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Show " THE REGIMENT THA T NEVER RETREA TS" H "Two Hundred Americans Have Joined the Foreign Legion of France, one of the Most Celebrated Fighting Forces in the World" SIX weeks ago about 200 American residents of Paris offered their services as fighting men to H the French government. The offer was accepted, H but since then the Americans have dropped out H of sight of the public. The following account of H tho movements of the detachment was sent to H this country by one of the volunteers: H Camp do Mailly, Chalons-sur-Marne, October 1 H At last wo are on our way toward the fighting H district, and you can expect to get word of lots Hj of action when we finally come up with the Ger- H mans. H We are now part of tne Foreign Legion, pos- H sibly tho most famous French fighting regiment; H we are proud of the regiment, and I think that the H others are proud of us. And there is still room H on our famous standard for the names of a few H more battles, and if we don't get into them pretty H soon France will have more troubles on her H hands than Germany and Austria are causing H To go back to the beginning, we left Rousen H for Toulouse, along with about 2,000 volunteers H of various nationalities, on September 1. We H felt pretty bad when we heard we were going to H 'be sent in an opposite direction to the fighting, H but they told us it would only be for a short time. H They shipped us to Toulouse in box cars. It H wasn't so bad, because they allowed us plenty H of hay and straw to sleep on, and that made it H nice and snug. The trip took three days, and we H Americans had lots of fun. At every step the H French, men and women, gathered around our H cars, loaded us down with fruit, food of all sorts, H and a great deal of wine, and we had a lot of fun H Cracking jokes with the girls along the road. H They regarded us as the saviors of France. H Some of the men with us are pretty well known H in America. There is William Thaw, famous as H an aviator, although he isn't as famous as his H cousin Harry. Before he joined us he gave his H Curtis hydroaeroplane to the government. Thaw's H best friend wouldn't know him now; he has grown H a jagged beard, and any stranger seeing him H would suspect him of almost any crime which H could be accomplished with a blackjack or a H iThen there's Charles Sweeney of Pittsburg, a H West Point man. He is now messenger to our H commander. Rene Phelizot, a famous Congo ele- H phant hunter and one of the finest game hunters H living, is one of us, as is 'Richard Slacalester, H whose uncle, Charles Macalester of Philadelphia, H was for many years one of the best pigeon hunt- H ers on either side of the Atlantic. Hj 'Charles Morlea, a wealthy San Franciscian, H who fought in some of the (Mexican revolutions H and for the last 'three years saw service in the H Philippines; John Bolligeny of San Francisco, H who has attained the rank of corporal, and the H Towel brothers, members of the National Guard, H are also with us. These last are fine company; H they are dry wits. H We got to Toulouse on September 4 and were Hj marched to the new Porignon barracks. The H next morning wo were surprised to see a regi- H ment of travel Btained soldiers marching into H our barracks. H At first wo thought they were French regu- IH lars, as their uniforms were of the usual type, H but then wo noticed that they wore huge sashes H around their waists, and we recognized them as H, that magnificent regiment of hardened veterans, WM the Foreign Legion. They were headed by their Bfl famous band followed by their train of mules. H They had come from Saida, Algiers, H And let me tell you that there is no better H fighting regiment than this same Foreign Legion. it has upheid ihe honor of France in Algeria ana Morocco and has won its own reputation in scores of desperate battles. It wages a guerrilla style of warfare that has made it the most teared regiment in Africa; it has never retreated in its history. France may well be proud of it, as we are who serve with it. It accepts any one who wants to join it, and asks no questions. I have no doubt that there are some expert safe crackers in the regiment, although it would be hard to pick them out, and ior that matter, there are many who are undoubtedly un-doubtedly aristocrats, and it would be hard to pick them out. It never askB questions concerning a man's past; doubtless many of the men are enrolled under names which are not their own. There are princes, cab drivers, barons, waiters, ex-priests, ex-priests, burglars, lawyers and day laborers. One private, named Decocatrlx (or using that name), receives one franc a day allowance by command of the Pope, and that Is all that we have been able to learn about him. The day after the Foreign Legion arrived about thirty non-commissioned officers took all of us who had come from Rouen and began to teach us the French drill, which, by the way, is much the same as that used by the American army. Out of the 2,000 volunteers at Touluse it was decided to pick about 300 and put them into the" Foreign Legion. Imagine our joy when we learned that all the Americans would be picked for this honor. We couldn't have hoped for better luck, for with the Foreign Legion we get all the fighting any one regiment can get the regiment's reputation for fighting is so good that they couldn't keep us from the front. There is much less formality with this regiment regi-ment than with any other. If a private Is lying anywhere on the ground and an officer saunters along the private doesn't have to jump up and give a stiff salute. Hhe stays on the ground, smoking his cigarette, and the two men nod, or smile, and "bonjour" each other like equals. The only thing that counts is 'fighting ability, and the only thing impressed upon a newcomer is the tradition of the regiment that a man must never surrender or retreat he must fight until he is killed, no matter what the odds again him are. In spite of the lack of formality there, is no lack of discipline. Officers address men familiarly, familiar-ly, but when an order is given I have not yet seen a man obey it except with all the alacrity possible. pos-sible. Our standard is something to be proud of. Thaw and I are pretty friendly with a grizzled veteran whom we suspect of having been an apache and we got him to tell us the stories of some of the battles the standard bears. It was something to make your heart throb to hear the old fellow, probably tougher in his day than Chuck Connors ever could have been, describing some of the regiment's battles. He didn't put any color into his talk at all; just droned along in his tough dialect, which at times was hard for me to follow, narrating tales of heroism and desperate fighting which would make your hair stand on end. Tough as he is, and with whatever past, we could see that his veneration for that standard had penetrated every ev-ery fibre of his being and that he 'would uphold the traditions, come what may. And at that, If a throat was all that stood between him and a piirse lie would get the purse. And before long we are going to add some more battle names to that old standard, or we'll ? learn the reason why. We've been kept busy over since we were put 1 into the Legion. Wo drill from 4 a. m. until 5 p. m., marching and shooting without a stop. Many of us have grown beards, and you would have a hard time picking the Americans out from tho veterans, except that we are taller than most of the others. But what they lack in size they make up in solid muscle, for a stronger or more hardy lot of men were never got together. ; , Our uniform consists of the ordinary famous red trousers and the sash that marks us for the regiment we are. We carry the standard rilie, with bayonet. Our pack weighs fifty-five pounds M and consists of a canvas sack for our personal effects, on top of which we place our blankets, and then we roll our tents over them both, strapping strap-ping over it our eating and drinking tins. With the rifle and cartridge belt it make a pretty heavy load, but after a -while we got used to it. It's been pretty hard work drilling, but that's all oyer now, and we're off to fight for our lives. We left Toulouse on September 27, and were all heartily glad of it. And now for a smack at the Germans! Now we can hear firing off in the distance, and it makes us Impatient to get into- it. It won't be long before we get the command, and when we do but of that you'll hear in my next. And don't forget that we are going to add some more names to our standard. Town Talk. |