New-York tribune., 1918-07-18
Bi I'd b O Us
Bv Wilbur Forrest
Copyright 1915 by Tho Tribune Association)
w nth THE FRENCH ARMIES IN

wv THE FIELD, June 15.-I have
visited many air camps in many
parts Of France during the past few weeks.
Everywhere I have been l found a fast
growing internationalism in the air.
French cscadrille, solely French during the
many months Of the many years of war,
dying of ennui during the long spells of
inclement weather and thoroughly fed up
with bad weather and isolation in general,
suddenly finds itself invaded by group of
redblooded American youngsters. They
speak no French, they have had no
real war flying except the make-beleve
kind in training camps, and they
tickled to be through with the make be-
lieve and ready for the real thing, They
are endowed with as much "pep" as school
kid on the way to the swimmn' hole or
| before a Saturday picnic, and you can
imagine how contagious is this pep" when
suddenly thrown into lonesome group Of
men blessed with all the wonderful quail
ties of Frenchmen. French and English
tongues soon become Franco-English
tongues, with good bit of American slang
thrown in. French food in the mess begins
to have an occasional Anne rican touch, and
the French army cook finds himself trying
his hand at doughnuts or fapjacks. And
everybody enjoys the diversion, because it
is diversion which could have been brought
about only by such unique mixture of the
two races.
l dropped into of these international
! camps a few days ago unexpectedly and
found everybody at home. 1t was the
cloudy, overhung kind of day when avia-
tors have nothing much to do but sit
around and wonder when the sun is going
to come out and chase the clouds away.
by French lieutenant.
"Have you any American aviators here?"
l asked.
"Mas. oui!" he responded with a show
of enthusiasm. "Mais ou," it may be Incl
dentally mentioned, is French equivalent
for "Well, I should say we have!"
The lieutenant led me to large tent,
where l found q Franco American bridge
game in full sway. 1T was being played
in that Franco English" tongue where
French players never fail to at least an
swer in the affirmative with Eyes" and
Americans with "oui." There was en-
thusiasm in that bridge game, and there
was spirit of camaraderie seldom seen
when two separate and distinct races get
together. Questions were asked in bad
French and answered in equally bad Eng
lish. An hours visit in the tent was con-
vincing that Franco English" had gone far
beyond the "oui' and Eyes" stage
The French lieutenant told me things
about small town in Iowa that I had
never heard before, and he went on with
his knowledge of another small town in
Ohio which he mixed up ndiscriminate tely
with the merits of New York, Chicago,
Washington, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.
1t was plain to see that several young
American aviators had been boosting their
home towns, and that the boys who
came to France from the stocks of Iowa
and Ohio were just good in explanatory
French the lads from the city.
The Iowa and Ohio towns were the best
for their size in the United States In
fact, the lieutenant was convinced that
everybody in America knew about these
towns and frequently spoke of them
Pittsburgh especially noted for being
one of the cleanest cities in the world and
Philadelphia was famous for a certain ho-
tel, which has a certain central location
Washington, the French lieutenant had
heard something of before, but Chicago, in
the far distant West, was a model CITY,
which almost ranked with New York. It
was here evident that the young New York
aviator had been holding up his end Of
the string, because Broadway, among both
French and American fiers seemed espe-
cially to be a place for future reference
after the war
But boosting home towns, eating and
playing bridge are things forgotten in
these Franco-American camps when there is
work to do. sunshiny day finds them
out in force over the enemy lines. doing
their best in an enthusiastic way to down
the Boche. They fight him with machine
guns, bomb him. photograph him and give
away his battery positions to the Franco
American artillery. This new international
game is sport which is pleasing to the
brdboys of the two nations. They have
formed combination which works in the
most efficacious manner and, moreover.
with most perfect harmony.
The Hearst Within Our Catas