The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-20
CITY PAYS TRIBUTE
TO FOREIGN LEGION
y
Heroes From Many Battle
fields Come to Aid Lib
erty Loan.
FIND WARM WELCOME
Every Member of Brave Band
Wears Several War
Decorations.
IND WARM WELCOME

New York took the Foreign Legion
to its heart yesterday. Perhaps II
would be more precise to say that New
York had it's first opportunity OF show
ing the Foreign Legion how much 1t Is
admired and beloved. for all the world
took the Foreign Legion 70 Its heart
iong years ago We may suspect that
the famous corps Is admired even In
Germany-admiration mingled win
dread
Every one Of them wounded so badly
that It is doubtful II he ever can go
into the trenches again. los off,cers
and men>-6f the legion arrived In New
York to help put the fourth Liberty
Loan over the top, and were received
with a welcome never exceeded. per
haps never equalled.
1t was fitting, for in sending them
here France conferred upon New York
signal distinction. 1t was the Iirst
time a detachment OF the legion ever
had set foot upon foreign soil under
arms-except to fight. 1t was the hrst
| time n detachment ever had travelled
as a unit-except to fight. They viii
travel over the rest Of the country
from now on, but the first honor was
New York's. the first look at the be-
! decorated heroes. and their corps's orig
inal flag.
City Not Prepared for Visit.
New York was hardly prepared to do
| herself justice In the matter of the re-
ception she wanted to accord these men,
The Liberty Loan Committee had kept
| tn fact of their arrival too much of a
secret. But when they appeared yester-
day and New York learned what and
who they were and what their mission
was, she made up I'm the warmth of her
reception anything that might have been
lacking in elaboration of arrangements
when the veterans appeared downtown
! on top of the five buses to visit the head
| quarters Of the Liberty Loan Commit
| tee. II was as II the man on the street
had studied overnight the history OF the
/ Foreign Legion and knew Just what
| membership in that famous organization
| demanded And entailed.
1t was the same last night when the
Legionnaires appeared uptown. The city
was theirs Probably not until Gen.
| pershing's army returns victorious will
| fighting men receive a heartier welcome
In the lot are men from almost every
! nation now arrayed against Germany.
Many of these men are men who could
| not or would not wait to see service
| under their own national flag. but who
enlisted in the Foreign Legion in order
to get quick action.
All Are Decorated.
There are men In the lot whose sole
| business in life has been to fight. There
| are men who left peaceful pursuits and
professions like architecture and teach
ing TO join the Legion. There are Swiss,
| Greeks. Alsatians. Spaniards, Russians.
| Egyptians. Danes. MOntenegrns and
Slavs. And there are Frenchmen who
posed as Belgians because no French
man was allowed to enlist. There are
men who enlisted years ago out Of sheer
| love for adventure. and there are grad
yates of the French Ecole de Guerre-
| specialists In the science of war-who
| transferred to the Legion before the
great war broke out because they thought
otherwise they might never have an
/ opportunity to see active service.
| Every member OF the contingent wears
one or more decorations for bravery dis
played in some fight somewhere. Most
OF them wear a half dozen or more and
some nearer a dozen and nearly every
one wears two or three wound stripes on
/ his right arm.
There Is Capt. Cha de Gerry. the
commanding officer. whose right leg was
blown off when he entered a German
trench and who wears the insignia OF an
officer OF the Legion OF Honor. There
! is as wei, Sergeant Michael MacWhite
late of Cork, who wears the Croix de
Guerre. but who admits that his only
{ fighting experience before the present
war was such as any youth might get
who was brought up in an Irish village
| Capt. Jean Drulang. an Alsatian. en-
listed IN the Foreign Legion when he
was 10 years old. He Is now 35 and
! has fought in every one of France g
colonies. and remarks casually and
| cheerfully that he expects to be back
soon in his old home In Alsace.
Greet Fallen Members Mother.
A sweet faced woman in deep mourn
| ing was waiting at the end OF the hall
TO meet some OF the famous visitors
These men are accustomed to seeing
women in mourning, but yesterday when
the hundred odd veterans lined up In tine
long hall somehow the word spread
| among them that the woman in black
| was Alan Seeger's mother. Mrs Seeger
had come from Philadelphia when she
heard that the men of the FOREIGN
| Legion were TO arrive
Inc "oflldn sought intimate news of
her boy. She sought to learn If by
any chance any of these men brought
! 4 message to her from the field OF
Relloy en- Santerre. where he died on
the anniversary of Americas declarat ton
OF independence two years ago. In this
she was disappointed, for the men she
saw yesterday were for the most part
men Of different regiment Of the IA
nous corps to which her son belonged
But they knew OF him knew that he was
one OF them. and they saluted with pro.
found respect the mother of one OF their
dead comrades.
"Seeger? All. Alan Seegcr, the poet
Of a certainty we know him. Not in per.
son. but by fame. Out. oui. Seeger who
wrote The Rendezvous Assuredly We
know him" And these hardened, vet,
eran fighting men turned their heads ir
a gentle tribute OF respect TO the mother
Of one OF their kind.
II feel that Alan would want me her,
to speak with his comrades" Mrs Seege,
explained. Il shall come often while yor
are here"
Perhaps more than in any Of the OF
icers of the famous organization New
Workers. will be interested IN Sergeant
Michael MacWhite OF Cork, one Of III,
few members of the group who speal
English MacWhite was teacher a
languages In Copenhagen and lust abou
h.