The Pensacola journal., 1914-12-28
ANOTHER HONOR
GOES TO JOFFRE.
FOR BRAVE ACTS.
MILITARY MEDAL, WHICH Is
ONLY GIVEN AFTER STRENU.
Gus CAMPAIGNING AND LEAD.
ERsHIP WAS ACCEPTED WITH
MUCH GRATITUDE. ..,xy.. -
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.

Paris, Dec 27-The satisfaction
with which General Joffre received the
military medal recently shows that
even he who might be regarded as
having exhausted all of the official
honors that could be conferred on him
when he received the grand cross of
the Legion of Honor, values the little
silver medal quite as much as the
common soldier.
To receive the military medal it is
necessary to have been cited in dis
patches, to have gone through four
campaigns, to have been wounded in
face OF the enemy or to have accom-
pllshed some signal act of courage or
devotion. OF late years the decora-
tion of the Legion OF Honor has been
considered far more accessible The
military medal is not exactly a sue
cessOr Of the medal OF the veterans in
stituted in 1881, but its purpose is the
same and the qualifications of the men
upon whom it is conferred are in part
the same.
The Legion of Honor, as Bonaparte
conceived it and instituted it, was
intended to recompense signal SER
vices in both peace and war, and Ma
pOleOn III thought there should be a
decoration for military services dis
tinCt from an order like the Legion of
Honor, which was accessible to every
one.
It's not everyone who wills that
shall wear this sign of honor" Ma
poleon said when the Legion Of Honor
was established, and his first inten-
oil oy.TxT fn
tive to his men and officers; he him
self stated that the desire to obtain
the cross grew so rapidly that it be- |
came q species of fury, beginning with !
Austerlitz. For a long it was only |
the theatrical profession that was eX- |
cluded from the Legion of Honor. Ma |
poIeon himself established a precedent |
of according the decoration in recog-
milton of important industrial and
achievements by decorat-
ing man who had built up an enor-
nous industry in wall paper. You
so vigorously with the Eng
Iish with your wall paper he said, I
think you should be assimilated with
the brave officers of my army, for in
your way you are accomplishing the
same thing as they"
Canrobert who commanded the 6th
to a young rifleman that he decorated
with the military medal on the field
Of battle: Now then, he is equal to
me- With less stripes though" re-
piled the decorated men. Just then
both were upset by a shock from the
explosion Of a shell. 'You see very
small" said Canrobert when he had
gotten to his feet and shaken the dust
rom him, that 1 was right in saying
hat we were equals, for you see that
she'll had the same effect upon both
If US; give me your hand"
Before the war of 1870, $4,000 SOL
iiers had been decorated with the mill
tary medal. while during that war
5000 new decorations were accorded.
Before the opening Of the present
there were about $4,000 en-
titled to wear this decoration.
Among recent inscriptions for the
medal in the Journal off,
,ial, the following exceptional cases
ire reported.
Conductor Desbrus OF the 57tA artil-
cry, received "a wounds from frag-
nents of shells and had the right arm
,roken during the battle of the Aisne.
September 21st. Taken back to the
ase Notwithstanding his protestatiOns, :
e said to the doctor who cared for
i'm: It's far better that it be me
han the captain who was hit by that
hell, for the captain is more useful to !
rance than II Desbrus died from
is wounds after receiving the mill
ary medal.
Sergeant Cabour Of the 5th infantry, /
1staIled an observatory in a tree and
srnained there three days without re-
eff or provis rs, under violent infan-
" and artillery fire, continually CIV
lg the most useful information on
1e enemy's movements and position
z the enemy's artillery by telephone.
Lieutenant fiag-bearer- Carrere of
le 13Sth infantry, was present the
Ind of August at the moment when, ).
nder a terrible fire, several companies
1owed hesitation to advance. But he =
epIoyed the flag of the regiment and Il
Ia cry of ITO the flag, To the flag" III
lcceeded in provoking a general as
tu1t of the entire line.