New-York tribune., 1918-01-20
American Boy Veterans Of leroic oreignLegion
Bring Honor and F Experience Into IL S. Ranks
Another Won Cross at
V1erduni, When Two
Men Took 81 Boches
Third Has Learned
Three French Words,
"Avancez, Legion
Etrangere'

NIGHT schiisscn! Amis! Amis! Kan.
erad! the thirty big Germans kept on
shouting. and we didn't throw. Not
one Of them had a grenade in hand or
rifle, so we took chance. But we
kept our grenades ready.
"When we got ub closer they changed
their tune still more. Pardon, mon
sicurs, pardon, one fellow said, and an
other made a plain statement that he
would consider it an honor to be taken
prisoner by the members of the For
cign Legion.
"Thc first German got hold of be-
came confidential. AS you see he
said, Il am not one Of those Prussians.
| have a wife. and eight little chill
drcn at home, and want to go back to
them after the war and support them
III give you two cigars and some sugar
IT you'll take me prisoner
The Germans Were
On Their Knees
-Four. or five of the Germans got
down on their knees and began saying
prayers in German. Sounded like they
were repeating 'Gott nit iins' all the
/ time. ] tell you it was a funny sight
to see them there in No Mans Land,
and the corporal and u had to laugh
right out. That made four or five more
OF them go down on their knees.
$50 the, corporal and / got the whole
thirty together and marched them in
front OF US, very thankful lot, some
OF them holding out pocketbooks and
German money for us, others cutting
OF brass buttons from their coats, be-
cause they knew we like them for
souvenirs.
After a while we report to the
lieutenant, That's what we found in
the trench And the lieutenant recon-
, mepds us, and few weeks later we are
cc!ted, and we get the Croi3 dc Guerre.
he sure you mention the corporal, be-
cause he did as much as I did"
a tew weeks. ago Blount was detailed
oy MS. captain to carry. q message over
a dangerous piece Of ground, and there
he met the famous three shells. One
foil behind, another in front, Of him
and the third--as is always the case
placed his name on the list of woulfdcd.
That shell knocked him out with bits
Of steel in his chest, his arm and his
poeketbook and sent him to Paris,
where he recovered. 1t was his first
leave since the United States entered
the war, so he made application to join
his country's army.
Blount was with Corporal Guy Aeos-
TIM, who was killed at Verdun. Agos-
TIM stood at his post under shell fire
when all the men of the rank had b.,
command taken shelter in dugout.
The young Legionnaire was a brother
OF the American Consul at Tarrayona.
Arthur Barry,
Flighbrow Plasterer
Barry's home is Brighton. Mass.
plasterer''; but Chicago and PITTSBURGH
ana Death Valley knew him, and he
has worked on many a ranch in Texas.
II don't follow my profession much :"
he says.
II came over because like good
tight, and I thought the Bushes needed
lickin," is the way Barry opened his
narratlve, and lie closed it with: "Weu.
I'VE got my belly full" In between
~" Two expressions arc two years of
the same heavy fighting which Moyet
mad told of. but it would take a phono-
graph record to transmit the tine, mel
low brogue OF the narrator and the
variety OF rich, rare and racy EXPIRES.
sions which his many experiences have
given him. Barry's recent history CEN
tres chiefly about the two times he was
wounded.
".Fhe first was when the Germans at
tackled us. The second when we at-
tackled them. The second was the
worst said Barry, "but the first
scared me most
They attacked me while I was asleep
ana they crumpled me up with nv
mouth open. My hearing was gone for
fifteen days, and thank God / had NV
mouth open. because nv lieutenant
VINO slept with his mouth shut. he lost
his hearing forever.
The she'll came down smash in the
trench, and we got buried. My mouth
got full OF everything, dirt aid gas.
and when | spit it all out, said to
myself:
"'Well here's where Barry's friends
pack in the States lose all track of him
I'm done!'
But wasn't. felt bloody all over.
My nose was cut right through and
my right leg was hit, and | had
piece OF shell in my right hand. was
convulsed--you know what Il mean 3
convulsed, tied up in a knot, and
couldn't catch my breath.
They Were All
Covered With Blood
When l pulled myself free from the
DIRT and. stood up, shells were still
coming down with big noise. NV
friends on the right and left were living
still, worse buried than | was.
1T was no use going to dugout
while these friends might still be alive.
was it? But felt bit funny about
pulling them out. didn't know but
what an arm or leg might come off
when pulled. They were all in blood.
like myself. But l pulled and got both
OF them free from the dirt and dragged
them down the trench to the stretcher