The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10
By GEORGE A. ALTERATION

tinguished service order, and so made by the King himself. Except for the Vic toria Cross the King could confer no greater honor upon one of his soldiers.
 FIGHTING DESPERATE FIGHT Back in those dim days when the war was month old the British army, such as It was in numbers, and what was left of it then, was fighting a desperate fight against an oncoming foe. The War wicks were in the very thick of it from the beginning. Lieutenant Colonel John Ford Ellington was in command at an 1 important point. A mistake was made pefhaps It was withdrawal in the face or the enemy-at any rate, a mistake. A general courtmartial in the field fol- lowed. Colonel Ellington told the whole truth, simply and soldier-like. He re- turned to England. Then the decision was announced, He, with another of the same rank, was cashered The reason was never told It was a simple push to oblivion for military wrong, with all honor, career and even the right to serve King and country in this greatest or all storms torn away, for once cash tered man is considered no longer use full
 Six weeks of effort and all was over.
 
 Ellington had faced the soldiers great est opportunity in history-and he made mistake. He was now nearly 50 years of age, the future seemed to hold noth- ing.
 Many another would have given up In despair. but this soldier did not.
 He was a fighting man, by training and heredity, and after the blow had fallen his thoughts apparently at once again turned to France He could no longer fight for England with the Eng fish forces and he had to have an out let.
 CHANGE IN FRANCE
 In France there was that strange and wonderful organzation-the Foreign Le- zion. A fighting force in which no ques- tions are asked, where the only requi- site of enlistment is the necessary phy- sique The doctors ask questions-7no one else. There the discipline is more severe than anywhere in the worlds armies, where hard work is the only re- ward for aliens joining for aliens cannot win promotions, the Foreign Legion be- ing always officered by Frenchmen At any time the legion is a hard mans place, during great war it is even more so. On one side there is a soldier of many attachments, an intellectual, per- haps with a past, something to bury and forget and live down. On the other the toughest of the world, scum O the earth, likely enough, but a fighter.
 With this romantic organization Colonel Ellington threw his lot and fought the allied cause with a dis tinction and gallantry that won him high honors, and also brought back to him his place in the British army
 He won the French Metallic Milf taire and also the Croix de Guerre, with palms, two of the greatest French honors. There are gaps in this story. Just why Colonel Ellington was so decorated, except that it was for great gallantry, for "valeur ct discipline" is not clear. He talks frankly of all else, but nothing of this.
 Within two weeks of the announce nent of his being cashiered Colonel Ellington was legionnaire. His training helped him make good. In the Boer war he had earned the queens medal with four clasps and, aside from his work with the Warwicks in this war, he knew much about fighting and he knew how to be a soldier. Now he became one who obeyed, rather than a commander accustomed to give his orders and exact obedience from oth- CTS. At first his was curious sensa- ton, being a private at couple of cents a day.
 The Foreign legion has seen hard service in this war, much of it while