Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-12-12


can flag on my breast, a French dag
beneath 1t and beneath that the war
cross. He kissed me on both cheeks.
Of course. which was taking advantage
Of a cripple. But 1t is the usual thing
with the French. as you know--I mean
the kissing. not the meanness to
crlpples.
When he had pinned the medal on
he said he thanked me- from the bot
tom of his heart for the French people.
aud also thanked all the Americans
who had come over from their own
land to help a country with which
most of them were not connected. He
said 1t was a war IN which many ma
lions were taking part, but In which
there were Just two ideas. freedom
and despotism, and a lot more things
that l cannot remember. He finished
by saying that he wished he could dec.
crate all OF us.
OF course 1t was great stuff for mo
and I thought / was the real thing
sure enough, but I could not help
thinking of the remark I have heard
here in the States--"I thank you and
| the whole family thanks you" And 1t
was hard not to laugh. Also 1t seemed
funny to me, because l did not rightly
know just what they were giving me
the medal for-though 1t was for one
Of two ~things-and I do not know to
this day. But l thought 1t would not
be polite to ask, so l let it 60 at that.
There were twelve other naval off,
GERS who were present and they and
all the other people did a lot of cheer
ing and vived me to a f~are-you.well.
1t was great stuff, altogether, and I
should have liked to get u medal every
day.
One day I received a letter from q
man who had been in my company In
the Foreign Legion and with whom l
had been pretty chummy. His letter
was partly in French and partly In
English. 1t was all about who had
been killed and who had been wound
ed. He also mentioned Murray's
death. which he had heard about, and
about my receiving the Croix de
Guerre. l was wishing he had said
something about Brown. whom l had
not heard from and who I knew would
visit me if he had the chance.
. But two or three days later I sol
!. another letter from the same mar ant
! when I opened it out tumhled a photo
| graph. At first all l saw was that l
was the photograph of q man crucitlet
with bayonets. but when I looked a
It closely I saw 1t was Brown.
) tainted then, just like a girl.
When l came to I could hardly maxi
2 myself think about 1t. Two of m,
pals gone! 1t hurt me so much t
! think Of 1t that I crushed the lette
up in my hand. but later on l coul,
| read parts of it. 1t said they hal
d found Brown this why near Dixmud
about two days after he had been re
ported missing. So three Of us wen
s over and two stayed there. 1t seem
e very strange to me that both OF IN,
d pals should be crucified and II l wer
9 superstitious I do not know what
would think about it. 1t made m
sick and kept me from recovering a
fast as I would have done otherwise
v Both Brown and Murray were goo
pals and very good men in n figh'
l often think Of them both and abou
d the things we did together, but latel
n l have tried not to think about thel
much because it Is very sad to thin
what torture they must have had
stand. They were both Of great cred
to this country.
n The American consul visited m
t. quite often and l got to calling hi
Sherlock because he asked so man
questions. We played lots Of game
together, mostly with dice, and had
ID great time generally. After I becam
cOnyalescent he argued with me this
1 had seen enough, and though l reall
ID did think ~so-however much I { dislike
what | had seen-he got my dlscharl
70 from the service on account Of ply
N ical inability to discharge the usu,
duties. After l had been at the no
"a pital for a little over a month ! We
discharged from Il, after a little part
,r In my ward with everyone tnklng pa
and all the horns blowing and all II
records except my favoritc dlrl
. played n after another.
% Sherlock arranged everything I,
Of me--my passage to New York, clot
Ing, etc. ran up to St. Nazaire nj
Mt saw my grandmother, loafed arour
I'd a while and also visited Lyons.
nv After a short time I returned
nv Brest and got my passage on Il
do Georgia for New York. I had thr'
nd trunks with me full Of things I h,
n. picked up around Europe and h,
be been keeping with my grnndmotht
re-. Among my belongings were sever
NJ. things / should like to show by ph
20 toyraphs In this book, but no one b
y. mermalds chr see them now, for doy
IN to tho locker Of Davy Jones they we
TO BE CONT1NUED.)
un ehrines to Foxes.
~ There IRE numbcrless shrines
Japan dedicated to foxes. The badR