The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-04
GEORGE CARPENTER, FIGHTER,
PRIDE OF FRENCH ARMY TELLS
EXPERIENCES AS AN AVIATOR
Recovering in Base Hospital Noted Puglist in Pictures
que Language Describes Horrors of Battle Long
Struggle to Master Air knowledge and the Morale Of
Men Behind the French Defenses.

(By George Carpenter. the ]
the French army

back to fitness after a severe attack
of bronchitis 2aIafs}1 ~
Z The country is sweet and smiling
and heavenly. Guns do not thunder
instead. there is happiness, lighted up
by a radiant, hot sun, so that II Is
contagious.
Were it not for the presence of
lame, MANNED. battered wrecked
warriors. it would be easy TO laugh
at war.
Even So. the horrors of Verdun,
from. whence have come, may be
forSotten; only does the magnlfl-
cence, the heroism OF Verdun remain
to catch the fancy and fire the ina
gination.
And in such circumstances do I
readily respond to your oft-made re-
ouest to write of my experiences IN
the war from the day, August 1st.
when 1 rushed, with my faithful Des-
camps, now (having been invaded
out of the army a prosperous manu-
facturer5 to, the French Consulate In
London otoi velnnteaF fera active SER
Vice, up to the present time. "A pro-
fessional boxer, such as / am-though
these changed days, soldier first
would not be supposed to have gath
cred memoranda with which to write
the story am invited to doi but
much data have stored by me, new
5, ertheless Also, now that 1 am free
ito reflect at leisure, for the first time
ofor nearly three years. there comes
$50 my mind about which may write.
a. First, would say that have no
regrets that / jumped from the Ring
to the Battlefield, and sacrificed an
income of many thousands year for
a few francs a. day, The fortune which
81, q the X
perience I have had is worth a thous-
and times more than a hundred big
fights in the ring; for nearly three
years of soldering, the greater part
OF which has been Occupied in fight
ing the common enemy, has given me
e. different outlook. I have lived. as
rcould never have lived, but for the
war.
When, after I had won against
Gunboat Smith, and I broke from my
7 training for match with the Anglo
American middle weight, Young
sAhearn-who. hope to hear has got
into khaki vowed that I would not
fight for money until the end of the
war. And that now shall keep. Only
at rare intervals have I had the
gloves on, and then for charity.
The day when went to the French
Consulate 1 shall never forget. Lon
don. as II by magic, had changed en-
Z tirely; only a. few days previously, so
1t seemed, had I been met and pulled
by a cheering crowd in a carriage
from Charing Cross to the Hotel Met
ropole, for the boxing had taken hold
of everybody. Then.-a elbowed my
way through Bedford Square, people
jere screaming "War!"
/ should like to explain, that en-
tered the war as a volunteer; my
'tclass'' was not to be modified at
once, for 1t was made up of young
men who were not old enough for the
Front. But la Patrie est en- dam
yger'-I was determined to go on &C
( tive service by hook or crook, and at
once. I was born on January 3rd
1894, in Levien, near Lens, which, as
yousHnow was recap tqred by the Bri-
fish after the Germans had held II
for more than two years Therefore
my class was not due for service, I'M
der normal conditions, until Deem
Der, 1915, and. as matter of fact
> was not called to the colors until De-
eember, 1916.
When put my case to the French
Consulate, Descamps was negotiating
for the cancellation ct ,smy contrac'
for the fight with IAheaTpnfor which
Z was to fgteff1gg tng& biggest sum OF
Z. money IL mas yet Deem agreeQ TO pay
me for a contest.
4 Now. DescampE English promoters
VIII agree. is about the shrewdest, the
hardest. the most unyielding manager
extant when 1t comes to a question OF
money; but, to his everlasting credit
when told him I was off to the war
and would under no consideration
4 fight he merely Shrugged. This shout.
ders and ~ laughed fnrsthat quazzical
tmpish way of his, and agreedsrthat
was right
+ AS a matter of fact, the good Fran.
co.'s, ever bloodthirsty individual
: was just as anxious to get back tt
France as was; and, like the tborr
clown he is (Descan1ps, I, would tel
you, has played many parts in hi!
career - miner, rhought-reader-
teacher of bexing), mimicked his frs
fight with a pot-bellied German ii
the bedroom our our hotel.
We hoped to be able to leave Lon
+ don the night of August 4th, but tina
was not possible; it was three day,
later before we could start the jour
ney. And how different it was t.
any journey between England ant
France we had ever made before.
Apart from the vile sea, there wa.
Endless chopping and changing .o1
The railway; no comfort at all, onl,
head-aching excitement. And whe1
i did reach Paris was sick ant
weary at heart. too hungry to eat, ant
filled with wonderment as to wha
7 should be called upon to do AND
where I was to be sent to I did no
know.
George Carpenter, the champion
Of Europe, the greatest boxer in al
France. the idol of his country! TIL,
irony Of it. For Carpenter, as h,
was but few days before, I realized
that there was no place. Only die
my country want Carpenter as
common soldier; from days of grea
prosperity, from nights when I mad
q small fortune, from times when
was feted and petted, was plunge,
into days when men were reduced t.
O. common level, when only the sol
.dier matters.
Paris, when I arrived from London
was an unreal Paris-a mad Paris
its gaiety had gone, only tensenes
and sorrow remained. The war wa
but a few days old, and yet discov
cred that already not one, but all m
friends had scuttled from home, wer
even then in the fight. and not one
but several had been killed.
My friends will remember I an
sure, M. Matriot, who was one of tn
Judges of the nauar-fn-ho a.