Show GERMANS HAVING i AMERICAN HE JOINED FRENCH Soldier Ex-Soldier Happening to Be in Germany When the WarB War B Began gan Tried to Enlist There Was Refused I 1 Because of His Nationality Sp Specie iLl Cab Cable to 10 The Telegram PARIS Nov Nov 27 Like Lika the Irishman who saw the free for in the b back backroom backroom ck room of a saloon and inquired of the barkeeper Is this a a. private fight or can I 1 get In it 1 Robert E. E Whidby Amerl American an tried to enlist In the German erman army anny at the beginning of the war and when he was refused ho he came to France and Joined the Foreign Legion Lesion The great complex questions of right and justice seem not riot to to have had a apart apart part in actuating him toward attemptIng attemptIng attempt- attempt I Ing to fight tight in the kaisers kaiser's cause nor norto norto norto to casting in his lot finally with the Sheer love of adventure coupled with a desire to see things were apparently the compelling motives But in his hip pocket Whidby carries carries carries car car- ries what is left of a a sava savage e looking Jackknife Th The case shows that the I blade was originally more than six I II inches long But less than three I I Inches of the blade remains Yes that's about the only souvenir out of the war that Ive I've got excepting except except- ing lug this cigar lighter Whidby re remarked remarked remarked re re- marked in his Southern drawl drawl he he comes comes from Mobile Ala What was wag left of the blade had been whetted to a razor-like razor keenness Do you use base it for shaving yourself he was asked Saved by His Knife Yep lt its it's about all the old knifes knife's g od for now he replied I left the theother theother theother other half of the blade sticking in a Dutchman's head at Belloy on the Fourth of July I had lost my gun and bayonet and arid this fellow jumped at me and the knife was all I had left The blade snapped off as he fell I 1 got himor him himor or he would have got me sure Did you OU kill the German then 1 someone asked Whidby I didn't stop to see if he was dead Whidby replied ingenuously Things were too hot around there just about that time t to stop and see what be became became became be- be came of him He dropped and I left him him right there and went on on This happened on American Inde Inde- Independence Independence da day when the Foreign LeI Legion Le Le- Le- Le I glon gion added another chapter to its glorious glorious glori glori- ous record by storming en Belloy-en- I on the fourth day of ot the Somme offensive The legion captured one of the strongest German works in that section section- of the line without the usual artillery preparation they found German Gennan barbed wire still mann manned d and protected by bY scores of machine guns It has been Jeen estimated that the legion lost 1800 men that da day But they won Belloy Rumors had been current of ot a le Ic le- le who was now fighting for tor France after being refused by the Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many army anny and when it was ascertained ascertained ascer ascer- tamed that the man was Whidby he was pressed for tor details detail Just an American No T I haven't any German blood in me Im I'm all American all the wa way through as far as I 1 know said Whidby Whid Whid- b by You see sel I happened to be In InGerman Germany German Germany in in in Hamburg when Hamburg when the war broke out I wanted to see whether I these foreign armies are different from I Ithe the United States army as I bad had been peen I in the army anny at home In the Philippines and in Hawaii and had been discharged discharged dis dis- charged about bout two months before the warT warr war r T went to Germany to see my brother broth broth- er Albert who was at Cuxhaven and whom I had not seen for a good many over to Germany from years ears I shipped Galveston Texas about a month before the war broke out and landed In Cuxhaven Cuxhaven Cuxhaven Cux Cux- haven a few days before war was wa's was de de- de dared All AU the trouble that caused the I Iwar war happened while I was wa's was on the ocean and I didn't hear a a. thing of ot it because we we had nad no wireless I told Albert I wanted to st stay over there with him and he told me he he I would tr try to fix it for me to get in the I army if it I wanted to I applied to the to to Ui the e recruiting sergeants and when they found I was not a German German German Ger Ger- man citizen or born born of German people the they didn't want any part of ot me Al Albert Albert Albert Al- Al bert wasn't in the army then and I haven't h heard ard from him since the war began so I dont don't know if jf he has joined since or notA notA notA not A couple of da days s 's later later August August 4 I think it was was was-En was England England land declared war war on oil Germany a arid and d Albert told me I had better try to get out as the Germans felt pretty hot against the English and wouldn't like to hear me talking talking talking-me me being unable to speak German you you know B Back ck to Mobile I Vell Well at midnight on the of August August Aug Aug- AUg 1 I went out on the end of a dock at Cuxhaven and dived overboard I started to swim toward a freighter lying about a mile away that was ws to sail the tile next day for Galveston It was wasa a longer swim than I thought and I r began to get g-et tired before I got to he her So I would stop and float awhile and kick off oft some clo clothes hes and then swim some more and then kick kicI off some more clothes till by the time I reached the boat and pulled myself up on deck I was as naked as I was on the day I Iwas Iwas Iwas I was born An officer on board found me pretty soon but he was as a goodfellow good goodfellow goodfellow fellow and agreed to let me work my passage home I did and landed a a. month or so later In Galveston From there I drifted back to Mobile again and it was on the last da day day- of July 1915 that I sailed sailed sailed-or or thought I IWas Iwas Iwas was sailing sailing again again for Germany It was on board a little hooker carrying lumber and bound for Cuxhaven Of course course I had heard about the English blockade and didn't understand how a ship could get to a German Gennan port but the folks that had chartered her be believed believed be- be they could get and It was their business not mine I only wanted to get over to Cuxhaven to see seemy seemy seemy my brother Albert and then come back probably Well we we were about ten days out in the ocean when w we met another ship and stood by while the captain went on board of her and I heard afterward he sent a wireless wireless' from her to folks in l I Mobile and that he was ordered to change his course not to try to make Cuxhaven but to go to Bordeaux and I deliver his cargo to the French authorities author author- thereSo there 1 So we came along to Bordeaux On Onboard board I got kind of sick and so they i paid me off and put me ashore there ther 1 I didn't have any papers not even a passport and I was in a bad fix Then I got talking to a a fellow in Bordeaux I and he said the best thing to do was to Join the Legion That would give me a chance to try tryout out these foreign for for- eign armies I thought so aol soI I enlisted for I the next day Whidby is a mild mannered slight i smallish chap with very blond hair hall and looks ten years younger than the 29 years he gives as his age ae He has no fault to find with the Foreign Legion Legion Le Le- Le- Le gion except that h he cannot get his favorite tobacco at the front nor at the depot and has to wait walt until such times as he gets permission and nd comes to Paris when he goes to the American Ameri Amen can Relief clearing house and gets a couple of sacks AS s a soldier in the United States army Whidby was in battery A A. First I field artillery and was stationed at Schofield barracks Honolulu when he I was discharged I |