Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-09-26
CHAPTER ~.
In the Foreign Legion.

III inc bVSci0u 6cDsOUs
This time I was determined to en-
list. So. when We landed at st. Ma
Eaire. I drew my pay from the Wiz.
ginian and. after spending q week
with my grandmother. I went ont 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
/ 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 oil in Joining. The French,
OF course. often speak Of the Foreign
Legion as "the convicts." because SO
many DICTIONARIES 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 n0w-f
they suspected me Of having one. I
had heard there were not a few Ger.
mans In the ~legion-later on I became
acquainted with sonle-and believe
me, no AlsatIan ever fought harder
against the Huns than these former
Deutschlanders did. 1t occurred to
me then that II they thought I was
a German, because l had no passport,
might have to prove I had been In
trouble with the kaiser's crew before
they would accept me-. l 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 l was too young
to have been a G. p. o. When they
challenged me on this point, I said l
would prove 1t to them by taking an
examination.
They examined me very carefully,
IN English. although l know enough
French to get by on a subject like
Runnery. But foreign officers are very
proud of their knowledge Of English
and most Of them can speak it-and I
think this q wanted to show of, as
you might say. Anyway, l passed my
examination without any trouble,
was accepted for service In the For
eign Legion and received my conmis-
sion as gunner, dated Friday, January
!. 1915.
There Is no use In my describing the
Foreign Legion. 1t Is n Of the most
famous lighting Organizations in the
world. and has made a wonderful rec
ord during the war. When I Joined La
Legion. 1t 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 a few men still In
service who belonged to the original
legion. I believe II to be true. In
January Of this year the French gov
eminent decided to let the legion die
l was sorry to hear It. The legion
naires were a fine body Of men, and
wonderful fighters. But the whole
civilized world IL now fighting thu
Huns, and Americans do not have Il
enlist with the French or the Limeyi
any longer.
But n thing about the legion, tina,
iod many people do not know, is tina,
the tegionnaires are used for ethel
land or sea service. They are sent wher
ever they can be used. I do not know
whether this was the case before thu
present war-I think not--but in my
time. many of the men were put OF
ships. Most people. however, have thu
idea that they are only used in the In
fantry.
With my commission az gunner,
received orders to 60 to Brest and joir
the ~dreadnaught Cassard. This %
Segment tickled me. for my pal Mur
ray was aboard, and I had expected
trouble In transferring 10 his ship Il
case [ was assigned elsewhere. W,
had framed It Up to stick together q
long a. We could. We did, too.
Murray was 40 glad a. I was .whei
came aboard, and he told me he ha,
heard Brown. our other pal. had beeI
made q sergeant In another regimen
Of the legion.
We were both surprised ut some o
the differences between the Frencl
navy aud ours. but after we got use'
to t. We thought many Of their cul
toms improvements over ourn But "
could not get used to Il, at Arst. 70
Instance, on On American ship, whe
you are pounding your a IN a mic
warm hammock ana II Ii time to 2,
iieve the watch on deck, like a. nc
you will be awakened gently BY Z burl
garby armed with q fairy wand abos
the Size Of . bed slat, whereas I
French ships. when they call u
watch. you would think You were In
swell hotel and had left word ct u
desk. Il was hard to turn out at an
without the aid Of 4 club. and hard.
etn TO break ourselves Of the hat
y NnlllnR nnr rnllOf IN tha sac -