The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-06-10

Furthermore, Sir Willmott de- plores generally the practice of newspapermen writing about each other. every bad," he says, "very bad. So hope you boys will not write piece about me-"
 But, Bill, now that
 The tumult and the shouting
 dies:
 The Captains and the Kings de-
 part,
 the unacceptable fact is that you, more than any ambassador or visiting monarch, really represent the British government to those in the know in Washington.
 Furthermore, you have done a better job than any British envoy in years, and since you are cele- brating a birthday next week, you cannot complain if you are taken for a ride on The Merry-Go- Round.
 Very bad, Bill, very bad. But. let's start the music.
 CHINA WARS
 Sir Willmott Harsant Lewis is now a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. But there was a day when he played piano in a honky-tonk joint off Nanking road in Shanghai, and his carefree friends never dreamt that he would rise to the knight hood.
 That was around the turn of the century, when Bill was covering two Chinese wars plus a major engagement between Japan and Russia. He would cover 8 war and then come back to Shanghai to re- cuperate and spend his earnings. After one battle in the Boxer Re- bellion, he returned to find that a marker had been erected on 8 Chinese battlefield to mark his grave, and that 8 friend had taken a picture of it to show his fam fly. This friend was the first person Bill met in Shanghai. and he had some difficulty in dispell- ing the rumor.
 For the most part, however, Bill thrived on wars. He has probably covered more wars than any other newspaperman, and his worst by far, was the Russo Japanese war in which he almost neglected the first requirement of every war cor- respondent-that he must live to tell his story.
 In the capture of Mukden, Bill made eight charges with the Jap anese army up hill held by the Russians. Japanese officers took out their revolvers to blow the brains out of Japanese soldiers who refused to go forward. Again and again, Lewis advanced, then threw himself prone on the ground, then down again.
 His only protection was a rain- coat and an armband which identified him as a newspaper man.
 U. s. STAMPING GROUNDS
 Although Sir Willmott is now Washington correspondent for the London Times, half his life has been spent writing for American newspapers. Once he was editor of the Manila Times. He was not only editor, but copy reader, re- porter, and chief editorial writer, eating two meals day (coffee and sandwiches) at his desk.
 Bill covered the Russo-J Japan ese War for the New York Her. aid, and by thhe time 1t was over, he had saved so much money that he could afford to return to the United States where, believe it or not, the present Knight Commander of the British empire, helped run a prize-fight establishment with Philadelphia Jack 0'Brien.
 Not even the manly art of self defense, however. could keep him away from the Far East. He drift cd Chinaward again, then back to the United States with the out- break of the World War. There he was attached tot he American forces in France.
 AMERICANIZED BRETON
 Sir Willmott is accused of be- ing an English propagandist by As,aafsinas4 ottssaf-s.o trlatn and k1Ry