The Spectator., 1915-05-18
YALE PROUD 0F HIM
Senior Enters German Army and
 Wins Iron Cross.
Refuses to Discuss His Exploits, But Tells Interesting Story of How He Forced Way Into the
 Ranks.

proud of Karl Llewelyn, the senior who has just returned to college after being wounded and winning the Iron Cross.
 When Llewelyn arrived in New York several weeks ago he refused to dis cuss his exploits at all and he still is silent about the deed of heroism which ended in his lying wounded on the bat tlefeld for many hours, and being picked up little better than dead. He has, however, just been induced to describe the method by which he forced himself into the German army
 He said:
 "lt was August g when we drew up on the German frontier. Instead of the customs officers whom one usually finds, there were ladies serving hot coffee and sandwiches to the passen. gers aboard the incoming trains Most of these passengers were refugees 1 from England who were being wei comed back to the fatherland. II got off at every stop the train | made and tried to enlist but they told me they were full and I would have to go on. I finally found place where they would accept me and we were sent to the drill ground. The peace sergeants, who had retired from ten to twenty years before, were in charge | of the drill.
 ''The class of soldiers we met at the l start of the war were better educated | than the ordinary regulars. Nine | weeks later we were at the front | failed to get the full nine weeks train | ing, however, for at the end of six | weeks my commandant came to me | and informed me that because of | communication from the state depart, ment of tho United States was
 bounced. l sent in a protest to the | kaiser. but it never got there.
 But I waited I went down to the | station with about five hundred girls
 to see my company off when it en- | trained. l tried to get through the | gates. but I couldn't. so I went down
 the track and hoped the train as it l came by. My comrades were glad to see me and would do anything for me. | You can have my boots,' ssid one. | Take this coat said another. l took them. and with that disguise I man. l aged to elude the officers
 When we got well into France. however, I fessed up to the captain. I and he called me down in about the prettiest fashion you ever saw. He l spent ten minutes at it. reminding me of the responsibility had placed upon | him. l felt smaller and smaller. really had not been considerate, but l cad. If I got hit with a bullet would sue him and force him to pay me ali l mony.
 He really was tickled with the proposition of my being there. though. He let me march in the column with the men when we went forward Soon man became footsick l took his pack In the villages wee went through | everyone thought I was a prisoner. You know the first thing soldier makes a prisoner do Is to carry his | baggage, and l was doing that in a civilians suit The difficulty with this prisoner was that he sang their own songs with them.
 Finally they let me enlist. l wore pair of French work-trousers. A sergeant was killed and l got his coat, and 1t fitted me admirably Equipment soon became easy to obtain, but it was not so before any were killed.
 T want to say something about atrocities. of which you have heard so much l won't say there were none for there were atrocities on both sides. You've all heard of the cathedral at Reims and the way the barbarians shot 1t to pieces. l was there at the time. We were not shooting at the cathedral and the French got into this They put battery in Cathedral square, where they thought it would not be hit. A German fiier spotted 1t soon and the Germans bombarded the square and incidentally hit the cathedral.
 We lay at Reims for five weeks. Every afternoon between five and six the French let loose-sort of an after noon tea. The French shells gave warning, however, and you soon got over lodging except when they were coming near you. Since l was wound ed the American shells have begun to arrive. The old French shells didn't | worry the Germans a bit. but the American shells gave them the sur prise of their lives, The American shells break and scatter along the ground, going much farther In addi- tion, of the French shells about one in three explodes. while with the Ameri- can shells there is an explosion with about nine out of ten"