The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-10-03

tenant Barley. He pinned an Ameri-
can flag on my breast, a French flag
beneath 1t and beneath that the war
cross. He kissed me on both cheeks,
Of course, which was taking advantage
OF q cripple. But 1t Is the usual thing
with the French, as you know-I mean
the kissing, not the to
cripples.
When he had pinned the medal on
he said he thanked me from the bot
tom of his heart for the French people,
and 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 II was a war IN which many ma
tons were taking part, but In which
there were just two ideas, freedom
and despotism, and a lot more things
that / cannot remember. He finished
by saying that he wished he could dec
crate all of us.
OF course 1t was great stuff for me
and l thought l was the real thing
sure enough. but / could not help
thinking of the remark / have heard
here in the States-'T thank you and
the whole family thanks you" And it
was hard not to laugh. Also it seemed
funny to me, because I did not rightly
know. just what they were giving me
the medal for-though 1t was for one
of two things-and / do not know to
this day. But I thought 1t would not
be polite to ask, SOL let 1t go at that.
There were twelve other naval off,
GERS who were present and they ard
an the other people did a lot Of cheer
ing and vived me to a fare-you-well.
It was great stuff, altogether, and I
should have liked TO get a medal every
day.
One day / received a letter from a
man who had been In my company in
the Foreign Legion and with whom !
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. I was wishing he had said
something about Brown. whom / had
not heard from and who I knew would
visit me if he had. the chance.
But two or three days later / got
another letter from the same man and
when / opened it out tumbled a photo
Oranh A. fret oil Y - xx.nc that "a
was the photograph of a man crucified
with b~ayonets, but when I looked at
1t closely / saw 1t was Brown. ]
tainted then. just like a girl.
When l came to / could hardly make
myself think about 1t. Two Of my
pals gone! 1t hurt me so much to
think of 1t that / crushed the letter
up In my hand, but later on / could
read parts of IL. 1t said they had
found Bsown this way near Dixmude
about two days after he had been re-
ported missing. SO three of us went
over and two stayed there. 1t seems
very strange to me that both of my
pals should be crucified and If / were
superstitious / do not know what I
would think about II. 1t made me
sick and kept me from recovering as
fast as I would have done otherwise.
Both Brown and Murray were good
pals and very good men In a fight.
/ often think OF them both and about
the things we did together, but lately
I have tried not to think about them
much because 1t Is very sad to think
what torture they must have had to
stand. They were both of great credit
to this country.
The American consul visited me
quite often and I got to calling him
Sherlock because he asked so many
questions . We played lots CT gafacs
together. mostly with dice, and had a
great time generally After I became
convaiescent he argued with me that
! had e e enough, and though I really
did think so-however much ! disliked
what l had seen--he got my discharge
from the service on account of phys
ical inability to discharge the usual
duties. After I had been at the hos
pltal for q little over a month l was
discharged from It, after a little party
In my ward with everyone taking part
and all the horns blowing and all the
records except my tavorite dirge
played one after another.
Sherlock arranged everything for
me-my passage to New York, cloth
ing. etc. 1 ran up to st. Nazaire and
sax nv vruudmofhpr loaf af7 aroupd