The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-11-13

France was my mother. And when in
1870 l heard my mother was attacked
| fastened to her defense. l had spirit
then. Why, when l left America |
felt single handed ! could defeat Ger
many. But | was too small Tor the
job or the job was too big for me,
do not know which But l did know,
when. at the close of the war, I re-
turned to California, because ! fought
in that war, as in this, as an Ameri-
can, that / had witnessed the open
ing scene of a terrible drama. I had
been present at the birth of Prussian
world domination. did not know
whether I would live to see its de-
nouncement
with a limp in my right knee
from a wound and a tiny medal Of
honor that my country gave me, and
there are mighty few of us in the
French army today left to be wear
ing them, I came back to the good
T. S. A. and located in Los Angeles
when it was an adobe town of $500
people 1000 of whom were Mexicans.
To-day, sir. it is the finest city in
the world I will spare you the dis
sertation on the Queen City of the
world that he gave to me for fifteen
minutes because inadvertently, I had
asked him if it was a better city than
San Francisco. Just imagine a thir-
ty degree Los Angeles booster, the
secretary of the Chamber Of Com
merce, the leading real estate agent
Of the city all bound in one, and you
will have some idea of the talk he
gave me. He showed me photo
graphs Of his home. No. 354 Douglas
street, that he had carried safely
through all his campaigning
California has been good to me. Il
have prospered. I have raised a good
American family and they are today
all residents of California At sixty
three l was nursing the delusion
that the best part of life trailed be-
hind me. l had forgotten: Come
grow old along with me, the best of
life is yet to be-. But the rumors of
war, and then war itself, swept me
away from my life's quiet mornings.
Il saw the final act of the play,
the first act of which | had seen
staged in 1870 was to be enacted. And
l saw clearly it was not merely q
struggle this time Getween France
and Germany. l knew that it two
world forces cOntending - autocracy
o6oAiot htinONl 1 Knew IlldI Ill
this struggle l would not only be
fighting for France but for America
as well l made up my mind to get
in it,
Employing a strategem, I left home
without worrying my family.
Il landed in Havre, but had not
been on the street an hour before
gendarme halted me and asked me
m bncinacc 1s-t
and fight for France, | told him He
scowled at me and said. old man,
don't get funny with me-these are
dangerous times, and I want to know
your errand here. Take me to the
nearest enlistment office, my good
man. | said and | will show you
Not knowing what else to do with me
he did as l suggested.
eve entered the office, and for
tunately a Colonel was in charge I
walked up to him and said Colonel,
l have come five thousand miles to
fight for France, and if your regiment
will take me, I'd like to get at it
right away. The Colonel laughingly
said: Why didn't you come earlier?'
And | retored: Why didn't you
start the war earlier?" Well he said.
maybe we can use you as a cambion
driver No, you won't l said, boldly,
1 didn't come all the way from Los
Angeles, California, to drive a pair of
mules. I've come to fight
Bravo he says, that's the spirit
we want. You come back at two
o'clock this afternoon, and if you can
convince the doctor that your heart is
half as strong as your spirit, you may
get rifle
Promptly at two l was back in the
office. The doctor ordered me to at
once strip. l did so. He thumped
| and bumped me prodiguously, and
that was enough. When I joined my
new regiment they were fighting at
Verdun; men were needed; no one
asked me any questions; within a
week after | arrived / was in the hos
pital nursing a wound"
He was very reticent in explaining
how he had obtained his medals, but
by dint of persistent prodding / found
that he had won the Croix de Guerre
when in front line position his COM
mander discovered they were about
out of ammunition and asked for a
volunteer to creep rearward over a
shell swept field to notify headquar-
tiers. He successfully made the peril
Gus tip, receiving only a slight wound
His palm came to him when he left
position of comparative safety to
rescue his wounded colonel and in
stall him in his retreat while he
guarded him during the night until
relieved in the morning
This medal militaire l never ex-
pected to wear" he said. 1.-THE action
in which l won this l never believed
| would live through. Three hundred
of us took a German advance trench
and before we had consolidated it q
thousand or more Boches, springine
from the ground like the famed har-
vest of dragons teeth had surround.
ed us. They called on us to surren-
der Our answer was voiced will
lead. OF the three hundred, twenty
of us got back to our own trenches
and l, who was then a sergeant. was
the senior officer in command.
"Ihree times | have haen xvOunded