Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-17
pv WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD

g1,tr ambulance Iusllth uOWi Nhc
,,,n side at French chauffeur speed and
"a valley behind hill No sic, which
nhni,ered us from. shellfire, and, at last,
- we're so far away from the artillery
t.,tie that we could barely hear the guns.
vaIandoya, an old Turkish village In
..,,bern Serbia, was to be our stopping
sisce There, in the early evening, Cen
pai peilIaud. whose brave troops-nearly
III of them Zouaves-had fought their
rav, 10 Krivolak and had there tried to
zach the Serbians and form a Junction
with them, was to receive, with neld
sranonies the order of military merit.
D., re were too late. The ceremony was
avAr However, we were astonished to
"a IN the yard of a Turkish mosque a
French Zouave band.
II was the first band that any of us
haa seen near any battle front. Between
,hs Ave of us American newspapermen
90 had seen every front on both sides.
Rand music hasn't much place In this
grim war There were 30 musicians and
FIVE drunmers and they STOOD III the mud
up to their shoe tops.
,can't YOU get them to play?" we asked
o,,r guide "It's the first band we ever
saw near battlefield
"will you write stories about it?' asked
the leader We said we would.
AND THE BANl PLAYED.
Whereupon, standing in the mud, in
an evening dusk that was almost dark
ness. with the Turkish mosque behind
them and two French officers. standing
"a feet above us in the minaret, the band
struck UP the song of a certain regiment
Of zouaves.
Some members of the band sang; they
played on their horns in relays. so that
we had chorus. a band and fife and
drum corps going all at once. 1t was
rattling good tune, and, as all Zouave
songs are, about the desert and Egypt
and Arabs. These Zouaves in Serbia
didn't sing of Germans or Austrians or
Bugars, but of their enemies of other
wars A translation would go something
like this:
Bang! Bang the Arebsl
r6rws Ths rgl T9yes bsstie afens forward sar away
And let your rineS play.
We gave three cheers for the band and
the band gave three cheers for us; the
bandmaster made us promise again that
we would write a story about how his
band played and then we were ordered
TO get back into our ambulance for the
ride to Strumnitza. where we were to
spend the night. If you hear any one say
that there is no music in goth century
war, that mon no longer die to stirring
tunes, just tell your informer that he's
wrong
The French Zouaves have a band. and
Il goes with them right up to the front
and II plays while they fight and while
they die. There are some things regi-
ment won't give up, no matter what the
war councils say or what the general
thinks best. With the French Zouaves
this thing is their band.
4 RETREAT ORDERED.
This was on December 2, and that
morning General Sarrail, back in SALON.
lea, had ordered his forces to retire. This
band had marched down to Valandova
from the mountains. Perhaps they didn't
know their march was part OF retreat,
but at the very hour they were playing
and singing so blithely about the Arabs
their fellow Zouaves in the mountains
were packing up their things In their
dugouts and awaiting orders to retire
from their mountain-top trenches.
We were taken to a hospital tent at
strumnitza and found a dozen hospital
cots ready for us and our military guide.
In the centre of the tent was big
wooden stove which huge French SOL
der kept filling with tirewood. The lights
we're candles.
A canvas tunnel ran from our tent to
another In which lay 30 French soldiers
whose feet had been frost-bitten.
I'VE start tomorrow for Paris" cne Of
them said, But it's a long way. First.
we ride by train to Salonica. Then they
put us on boat, they tell me. and take
US out to hospital ship. Then the ship
travels eight or nine days until 1t reaches
Marseiles. Then we get on train and
ride "a hours until we get to Paris. 1t
seems far, far away. Paris. But sup
pose Well get there some time"
He was suffering from gangrene fol-
lowing frost bite, and the chances were,
the doctor told me, that he might be
cripple for life. He was sick and suffer-
ing, and he had a right to feel that the
miles and the days between home and this
canvas tent in Serbia would be many
and long
II was supper time and a big banquet,
OF sort, was before US. Also we were to
hear more rumors of the coming retreat.
Our tent stood on an embankment along
side the railroad track. On the bank
aeross the way stood the little Strumnitza
railroad station, where we were to dine.
When we came out OF the tent into the
darkness a wonderful sight met our eyes
The lights of hundreds of campflres shone
on hundreds OF tents which had been
pitched for the night by the Withdrawing
troops, We heard singing and a mouth
orRan