Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-07-19


France and Joining the Foreign legion
Of the French army.
Decides to Go to Canada.
A couple Of nights after got to New
York l foil into conversation in the
Knickerbocker bar with chap who
was in the reinforcement company OF
Princess Pats regiment of the Cana
dian forces. After my talk with him
decided to go up to Canada and look
things over. l arrived at the Windsor
hotel, In Montreal, at 8 o'clock in the
morning couple Of days later, and ut
10 o'clock that morning l was sworn
In as private in the Canadian Grena-
der guards, Eighty-seventh overseas
battalion, Lieutenant Colonel f. 8.
Meighen commanding. They We're just
getting under way, making soldiers out
Of the troops enlisted With, and dis
cipline was quite lax.
They at once gave me weeks leave
to come down to New York and settle
up some personal affairs, and l over
stayed it five days. All that my COM
pany commander said to me when l
got back was that l seemed to have
picked up Canadian habits very quick
~. At review one day in our train
ing camp heard major say:
Boys, for Gods sake don't call mo
Harry or spit in the ranks. Here comes
the generall'
We found out eventually that there
was reason for the slackness Of dis
cipline. The trouble was that men
would enlist to, get $1.1O day with
out working for it and would desert
as soon as any one made it unpleasant
for them. Our officers knew what they
We're about. Conditions changed in
stantly we went on shipboard. Disci
pline frightened up on us like tie rope
on colt
We trained in a sort of casual, easy
way in Canada from Nov. to the fol.
lowing April We had good deal Of
trouble keeping our battalion up to-
strength, and / was sent out several
times with other "noncoms'' OH re-
cruiting detail. While we were in the
training camp at st. Johns made the
acquaintance of a young Canadian who
became my pal" He was Campbell
Mcfarland, nephew of George McFar.
land, the actor who is so we'll known
on the American musical stage. He
was sergeant. When l first knew
him he was one Of the most delightful
and amusing young fellows you could
imagine.
The war changed him entirely He
became extremely quiet and seemed to
be borne down with the sense of the
terrible things which he saw. He new
er lost the good fellowship which was
inherent in him and was always ready
to do anything to oblige me, but he
formed the habit Of sitting alone and
silent, for hours at time, just think
ing. 1t seemed as If he had Fremont
ton about himself, though he never
showed fear and never spoke of the
dangers we were going into, as the
other fellows did. He was killed in
the Somme action in which l was
wounded.
l also had been made sergeant on
account of the fact that l had been
ut school in the Virginia Military in
Btitute-that is, / was an acting ser
geant. 1t was explained to me that
my appointment would have to be
confirmed in England and then recon
frmed after three months service In
| France Under the regulations of the
| Canadian forces nOncommissioned
! officer, after final confirmation in his
grade, can be reduced to the ranks
only by general court martial, though
he can escape court martial, when
| confronted with charges, by reverting
| to the ranks at his own request
| Forty-two hundred of us sailed for
| England on the Empress of Britain
sister ship to the Empress of Ireland
which was sunk in the st. Lawrence
river. The steamer was, of course
| very crowded and uncomfortable, and
the eight day trip across was most un
| pleasant. We had tripe to eat until
we were sick of the sight of 1t. A
sergeant reported one morning, eight
men and twenty-five breakfasts alb
sent" There were two other trooI
ships in our convoy, the Baltic and the