré of the French Republic, -for distribution to officers and men for distinguished and brilliant -conduct under fire. Two were allotted the 163rd Regiment of the Line—one -for an officer, the other to a private.] - -The hospital in the Army Zone, necessary for military reasons, is not -looked upon with favor by 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 necessary. - -If he must have a nurse, he does not want a limping, growling, medically -unfit man. He prefers placing his suffering-racked body, injured 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. - -[Illustration] - -In the Army Zone hospital, supposed to be sick, he is not allowed -outside except under certain 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 middle 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 suffering. - -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 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 men, all through -France, in chateaux, in old convents and high schools, in sisters’ -hospitals, 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 established comradeship that endures. He was 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 pulling 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, cigarettes, reading matter and -luxuries, were showered upon wounded soldiers. Gradually, as private and -public interests demanded attention, visitors were compelled to work for -themselves, 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 like 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 -affectionate 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 crumpled from -going through the crumming machine, sure sign of hospital treatment, I -walked about aimlessly. “Fish 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, skirting “No-Man’s-Land,” but no fish. Grinning, I -recalled one cold, heart-breaking morning, when an unseen German yelled -across: - -“Hello, Français, have you the brandy?” - -“No, have you?” - -“No, we have not; but we have the water!” - -We knew that—for we had just drained our 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 British Tommies -and exchanged a few remarks in French with the little waitress. At the -cashier’s counter, a stranger, dressed as an English private soldier, -rasped out, in an aggressive, authoritative voice. - -“Here! You speak very good English.” - -In spite of not liking his tone, I responded, “Oh, 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 know enough to mind my own business.” - -After a few seconds dead silence, the Englishman 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 -eyefulls instead of mouthsfull. I was angered. I was minding my own -business. Why could not the Englishman 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, accompanied by a Frenchman in -uniform, stopped me in the street. The Frenchman spoke,— - -“Good day, mister.” - -“Good day!” - -“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, covered with trench mud, asked, -“What is the matter?” - -“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 Legion 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 watching, “I told you -before, you were too ignorant to mind your own business. Now, you see -you are.” - -The wine disposed of, we parted. Looking back, I saw the Englishman -following a hundred 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, one turned his head away, looking down the street, the other gazed -at the Lieutenant with a peculiar, almost disgusted expression. - -I then asked, “By the way, is it the business of the English in France -to demand the credentials 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 soldiers, or -military police, headed by a newly made Corporal and a Scotch veteran -who radiated intelligence with dignity and self-respect. - -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 collected. The English corporal -started to bluster. 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 Scotchman turned to him and said,—“Who -is that damned fool that is always getting us into trouble?” - -The Corporal responded,—“I don’t know,—he gave me a card. Here it is.” - -I looked over the Corporal’s shoulder and read, Lieutenant P——n. - -The Scotchman asked,—“Don’t you have 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.” - -Then, that smooth Scotchman slipped one over on me,—“Look here, soldier, -don’t be foolish. 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.” - -I replied, “You are engaged in a lovely business, aren’t you? You permit -German officers, who are fighting in the German army against Great -Britain, to retain their titles in the English House of Lords; and you -come over to France and arrest your ally, the French common soldier.” - -“We had to mind orders, ma lad, ’E don’t doubt ye’re a’ richt.” - -The Corporal put in, “I’m 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’ll 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 volunteer 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 railroad ticket. What do you want -with him? What 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, pointing 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, watched -half a dozen English soldiers in animated conversation with the -Corporal, the Scotchman and the Lieutenant Buttinski. - -I studied the pantomime for some time, then wandered about, till my -train was ready to start for Paris. Seeing Lieutenant P——n looking -through the iron railing, I waved him farewell; but he did not respond. -A Frenchman would have either waved his hand or shook his fist! - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - NATURE’S FIRST LAW - - -The American soldier in France finds new scenes, new conditions, new -customs. Unconsciously he compares life back home with his new -experiences, often to the latter’s disadvantage. 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 Frenchmen are engaged in agriculture) with the little chateaux, built -upon miniature estates, exquisitely 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 serious and morose. Not now -does he sing or laugh any more. He has been treated unjustly. An -overwhelming power tried to force on him something he will not have. He -does not bluster—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. Arbitration is not possible between a crazy man and the woman he -has assaulted. The mad man must be caught and properly judged. If -insane, he should be confined, if not, he must be punished.” - -As civilians become city broke, soldiers become army broke. Instead of -walking in mobs, they move in rows. Near the front, from marching in -companies, they advance in sections. These disintegrate, when an -apparently stray shell comes along. Units become individuals of -initiative and intelligence, adaptable to sudden, strange environment. -Necessity supersedes the regular book of rules. Books are printed, -orders given, to regulate ordinary conditions. - -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 because he did, or did not, obey. - -A good soldier can generally kick off unnecessaries 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 2×6 box, with -toilet necessaries, 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. Instead of buckling his cartridge belt in front, he -fastens it on the side, so he can slide the cartridge 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 before 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 regulation 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, -individuality, initiative. - -He may pass years in peaceful climes, going like a side-walk comedian, -through the empty mummeries of a Broadway spectacular production. 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, rapidly -advancing, victorious Huns, outnumbering him 8 to 5, and drove them back -with his bayonet (for some regiments had no cartridges), he saved not -only France, but England, America 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-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 adamant, behind Verdun. One million -men (600,000 Germans and 400,000 French) were incapacitated 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 appreciation. A little -kindness makes him eloquent. Strong in the righteousness of his cause, -he does not bow his head in sorrow, or bend in weakness. He stands -upright, four-square to the world. He has lived down discomfort. 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, ennobled 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, without a murmur. - -French officers are real, improved property, not vacant lots. They are -leaders, not followers. Ordinary people see what goes on before their -eyes. The French officer is not an ordinary 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 special study is the -German Military Manual, his specialties 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 discounts -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 -especially 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 discomforts with his men. - -It is a great honor to be an active French officer. He is there because -his achievements forced him upward. He has climbed over obstacles, 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 civilian’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 building 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 principle 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 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, surroundings 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 destruction’s delirious delusions that now -rocks the foundations of the world, which reacts on and affects every -civilization, person, and individual on earth. - -He looks at things from an angle different from that of the civilian. He -has a new conception 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 hole in the -ground, and slept in a seeping dugout with the rats and the lice. He has -seen his companion go over the top, killed off, like germs, 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 apparently 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,—artillery, infantry, -aviators, reserves, money, provisions and ammunition, flocking to his -aid from America, from Great Britain, from the uttermost 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 -alteration in the landscape demands closest investigation. Boys do not -play, nor old women gabble, in No-Man’s-Land. Nothing is done without a -reason, and, for every change, there is a cause. An unusual piece of -cloth or paper is scrutinized by a hundred men, while a suspicious -movement empties their guns. - -The soldier acquires the habit of noticing little 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 impudent and important? He grows so -accustomed 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 soldiers. He looks -at her long, lanky frame and wishes for some milk to give her, to -counteract the poison of the rat food. A shell comes along. Pussy runs -into the dugout, but comes out again to 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 pitiless 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 helpfulness, where thrived formerly but the barren -waste of self-sufficiency. It unmasks the humbug and reveals the -humanitarian. It teaches individual self-lessness. The cruelties of the -oppressor are overcome by love for the oppressed. 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 conditions. 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 grenades, and his -sentinels, at night. I 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 “Kamarad”; 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 expression -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. - -I talked with a young 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-officers 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 are 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, 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 misfortunes. This -mother had six sons and three daughters. Three boys mobilized with the -German 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 bombardment. 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 wound would not knit. Unable to sleep, weeping relieved him. He -said, “My wife and I were at home near Lille, in bed one night. The -Germans 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, I am from the invaded country. My name is La Chaise. -Before the war, my father was Inspector General of railroads for the -Department 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 year 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 entered, 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 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 sheltering 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 getting to -our French friends, and we were covering 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 Americans 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 -German again.” - -At Nestle, they carried away 164 women. The official German explanation -was that they should work in Germany, while the cynical officers 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 inhabitants 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 invaded 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 with the -retreating army. Of the remainder within two weeks after fifty persons -succumbed from the exposure. - -On February 18th, at Noyon, when the Germans were compelled to retreat, -in addition to burning, wrecking and looting, they carried away by force -fifty young girls between fourteen and twenty-one years of age. They -looted the American Relief store, dynamited the building, then turned -the canal water into the basement. - -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, officers pointed out the people who were to go. Half an -hour later, everybody was driven, pell-mell, into an adjacent factory, -from then to the station, whence they departed.” Taken from the Yellow -Book, published by the Minister of War, dated June 30, 1916. - -At Warsage, August 4, 1914, the day Belgium 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 murdered, some shot and others -bayoneted—yet others burned alive. - -At Seilles, fifty civilians were killed. - -At Audenne, August 20 and 21, 1914, 250 civilians were killed, according -to French records, while General Von Bulow, over his own signature, in a -written order to the people of Liege, dated August 22, says that he -commanded 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 spirit, shocked to the heart’s core, -obnoxious regulations are published and enforced to prevent 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 taken 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 peasant 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 picture frame or -two—that’s all. - -Talk about forgiving the Germans! Robbing the poor, the destruction of -property, possibly may be forgiven. Property can be replaced. But, the -systematic, deliberate ruin of non-combatant, innocent women and -children, is a crime against civilization that can never be forgiven or -forgotten. For generations to come, the German will be treated as an -outlaw. He will be shunned—worse than a beast. Unclean, he will have to -purge himself before he may be again 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 -husbands, 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 respect 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 seemingly -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 opportunity 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 refreshing springs of patriotism and -love out of which 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 women’s work in -the home, in the hospital and in the munition factory. As a -representative of her country, whose uniform he wears, he carries -himself more proudly, more uprightly. - -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 dear, the soldier has 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 striving to be calm, she hides her -heart’s pain. - -Ancestors died for the liberty his flag represents. Posterity must enjoy -the same freedom. 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 -together while he fights to protect and preserve, she works to support -and maintain. - -That man is not yet whose pen can do justice 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 consequences. - -Cynical critics may have their cool sensibilities 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 outwardly 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, instills 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 patriotism. 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 -before becoming an accepted suitor. He consults 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 -great 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, brooding look. That little touch of Nature and the woman -diverted his mind from suffering and revived his sentiment. She sent him -back to 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 the head. She will -suffer the torments of hell rather than that they shall have died 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 tramways, 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 -department and military bureaus—chasing out the fat slackers who were -strutting in the rear. - -In spite of all, she retains her feminacy. She is still as alluring, as -good a comrade, as cheerful and gay, outwardly, as though her body was -not racked by fatigue, her heart 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 his nurse, a -soldier 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 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 discolored. 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, repulsed 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 gourmands 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 farmhouse. She wore wooden shoes, -without socks. 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 photograph. -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 -comrade’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 forget 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, faire le bomb, and ask all the family.” - -The look of pride changed into a haunted, painful, far-away gaze: “Oh, -dear, we shall all be women! Except my husband and Francois, my brother, -all our men are dead—four of my brothers! Francois is the last. The -Government 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 at war. 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, I saw it 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 called up. 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?” - -“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 know 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?” - -“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 a silent mood. 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.” - - -[Illustration] - -The self-sacrifice and devotion of the women 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 fortitude. -She completes him with an untiring zeal. - -One beautiful, romantic feature of French army life is the adoption of -soldiers by god-mothers. In one instance, 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 complete -his harem! - -[Illustration: - - CROIX DE GUERRE - Famous French War Cross - - The star denotes an individual citation, “John Bowe, an American - citizen, engaged in the active army, who in spite of his age (past - the limits of military service) has given an expression of the most - absolute devotion. Upon the front since the 9th of May, 1915, he has - always volunteered for the dangerous missions and the most perilous - posts.” -] - -The uncertainties and possibilities of the situation distract the -soldier’s mind from his real, staring troubles. His thoughts are -directed into pleasant channels. The lady sends him little comforts, -extra food, or money and, maybe, invites him to spend his furlough at -her residence. She always does, 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 I stood at the Spouters’ Corner in Hyde Park, -London, where Free Speech England allows its undesirables to express -themselves. Here the authorities classify, label and wisely permit each -particular crank or freak to here 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 out, “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 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 petticoat, 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, noticing my faded blue uniform, stepped up, excused herself, -and asked if I were not a French soldier, 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 ceremony, 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 an extract from a London newspaper, which told of -my being decorated by the French Government. 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 opposite 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 then first, endowed -by Nature with certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty and the -pursuit of happiness. - -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, privileges must be. Where then is inequality of rights then -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. - -In time of peace, preparedness is the premium 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 Germans and we do not want it in America. - -This war should sound the death knell of the professional politician. -The trimmer, carrying water on both shoulders has schemed for power -white others worked. Afraid of losing votes, he did not stand up for the -right. He goes into the discard, replaced by men 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 Europe changed, with the people ruling where were -kings. Nothing will be the same. Old 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 natural justice. That the people -have won and are the basis of their liberty. The magistrates, the judges -of 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 distinction of -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 its own will, regardless of others. -Individual liberty stops, where the rights of the community commence. -The object of political association is the preservation of rights. - -The principle of sovereignty rests in the people, as expressed through -their representatives. 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 convictions, 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 believes 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 of independent and does not make for oppression. -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 administration 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 officer, who, through drunkenness, inefficiency -or treachery, sacrifices his men or betrays the 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. Hanging -over the heads of all, like the suspended sword of Damocles, is French -equality, which insists on results, not excuses. It falls on brutality -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 government 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 tolerate special pleadings nor permit incapacity. They -know that, prevented by continually changing officers, graft conditions -cannot become established, also, that all around experience begets -perfection. Soldiers’ lives must not be sacrificed at the front while -profiteers fatten in the rear. - -If this war has demonstrated any one thing, it is that those who “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 hostilities—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 circumstances, 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 salvation -from those whom they have hated, despised, 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 confidence, talking, not in commonplace generalities, but 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 Government, regardless of party. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - AUTOCRACY - - -German Government is founded on the principle 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 bulwark of wealth. Under this system, man belongs 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 second third, 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 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 appointed 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, -representing 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. - -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 country 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 down 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 obedience and respect for authority -are instilled into him till he can have neither original ideas nor -independent thought. - -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 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 dominate 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 Cavel had pity in her heart, even for -German wounded, for homeless Belgians. So she was executed. - -The wounded in hospital ships were torpedoed 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 vanquished 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 overran Luxemburg. They turned the garden of -France into a desert. They could see in Belgium only the nearest road to -France. Subject to no restraint, responsible to no one, their passion -for power, for money, for lust, recognized no authority, contract, nor -law. - -Their ungovernable tempers became inflamed 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 -at bay, they fight to keep from being executed. - -And, as the German people were compelled to work for them in time of -peace, now they must die for them in time of war. - -Such is the German Government. - - -At The Hague Convention, 1907, the following were agreed to and signed -by Germany. - - -ARTICLE 24. “It 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 German 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 22d (August, 1914), I found in the woods at 150 yards -to the north of the crossroads, formed by the meeting of 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 discussion. The shot broke his jaw; he -died next day.” Report of Sergt. Major Le Bihran, narrating 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. - -General Stenger was in charge of the 58th Brigade, composed of the 112th -and 142d Bavarian Infantry. Thirty soldiers of these regiments, 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 -bombardment, 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 pondered 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 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 prisoners 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 camp. “Yes,” -said the latter, with a peculiar, vacant expression in his eye. “Yes, I -was crucified. 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 -hanging down till my feet were eighteen inches above the ground.” - -“Is that true?” I demanded. - -“True, look at these arms. Ask those comrades 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, according to orders, by another shot.” -An extract from the diary of a German soldier, Fahlenstein, 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. - - -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 bayonetted 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 worst cared for. When they had no more -clothing to sell to buy food, they came 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 Gustrout in 1914 and 1915. Confirmation furnished the -French Foreign Officers and printed in “Treatment of French Prisoners in -Germany.” - - -The following letter, written by Officer Klent, 1st Company, 154th -German Infantry Regiment, was published in the “Jauersches Tageblatt,” -Harmonville, September 24, 1914: “We reached a little hollow in the -ground, where many red breeches, killed and wounded, were lying. We -bayonetted 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.” - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: - - FRENCH FURLOUGH - This furlough, in spite of its “sans prolongation,” has been -] - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - THEIR CRIMES - - -We must make it absolutely impossible for the wild beast to break out -again. Our living ought to know the crimes committed in the name of -Kultur, in order to take the necessary precautions against their -recurrence. To our martyred 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 Luneville, aided -by the Mayors of the following towns, located at or near the battle -front: Belfort, Epinal, Nancy, Bar-le-Duc, Chalons, Chateau-Thierry, -Nelien, Beauvais, Baccarat, Luneville, Gerbiveller, Momemy, -Pont-a-Mousson, Verdun, Clermont, Semaise, Rheims, Senlis, 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 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, without 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 Freemason; of Captain Fryatt, the civilian -sea-captain. 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. - - -At Sompius, 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 Momemy, 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 Triancourt, 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. - - -At Crezancy, M. Le Saint, 18 years of age, was killed by an officer -because some day he would be a soldier. - - -At Embermenil, Mme. Masson was shot because her servant, an idiot, gave -a wrong direction. 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 succession. 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 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 Sommeilles, while the town was being burned, the Dame X. with her -four children, 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 Coalommiers 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 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. - - -At Montigny le Titcul, the Germans discovered 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.” - - -At Parchim, where 2,000 civilians, French prisoners, were interned, two -prisoners, hungry, 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 Gerberviller, reports: “To break -into the tabernacle of the Church of Gerberviller the enemy fired many -shots around the lock, the interior of the ciborium was also -perforated.” - - -Statement of Mlle. ——, 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 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 German.” - - -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 responsible -representative men in and near the invaded district, are some of the -cases continually being brought to public attention. - -This evidence is accumulative, convincing, damning proof, it is -furnished by the bodies of the victims, by neighbor eye witnesses, by -devastated, homes, and by mutilated wrecks, who survived—some being -recaptured by French troops, others, repatriated as useless, sent back -to France via Switzerland. - - -These, and other crimes, are corroborated in the four reports of the -French Inquiry, in “Violations of International Law,” published, by -order of the French Foreign Minister, by the twenty-two reports of the -Belgian Commission, 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 is actually furnished by perpetrators of the deeds. Comments are -unnecessary, words inadequate, cold print fails. - - - 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, awful 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 expelled, 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 -children, one had a great wound in the head and had lost an eye.” - - - - - L’ENVOI - - -Into Europe’s seething cauldron of blood and tears, American youth have -been cast. - -Patriotism, pride, resolutely demands 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, victrolas nor Red Triangle Huts. Such blessings are -God-sends—more power to His messengers! - -[Illustration] - -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 a joy to see them. It made -a man feel proud to belong to the same race. They yelled a greeting in -broken French to the dirty Poilu, who responded in the latest American -slang, and marched away singing into the darkness, the words echoing -loud or low, as different sections 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 moving feet, and climbed up and settled on the stubby, -unshaven face, streaked with perspiration, which in turn rose and formed -an aura about the knapsack, as it bobbed up and down like a buoy on the -sea. From behind the dust-topped bristles flash the steely eyes of the -Soldier. - -Such eyes! Not the calm, contemplative eyes of the sissy, but the -strong, fierce, exaltant eyes of the man who has fought, and won. - -One month had changed him; the longer he is in the Army the greater the -change. Already he has seen there are things greater than fear, found -something greater than Life. - -He has realized that in union there is strength, that soldiers by acting -together as a unit gain the objective, which brings the victory. - -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 wanders to his native land across the sea. True the Government -is behind him—but all the people are not behind the Government. The -International Socialist is still bent on destruction, and working for -Germany; the pro-German is hiding his galvanized Americanism behind Red -Cross and Liberty Loan buttons; the chatauquaized pacifist bemoaning -this “terrible bloodshed” is trying to dig himself into a hole, where he -can 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 per cent -in competition with the Government 4-1/4 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 prohibition, with the control of liquor by the -Government, through the Food Administration, wants to 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 -and wiser man, and they want to slip this legislation 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 for sale for cash. Usually 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 religion, section -against section. Elected by the people whom they betray, the people in -return organize for protection, then the hypocrites wrap the robes of -loyalty about themselves, rush to the head of the procession, climb the -band wagon, seize the bass drum, and cry out: all those who don’t follow -are “drunken, dishonest or disloyal.” - -Beclouding the main issue—of America’s danger—scheming for power while -soldiers die, too busy serving themselves, they have not time to serve -the nation, they cannot 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. - -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. - -Supported by the non-denominational Red Cross and Y. M. C A., he is no -longer Baptist, Methodist or Mormon—his religion is confined to Right -and Wrong. - - -That may be all right living; but what of the dead? 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 accustomed to say. Eternity? Do -you limit eternity? Can you locate eternity’s beginning, eternity’s end? - -Then shall we presume to think those noble spirits who went forward to -keep our own temporary abiding place safe for us a while longer, dead? - -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. - -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 bit 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. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and -are noted here. The following issues should be noted, along with the -resolutions. The references are to the page and line in the original. - -The document appearing on p. 247 has a caption which was incomplete. - - 55.27 Descendent of General Israel Put[man/nam] Transposed. - - 64.12 a civil mining engine[e]r Added. - - 67.21 held the mark[s]manship record in his regiment Added. - - 103.28 was arrested in Paris by the genda[r]mes Added. - - 107.8 He later became Commissioner of Police at Brazzaville? - [Brazzarville] - - 153.11 so that their bodies [was/were] not noticed Replaced. - - 180.11 [“]At the first glance Removed. - - 185.21 I studied the pantomi[n/m]e for some time Replaced. - - 194.23 An enthusiastic, spirited volunte[e]r Added. - - 211.23 when Mad[a/e]moiselle changes to Madame Replaced. - - 237.4 They overr[u/a]n Luxemburg. Replaced. - - 237.17 By brute force they over[r]ide decency Added. - - 241.8 a Bavarian soldier of the German[y] army Removed. - - 247.1 in spite of its "sans prolongation," has been Missing. - [...] - - 261.10 His truth is marching on.[”] Added. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Soldiers of the Legion, by John Bowe - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION *** - -***** This file should be named 54057-0.txt or 54057-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/0/5/54057/ - -Produced by KD Weeks, Brian Coe and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was -produced from images made available by the HathiTrust -Digital Library.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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