Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-14
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

StUtco./
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
THIS little Negro kid was a
one-man league of nations.
He had on French pants, a For
eign Legion blouse and an old
American campaign hat, and he
was just all odds and ends, and,
moreover. he was. in very
practical and dangerous sense of
the term. a deserter from the
French army.
He had Just got tired of the
French army and, in a very in
formal way, had resigned to
accept better connection.
As he told the story, he
had never intended to join the
French army, anyway. What
really happened was that the
French army anschlussed him.
Back in Norfolk one day he
went down to a ship TO see q
friend who had found a good job
as messboy on a cargo boat, and
the friend talked him into going
for boat ride to Europe. which
seemed a good idea at the time.
OUT when the ship locked in
- France and he went ashore
to see the sights. some French
men grabbed him and pushed
him into a soldiers suit. and the
next thing he knew he was a
Senegalese soldier.
II took him a long time to
learn enough language 10 ask
his way around. and the man.
nerS and social customs of his
comrades offended him terribly,
but there was nothing he could
do about il. and then one day
he was up in the line facing the
Germans around Verdun.
There are many standardized
stories of the American Negro
boy who fell in with the Sene-
galese or fell out with them. but
this boy was real and he told his
own story.
He had been in several actions
and never had been hit. but one
Winter day several of his toes
froze. so they sent him back
down. and soon. 10 his alarm. he
was all we'll again and about TO
be sent back.
1T WAS lust then that the
L Americans moved into the
region 10 start training and
organizing. and this kid resigned
from the French army.
He attached himself TO an
American major rs servant. and
the major gave him some shoes
and underwear and a place TO
sleep and plenty 10 eat and he
was very happy. except that
occasionally, when he was at all
careless in his cleaning and
sweeping, the major would say:
well, I can see that YOU don't
care about this mans army, 20
maybe I had better send you
back to your outfit"
That would straighten him up.
He said soldering was COM
pletely out of his line. anyway.
and. although he hadn't ever
been much afraid in the
trenches. one thing did just turn
him inside out. That was the
way those Senegalese would use
the bayonet.
LIE DIDN'T mind shooting at
IL those German boys and A
man could get used 10 shells,
but 10 run up TO a man and
stick him with a bayonet was
something he simply couldn't do
and could hardly bear to see it
done.
I'm houseboy," he said.
answer doorbells, NOW the
lawn, wait table, anything like
that. was a houseboy back
in Norfolk until ! went for that
steamboat ride. I never did aim
to stick anybody with a bayo-
net"
| retained a mental movie,
with sound in color. of the soft
voice saying that he was a
houseboy, his ragbag uniform,
his fear of displeasing the major.
who might send him back TO the
French army. where some Off
Ger might not be feeling too hot
that day, and might have him
courtmartialed and shot for de-
Sertion.
THE major himself probably
L would have been guilty of
something for aiding, abetting
and harboring, but, then, ap.
parently. he had no intention of
turning the kid back to the
French and was just going to
gentle him along and possibly
enlist him in the Amegican
army, although at this time he
was just a guest. so to speak.
The major is a heap of
general now with three stars on
his flag, the same being Lieut..
Gen. Hugh Drumm. and it was a
mistake to ask him what had