Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-12-27

leuduI OdTDcy. ne pinned an Amerl-
can flag on my breast, a French flag
beneath it and beneath that the war
cross. He kissed me on both cheeks,
of course, which was taking advantage !
of cripple. But it is the usual thing .
with the French, as you know-I mean
the kissing, not the meanness to !
cripples. i
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 it was war in which many ma
tons were taking part, but in which
there were just two ideas, freedom
and despotism, and lot more things
that I cannot remember. He finished
by saying that he wished he could dec
crate all Of us.
OF course it was great stuff for me
and I thought was the real thing
sure enough, but I could not help
thinking of the remark I have heard
here in the States-'I thank you and
the whole family thanks you" And it
was hard not to laugh. Also it seemed
funny to me, because did not rightly
| know just what they were giving me
the medal for-though it was for one
| Of two things-and 1 do not know to
| this day. But I thought it would not
be polite to ask, so let it go at that.
! There were twelve other naval Off
GERS who were present and they and
all the other people did lot Of cheer
ing and vived me to a fare-you-wel.
It was great stuff, altogether. and I
should have liked to get medal every
day.
One day I received q letter from q
man who had been in my company in
the Foreign Legion and with whom I
had been pretty chummy. His letter
was partly in French and partly in
English. It 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 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 photo
graph. At first all saw was that Il
was the photograph Of man crucif1ed
with bayonets, but when I looked at
, 1t closely I saw it was Brown.
J tainted then, just like a girl.
5 When came to could hardly make
2 myself think about it. Two Of my
3 pals gone! 1t hurt me so much to
i think Of it that I crushed the lettel
s up in my hand, but later on I could
/ read parts of it. It said they haf
d found Brown this way near Dixmud,
: about two days after he had been re
e ported missing. So three of us wen
s over and two stayed there. It seem!
e very strange to me that both of m!
d pals should be crucified and If wer'
e superstitiOus l do not know what
= would think about it. It made M
# sick and kept me from recovering a.
l. fast as would have done otherwise
" Both Brown and Murray were goo'
l. pals and very good men in fight
t. I often think Of them both and abou
d the things we did together, but latel
n I have tried not to think about then
8 much because it is very sad to thin
e what torture they must have had
stand. They were both of great credl
20 to this country.
n The American consul visited m
t. quite often and I got to calling hiE
,e Sherlock because he asked so man
ID questions. We played lots of game
10 together, mostly with dice, and had
I'd great time generally. After becam
70 convalescent he argued with me this
v, had seen enough, and though reall
ID did think so-however much dislike
N what had seen-he got my discharg
re- from the service on account Of ply
IN ical inability to discharge the usu,
duties. After I had been at the no.
"a pital for little over a month l we
, . discharged from it, after little part
IL. in my ward with everyone taking pa
10 and all the horns blowing and all tt
nc records except my favOrite dire
o played one after another.
es Sherlock arranged everything fl
of me-my passage to New York, clotl
ing, etc. I ran up to st. Nazaire an
at saw my grandmother, loafed arour
I'd a while and also visited Lyons.
nv After a short time I returned
nv Brest and got my passage on IL
dc George for New York. 1 had thr,
nd trunks with me full Of things 1 he
,+- picked up around Europe and hs
he been keeping with my grandmothe
70 Among my belongings were sever
at. things I should like to show by ph
0s tographs in this book, b1t 10 one b
~. mermaids can see them row, for dow
To to the locker Of Davy Jones they weI
,ro (TO BE CONTINUED.