Macon beacon., 1918-11-22
CHAPTER III.
In the Foreign Legion.

In the Foreign Legion.
This time I was determined to en-
list. So, when we landed at st. Ma
zaire, I drew my pay from the Vir-
ginian and, after spending week
with my grandmother, went out and
asked the first gendarme I met where
the enlistment station was. had to
argue with him some time before he
would even direct me to 1t. OF course
I had no passport and this made him
suspicious Of me.
The officer in charge Of the station
was no warmer in his welcome than
the gendarme, and this surprised me,
because Murray and Brown had no
trouble at all in joining. The French,
of course, often speak Of the Foreign
Legion as "the convicts," because so
many legionaries are wanted by the
police of their respective countries,
but a criminal record never had been
bar to service with the legion, and I
did not see why 1t should be now-h
they suspected me Of having one. ]
had heard there were not few Ger
mans in the legion-later on I became
acquainted with some-and believe
me, no Alsatian ever fought harder
against the Huns than these former
Deutschlanders did. It occurred to
me then that If they thought was
a German, because I had no passport,
might have to prove had been In
trouble with the kaiser's crew before
they would accept me. do not know
what the real trouble was, but I solved
the problem by showing them my dis
charge papers from the American
navy. Even then, they were suspicious
because they thought was too young
to have been G. P. o. When they
challenged me on this point, I said /
would prove it to them by taking an
examination.
They examined me very carefully,
in English, although ! know enough
French to get by on a subject like
gunnery. But foreign officers are very
proud Of their knowledge Of English
and most Of them can speak it-and
think this one wanted to show of, as
you might say. Anyway, I passed my
examination without any trouble,
was accepted for service in the For
eign Legion and received my commits
sion as gunner, dated Friday. January
!, 1915.
There is no use in my describing the
Foreign Legion. 1t Is one Of the most
famous fighting organizations in the
world, and has made wonderful rec
ord during the war. When Joined La
Legion, it numbered about 10000 men
Today 1t has less than 5000. They
say that since August, 1914, the legion
has been wiped out three times, and
that there are only few men still ir
service who belonged to the original
legion. believe 1t to be true. Ir
January Of this year the French gov
ernment decided to let the legion die
was sorry to hear 1t. The legion
naires were fine body Of men, ant
wonderful fighters. But the whole
civilized world Is now fighting thu
Huns, and Americans do not have t
enlist with the French or the Limeyl
any longer.
But one thing about the legion, tina
find many people do not know, Is tha
the legionnaires are used for eithe
land or sea service. They are sent wher
ever they can be used. do not know
whether this was the case before th'
present war-I think not-but in m!
time, many Of the men were put OF
ships. Most people, however, have tn
idea that they are only used in the In
fantry.
With my commission as gunner,
received orders to 60 to Brest and joil
the dreadnaught Cassard. This as
signment tickled me, for my pal Mur
ray was aboard, and had expecte'
trouble in transferring to his ship Il
case I was assigned elsewhere. w
had framed it up to stick together a
long as we could. We did. too.
Murray was as glad as I was whel
I came aboard, and he told me he ha
heard Brown, our other pal, had bee
made a sergeant in another regimen
Of the legion.
We were both surprised at some Q
the differences between the Frenc
navy and ours, but after we got use
to it, we thought many Of their Gu:
toms improvements over ours. But W
could not get used to 1t, at first. Fo
instance, on an American ship, whe
you are pounding your ear in mic
warm hammock and 1t Is time to n
lieve the watch on deck, like as M
you will be awakened gently by a burl
garby armed with fairy wand abor
the size Of a bed slat, whereas
French ships, when they call tt
watch, you would think you were In
swell hotel and had left word at II
desk. 1t was hard to turn out at frs
without the aid Of a club, and hard'
still to break ourselves of the hab