The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1918-09-27
CHAPTER III.
In the Foreiqn Leoion.

This time / was determined 10 en-
list. SO, when we landed at st. Ma
zaire, l drew my pay from the Vir'
ginian and, after spending a week
with my grandmother, l went out and
asked the first gendarme l met where
the enlistment station was. / had TO
argue with him some time before he
would even direct me to IL. OF course
/ 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 80
many legionaries are wanted by the
police of their respective countries,
but a criminal record never had been
a bar to service with the legion. and i
did not see why II should be now-if
they suspected me of having one. i
had heard there were not few Ger
mans In the legion-later on l became
acquainted with some-and believe
me, no Alsatian ever fought harder
against the Huns than these former
Deutschlanders did. 1t occurred to
me then that IL they thought 1 was
a German, because / had no passport,
l might have to prove l had been In
trouble with the kaiser's crew before
they would accept me. / do not know
what the real trouble was, but solved
the problem by showing them my dis
charge papers from the American
navy. Even then, they were suspicious
because they thought I was too young
TO have been G. p. o. When they
challenged me on this point. said
would prove It to them by taking an
examination.
They examined me very carefully
In English, although l know enough
French to get by on 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 off. as
you might say. Anyway, 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
1. 1915.
There Is no use In my describing the
Foreign Legion. 1t is one of the most
famous fighting organizations in the
hao nj
ord during the war. When Joined La
Legion, II numbered about 10000 men
Today 1t has less than 5000. They
say that since August, 1914, the legion
Aas been wiped out three times, and
hat there are only a few men still ir
bervice who belonged to the original
legion. believe 1t to be true. II
January Of this year the French gov
eminent decided to let the legion die
] was sorry to hear 1t. The legion
wonderful fighters. But the whole
civilized world Is now fighting tn,
Huns, and Americans do not have tt
enlist with the French or the Limey.
any longer.
But one thing about the legion, tha
! find many people do not know, is tina
the legionnaires are used for eithe
land or sea service. They are sent wher
ever they can be used. l do not know
whether this was the case before tn,
present war-I think not-but In m.
dine, many of the men were put OIL
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 joi
the dreadnaught Cassard. This as
signment tickled me. for my pal Mui
ray was aboard. and I had expecte
trouble In transferring to his ship 1
case ] was assigned elsewhere. w
had framed 1t up to stick together q
long as we could. We did. too.
Murray was as glad as was whe
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.
VIC Wtic uoth SUI piiSSu NJ SUNNI
the differences between the FrenC
navy and ours, but after we got use
to 1t. we thought many Of their Gu
toms improvements over ours. But "
could not get used to II. at first. FC
Instance. on an American ship. whe
you are pounding your ear In mic
warm hammock and 1t is time to r
Move the watch on deck. like as M
you will be awakened gently by bur-
garby armed with fairy wand abo,
the size OF q bed slat, whereas
French ships. when they call III
watch. you would think you were in
well hotel and had left word at tn
Aesk. II was hard to turn out at frs
without the aid Of q club. and harde
afll to break ourselves Of the habl