The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-28

tenth year he enlisted in the navy.
After serving ereditably in Mexican
waters he returned with his ship to New
York, and, neglecting the formality Of
obtaining leave to do so or a discharge
from the navy, he departed for France,
where he Joined the Foreign Legion. In
that corps, and finally as an American
aviator in the French service, he rounded
out a brief but beautiful life and was
the first American airman to fall in bat
tie flying the Stars and Stripes. He hoped
to obtain and doubtless would have OBJ
tanned cancellation of the record of de-
sertion from the navy, since he left the
service as he did solely for the sake of
fighting sooner. This is indicated by the
letter from President Wilson, the Com
mander in Chief of the Navy, written to
Mrs. Albert Rivers Genet shortly after
hor sons death. Il congratulate you from
the bottom of my heart" wrote the Presi-
dent to his mother, ION the record which
he made for himself, which must have
mixed your deep grief with genuine
pride"
Young Genet's naval service was chiefly
in Mexican and West Indian waters. In
letter from Vera Cruz he describes the
departure in May 1914, Of the U. s.
battleship Montana, bearing the bodies of
the fourteen sailors and three marines
who we're killed in the fighting there-a
sacrifice of brave men to no purpose. at
was a highly impressive sight to see her
steam out slowly between the warships
with all the ensigns at half mast, the
bands playing the funeral march and all
the crews standing along the decks of the
ships, facing her with barred heads. If
anything serious occurs here how many
more of us will be carried back the same
wayp
Picturesque Vera Cruz.
Fortunately the apprehension of fur
Their bloodshed was not verified. In the
early morning, when the sun was just
coming up, Genet thought that Vera
Cruz, with its white houses, the old white
walled fort in front and the lofty snow
capped mountains in the background, was
the most beautiful piece of scenery he
had ever beheld. In these his earliest
letters the writer's artistic sense of the
picturesque and his love of nature are
already manifest. The only naval ex-
perience which he mentions with disfavor
is the laundry work
81 must close now" be writes at the end
of one letter, "and get down below to do
some strenuous serubbing. Scrubbing
dirty clothes on Saturday afternoon
wouldn't appeal to me at all on the out
side, but in the MAXWELL, it has to be
done, SO one gets used to it, and then
really it isn't hard work anyway. l know
one thing, though, and that is that when
l get wife she can darn my clothes, but
she'll never wash them if l can prevent
itp His last duty in the navy was target
practice, and he rejoiced in the excellence
Of the gunnery on his own ship, the
Georgia, where the starboard waist turret
scored twelve hits in twelve Shots "Surely
no nation can beat the United States in
heavy gun firing" was his final comment.
With the Foreign Legion.
Slipping quietly away in the French
liner Rochambeau, Genet's fondest hopes
for early fighting were soon realized after
his arrival in France in January, 1915.
He enlisted in the Foreign Legion on
the Sd of February, and on the 26th of
March he was writing to his mother from
the very front line of the trenches with
bullets singing and kissing all around
and the Germans not 400 meters away.
The cracking of French mitrailleuse
near by sounded like the explosion of a
pack of Mandarin frecrackers.
Here his detachment remained for five
days, firing at the enemy through the
portfolios of the trenches and receiving
their return fire, after which he and his
companions went back to their base for