Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-10-18
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
zairc. drew my pay from the Vir-
einian and, after spending a week
with my grandmother, I went out and
asked the first gendarme l met where
the enlistment station was. I had to
argue with him some time before he
would even direct me to it. 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 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
did not see why it should be nOw~-if
they suspected me Of having one. I
had heard there were not eew 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. 1t occurred to
me then that If they thought 1 was
a German, because l had no passport,
might fave to prove l had been in
trouble with the kaiser's crew before
they would accept me. do not know
wkat 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 l was too young
to have been a G. P. 0. When they
challenged me on this point, I said
would prove it to them by taking al
examination.
They examined me very carefully
in English, although I know enough
French to get by on subject lik'
gunnery. But foreign officers are yer.
proud of their knowledge Of English
end most of them can speak it-and
think this one wanted to show off, a
you might say. Anyway, 1 passed M
examination without any trouble
was accepted for service in the Fol-
eign Legion and received my commits
sion as gunner, dated Friday, Januar
l, 1915.
There is no use in my describing tn
Foreign Legion. 1t is one Of the mos
famous fighting organizations in tn
world, and has made a wonderful ret
ord during the war. When joined L
Legion, it numbered about 10000 mel
Today it has less than 5000. The
say that since August, 1914, the legio
has been wiped out three times, an
that there are only a few men still
service who belonged to the origin;
legion. l believe it to be true.
January of this year the French go
eminent decided to let the legion di
was sorry to hear it. The legiol
naires were a fine body of men, an
wonderful fighters. But the who
civilized world is now fighting tt
Huns ard Americans do not have
enlist with the French or the Lime!
any longer.
But one thing about the legion, TIL
find many people do not know, is TIL
the legiOnnaires are used for eth
land or sea service. They are sent whe
ever they can be used. l do not knO
whether this was the case before Il
present war-I think nOt-but in n
time, many Of the men were put (
ships. Most people, however, have tt
idea that they are only used in the
fantry.
With my commission as gunner,
received orders 20 60 to Brest and 10
the dreadnaught Cassard. This {
signment tickled a1e, for my pal MI
ray was aboard, and I had expect
trouble in transferring to his ship
case l was assigned elsewhere. '
mad framed 1t up to stick together
long as we could. We did, too.
Murray was as glad as was VIII
came aboard, and he told me he h
heard Brown, our other pal, had be
made sergeant in another regime
of the legion.
We were both surprised at some
the differences between the Fren
navy and ours, but after we got US
10 1t, we thought many Of their G.
toms improvements over ours. But
could not get used to it, at first. T
instance, on an American ship, WI
you are pounding your ear in n
warm hammock and it is time to
ueVe the watch on deck, like as
Son Will be awakened gently by bu
saFoy armed with fairy wand abb
ue size Of bed slat, whereas
french ships, when they call
watch, you would think you were II
s"eH hotel and had left word at
otsk 1t was hard to turn out at Fl
without the aid of club, and har
sui to break ourselves of the he
" calling our relief in the gay I