The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-02-20
CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.
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In >tse FerelSn- Legion.
This timo was determined to e.
hst. 80, Wheo We landed at st. Ma
xaire. I drew my pay from the vir-
ginian and. altar spending = week
with my grandmother. went ont and
aaked the hrst gsndarme met whore
the enlistment station was. had to
aEs1s with him some tme before he
would sven direct me to 1t. OF course
I had no passport and this made him
sugp1aoQS o6 me.
Ths ofBcer In charge Of the station
was % warmer in his welcome than
the eendaIme, and this surprised me,
because Murray and Brown had no
trouble at all In Joining. The French.
Of course. often speak Of the Foreign
1agsoo = "the convicts." because 20
many Agionaries are wanted by the
police Of their respective countries.
but . criminal record never had been
. baf - service with the legion. and
did aot zee why 1t should be now-H
they suspected me Of having one. I
had heard there were not q few Ger
mans II the leaion-latef On I became
acquainted with soms-and believe
me. - Alsatan ever fought harder
against the Huns than these former
Dsutschlanders did. It occurred to
mo then that II they thought I was
Q German. because had NO passport.
I might have to Jeove had been In
trouble with the kaiser's crew before
they would accept me. do not know
what the real trouble was. but solved
tAe 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 q O. p. o. When they
challenged me on this point. I said
would prove It to them by taking an
examination.
They examined me very carefully.
in 1nglish. although I know enough
French to get BY on Q subject like
gunnefy. But foreign ofncers are very
proud Of their knowledge Of English-
and most Of them can speak it-and I
think this one wanted to show on. ~
you might say. Anyway. passed my
sxamination without any trouble.
was accepted for service In the For
slsn Legion and received my eommls
slon ~ gunner. dated Friday. January
I. 1915.
There u no use In my describing the
Toreasn Legion. It II one Of the most
famous fighting organisations In the
world, and has made q wonderful rec.
ord during the war. When Joined La
Legion. It numbered about 10000 men.
Today It has less than 5000. xnsy
~ that since August. 1914. the lsgioo
has bssn wiped out three dimes. and
that there are only few men st1ll In
ssFv1ee who belonged to the original
legion. I believe II to be true. In
January Of this year the French gov
sEnmsnt decided 10 let the legion die.
! was soefy 10 hear II. The legion
aairss were q Ane body Of men, and
wsoqeffal fighters. But the whole
0vilized world u now fighting the
Huns, ana Americans do not have to
any longer.
But ons thing about the legion, that
I md many people do not know. II that
the leslonnaires are ueed for either
land or sea service. TAY are sent wher-
ever they can be used. do not know
wAsther this was the case before the
present War-I think not-but In my
time, many o6 the men were put On
ships. Most people. however. have the
~ a~a k1sA
fantry.
With my commission as gunner, I
received orders to 60 to Brest and Join
the dreadnaught Cassard. This AZ
signment tickled me, for my pal Muir.
ray was aboard. and had expected
tro1bls IN transferring 10 his ship In
case ! WAS assigned elsewhere. We
had fkamed Il up b stick together ~
long ~ ~ could. We did. too.
Murray Was - eiad - ! was when
came aboard md he told mo he had
heard Brown. our other pal. had bssa
made . serSeant in another regiment
Of the legion.
We were both surprised at some Il
the di6ereness between the vrench
navy and ours. but after we got used
to II. we thought many Of tAair CO.
toms improvements ovoe ourA But -
could not sst uoed b 4. 1t 1Ese For
Instance. o. IN Amssiean ship. Whsu
you are pounding your ear In . n1ee
warm haus0eek and u = t1He b -
lisyo the watch % deck. IKE - not
you wm Be awakensd gsak1y b1 ~ onf1y
garby aFmed with . fAily waAosabcat
fhn aazA nR \ hnd O1nf Vh6eono IN