South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-08-14
FAKE WAR HERO
FOUND IN PARIS
Heroic Exploits of D'Artagnan.
Had Nothing on Those
Of Rene Bertrand.

PARIS. Aug. 1.-THE heroic ex-
PLOTS and hairbreadth escapes of
D'Artagnan as narrated by DumaE
ia the Three AIusketeers. fade into
comparative insignificance when
compared with the achievements of
Rene Bertrand as told by himself
Minus an arm and leg. with nine
medals glittering on his breast. and
asserting that his body bore more
than 30 bullet and bayonet wounds.
Private Rene Bertrand Of the
French infantry posed i'm Paris as
the greatest hero of the war.
Now ne has been arrested as per-
haps one Of the wars Creates fakirs
and the police authorities declare
that ne lost his leg and arm I'm a
railway accident and that five i'm
prisouments instead OF five citations
compose his record. IL was the pub
LEGATION of Betrand's photograph in
a French newspaper that led 10 his
undoing.
Meantime, while reveling in the
fruits of his own romance. Bertrand
GERS and the credit of the leading
Paris cafes. one famous and fear
less aviator made Pvt. Bertrand his
godson and adopted" him for the
balance OF the war.
The medals he wore included the
cross of the legion Of honor, the
military medal the war cross with
.-l,-o,, ,,1,,,e ,,,a g~-o gt.,.- +L,o DIE
ish military cross. the Belgian war
cross, the colonial medal, medal Of
Morocco, and the medal for saving
life. and the medal for wounds In
addition he wore the "foUragere" OF
the legion of honor.
Where he got them has not been
disclosed, but 10 account for them
Bertrand constructed a story of won q
derful incidents. According to this
tale he won the military medal by
saving the lives of two officers and
was himself wounded in the thigh
when surrounded by natives while
fighting with the French territorial
forces in Morocco in 1918.
He Tells His Story.
Then according 10 his own story.
Bertrand won the war cross in a
patrol exploit i'm the present war
when. after his companions were
willed ne captured a whole German
cooking outfit at Laon, having kill
ed most Of the cooks. Next, fighting
with the British on the SOmme, he
won the military cross by capturing
u Germans single-handed Mean
time he had been captured five
times by the Germans but always
managed to escape.
In the next chapter OF his biog-
raphy Bertrand appears in the fight
around MOnastir on the Macedonian
front, where he simultaneously
operated four machine guns and
wreaked such an awful havoc with
the enemy that their attack was
beaten off At the battle OF Monastir
ne essayed to rescue an officer who
lay wounded in No Mans land and
was himself wounded in the abdo-
men. Despite his pain he ragged
the officer back 10 safety and went
out again TO rescue d wounded
nurse. In the last trip his arm was
shattered by a bullet and later was
amputated.
Next we find Bertrand a passenger
on board a ship bound for France.
The torpedo which hit the vessel
shattered one of Betrand's legs.
Calmly amputating it with his knife,
Bertrand bound up the stump, drag
ged himself to the rail. threw him
self overheard, paused there long
enough 10 rescue the captain. and
swan TO a piece of drift wood where
he lived for three days and three
nights before being rescued by a
Spanish vessel For this Bertrand
said he received the medal Of the
legion OF honor.
Numerous stars and leaves OF
palms that Bertrand wore upon his
war cross had been acquired, ac-
cording to his tale, by y distinct
acts Of heroism worthy of the covet-
ed cross but the details Of these in
cidents have not yet been given L
the public