| Show U D ariew Tri 1 I mial ark nn r jlyo eW w aw W r by ex gunner and chief petty officer US navy A TT s T member of the foreign legion of france cam camj N arsi dee de I 1 e W captain p gun turret french battleship casbard 13 winner of the croix de guerre 1018 liy by stilly and britton co through special wi with th the george ma matthew it hew ad adama ains service GUNNER DEPEW SHOWS THE HOW AN AMERICAN NAVAL GUNNER CAN SHOOT synopsis albert N depew author of the story tells of his service in the united states navy during which he attained the rank of chief petty officer first class gunner the world war starts soon after he receives his honorable discharge from the navy and he leaves for france with a determination to enlist CHAPTER III in the foreign legion this time I 1 was determined to enlist so when we landed at st nazaire I 1 drew my pay from the virginian and after spending a week with my grandmother I 1 went out and asked the first gendarme I 1 met where the enlistment station was I 1 had to argue with him some time before he would even direct me to it of course 1 I had no passport and this made him suspicious of me the officer in charge of the station was no warmer in his welcome than the gendarme and tills surprised me because murray and brown had no trouble at all in joining the french of course often speak of the foreign legion as the convicts because so many legionaries legion aries are wanted by the police of their respective countries but a criminal record never had been a bar to service with the legion and I 1 did not see why it should be now it if they suspected me of having one I 1 had heard there were not a few germans in the legion later on I 1 became acquainted with some and believe me no alsatian ever fought harder against the huns than these former Deutsch landers did it occurred to me then that if they thought I 1 was a german because I 1 had no passport I 1 might have to prove I 1 had been in trouble with the keisers kaisers kai Iral sers crew before they would accept me I 1 do not know what the real trouble was but I 1 solved we problem by showing them my discharge papers from the american navy even then they were suspicious because they thought I 1 was too young to have been a C P 0 when they challenged me on this point I 1 said I 1 would prove it to them by taking an examination they examined me very carefully in english E although I 1 know enough F rench french to get by on a subject like gunnery but foreign officers are very proud of their knowledge of english and most of them can speak it and I 1 think this one wanted to show off as you might say anyway I 1 passed my examination without any trouble was accepted for service in the foreign legion and received my commission as gunner dated friday january 1 1915 1015 there Is no use in my describing the foreign legion it is one of the most famous fighting organizations in the world and has made a wonderful record during the war when I 1 joined la legion it numbered about men today it has less than they say that since august 1914 1014 the legion has bas been wiped out three times and that there are only a few men still in service who belonged to the original legion I 1 believe it to be true in january of this year the french government decided to let the legion die 1 was sorry to hear it il the legion daires were a fine body of men and wonderful fighters but the whole civilized world la Is now fighting the huns and americans do not have to enlist with the french or the limeys limays any longer but one thing about the legion that I 1 find many people do not know is that the legionnaires are used for either cither land or sea service they are sent wherever they can be used I 1 do not know whether this was waa the case before the present war I 1 think not but in my time many of the men were put on ships most people however have tho idea r that they are only used in the infantry with my commission as gunner I 1 received orders to go to brest and join the dread dreadnought naught cassard this assignment sl sign ment tickled me for my pal murray was aboard and I 1 had bad expected exacted trouble in transferring to his ship in case I 1 was assigned elsewhere we had framed it up to stick together as long as aa we could wo we did too murray was as glad as I 1 was when icamen I 1 came aboard nod and lie he told me he had heard beard brown our other pal had been made a sergeant in another regiment of the legion we were both surprised at some of the between the rench french F navy and ours oura hut but after we got used to it we ali acht many of their customs ampro ments over ours but we could not get gel used to it at first for instance Inn tance on tin nn american ship when you are arc pounding your car in a nice warm hammock and it Is time tim c to the watch on deck like as not yo you will bo be awakened gently by ft a burly garby armed with a fairy wand about the size of a bed slut slat whereas in frenca ships when they call the vatch you would think you were in a well vell hotel and had bad left word at the i 1 it was hard out at first tile uld ald of a club and harder hl KI break ourselves of the habl habit f i conr railei i in the gay and festive american manner but as I 1 say we got to like it after a while then too they do not do any hazing in the french navy and tills this surprised us we had expected to go through the mill just as we did when we joined the american service but nobody slun slung a hand at us on the contrary every garby aboard was kind and decent rind and extremely courteous and the fact that we were from the states counted a lot with them they used to brag about it to the crews of other ships that were not so honored but this kindness we might have expected it Is just like frenchmen in any walk of life with hardly an exception cep tion I 1 have never met one of this nationality who was not anxious to help you in every way he could extremely generous though not reckless with small change and almost always cheery and there with a smile in any weather A fellow asked me once why it was that almost the whole world loves the french and I 1 told him it was because the french love almost the whole world and show it and I 1 think that Is the reason too about the only way you can describe the on land or sea Is that they are gentle that Is you always think that word when you see one and talk to him unless you happen to see him within bayonet distance of fritz the french sailors sleep between betge en decks in bunks instead of hammocks and as I 1 had not slept in a bunk since my southerndown Southern down vii days it was pretty hard on me so I 1 got bold of some heaving line which Is one quarter inch rope and rigged up a hammock in my spare time I 1 taught the others how to make them and pretty soon everybody was doing it when I 1 taught the sailors to make hammocks I 1 figured of course that they would use them as we did that Is sleep in them they were greatly pleased at first but after they had tried the stunt of getting in and staying in it was another story A hammock Is like some other things it works while you sleep and if you are not on to it you spend most of your sleeping time hitting bitting the floor our gun captain thought I 1 had put over a trick hammock on him but I 1 did not need to every hammock is a trick hammock also I 1 taught them the way we make inake mats out of rope to use while sleeping on the steel gratings near the entrance to stoke holes in cold weather this part of the ship Is more comfortable for than the ordinary sleeping quarters but without a mat it gets too hot american soldiers and sailors get the best food in the world but while the french navy chow was not fancy it was clean and hearty as they say IWI with a fourteen inch gun I 1 scored three Ds de 11 down east for breakfast we v c had bread and coffee and sardines at noon a boiled dinner mostly beans which were old friends of mine and of the well named navy variety at four in the afternoon a pint of vino and at six a supper of 0 soup coffee bread and beans although the french seven seventy ty five Is the best gun in the world their naval guns are not as good as ours and their gunners are mostly older men but they will give a youngster a gun rating if lie he shows the stuff shortly after I 1 went aboard the cassard we received instructions to proceed to spezia italy the large italian naval base the voyage was without incident but when we dropped anchor in spezia the italian port officials quarantined us for fourteen days on account of smallpox during this period our food was pretty bad in fact the meat became rotten this could hardly have happened on an american ship because they are provisioned with canned stuff and preserved meats but the french ships like the italian depend on live stock fresh vegetables etc which they carry on board land and we had expected to get a large supply of such stuff at spezia long before the fourteen days were up we were out of these things and had to live on anything we could get hold of mostly hardtack coffee and cocoa we loaded a cargo of airplanes for the italian aviators at the french flying schools and started back to brest on the way back we had target practice in fact at most times on the open sea it was a regular part of the routine it was during one of these practices that the french officers wanted to find out what the yankee gunner knew about gunnery at a range of eight miles while the ship was malting making eight knots an hour with a fourteen inch gun I 1 s scored c ored three ds that Is three direct hits out of five trials after that there was no question about it As a result I 1 was awarded three bars these barst bars which are strips of red braid are worn on the left sleeve and signify extra marksmanship I 1 also received two hundred and fifty francs or about fifty dollars in american money and fourteen days shore leave all this made me very angry oh ob very much wrought up indeed not I 1 saw a merry life for myself on the french rolling wave if they felt that way about gunnery I 1 spent most of my leave with my grandmother in st nazaire Naz alre except for a short trip I 1 made to a star shell factory this factory was just about like one I 1 saw later somewhere in america only in the french works all the hands were women only the guards were men and they were blesses wounded when my leave was up and I 1 said goodby good by to my grandmother she managed a smile for me though I 1 could see that it was pretty stiff work and without getting soft or anything like that I 1 can tell you that smile stayed with me a and nd it did me more good than you ou would believe because it gave me something good to think about when I 1 was up against the real thing I 1 hope a lot of you people who read this book are women because I 1 have had it in mind for some time to tell nil all the women I 1 could a little thing they can do that will help a lot I 1 am not trying to be fancy about it and I 1 hope you will take it from me the way I 1 mean it when you say goodby good by to your son or your husband or your sweetheart work up a smile for him what you want to do Is to give him something he can think about over there and something he will like to think about there Is so much dirt and blood and hunger and cold and all that around you that you have just got to quit thinking about it or you will go crazy and so when you can think about something nice you can pretty nearly forget all the rest for a while the nicest things you can think about are the things you liked back home now you can take it from me that what your boy will like to remember the best of all Is your face with a smile on oil it he has got enough hell on his hands without a lot of weeps to remember if you will excuse the word but dont forget that the chances are on his side that he gets back to you the figures prove it IL that will help you some at that it will be hard work you will feel more like crying and so will he maybe but smile for him that smile Is your bit I 1 will back a smile against the weeps in a race to berlin any time so I 1 am telling you and I 1 cannot make inake it strong enough send him away with a smile CHAPTER IV on the firing line when inca I 1 reported on the ca cassard s sard after my fourteen days leave I 1 was detailed with a detachment of the legion to go to the flanders front I 1 changed into tho the regular uniform of the legion which Is about like that of the infantry with the regimental badge a seven flamed grenade we traveled from brest by rail in third class cars passing through la havre and st SL pol and finally arriving at bergues from bergues we made the trip to Di minude by truck a distance of about twenty rulles we ca raed no rations with us but at certain places along the line the train stopped and we got cot out to eat our meals at i every railroad station they have booths or counters and french girls work day and night feeding the it was a wonderful sight to see these girls and it made you feel good to think you were going to fight for them it was not only what they did but tho the wy they did it and it Is at things hev tills aua that the french bent the corid they could tell just what kind of treatment each gollu needed find and they saw to it t that he got it they took special pains with the men of the legion because as they say we are strangers and that menn means the beat we have is bouru oury 24 au tile ac Ir french rench these french frenchi women young and old could bo a mother and a sweetheart and a slater sister all at the same time to any hairy old ex convict la in the legion and do it in a vi ay that made him feel like a little boy at the time and a rich church member afterwards the only thing we did not like about this trip was that there were not enough stations along that line there Is a tip that tho the french engineers will not take I 1 am afraid there is another thin tiling about the french women that I 1 have noticed and that Is this oils there are pretty girls in every country under the sun but the plain girls in france are prettier than the plain ones in other countries they might not show it in photographs but in action there Is something about them that you cannot explain I 1 have never seen an ugly french girl who was not easy to look at I 1 we finally got to Dix mude after having spent about eighteen hours on the way on our arrival one company was waa sen sent t to the reserve tren trenches ches and my company went to the front line trench we were not placed in training camps because most of us had bad been under fire before I 1 never had bad but that was not supposed to make any difference they say it if you can stand the legion you can stand anything before we entered the communication trench we were drawn up alongside of a crossroad for a rest and to receive certain accoutrements pretty soon we saw a bunch of boches com 16 1 2 I 1 T I 1 I 1 I 1 got wan from each of thim fe 1 las ing along the road without their guns a few of them being slightly wounded some of them looked scared and others happy but they all seemed tired then we heard some singing and pretty soon we could see an irish corporal stepping along behind the huns with his rifle slung over his back and every once in a while he would shuffle a bit and then sing some more he had a grin on him that pushed hla his ears babit baal the british noncom who was detailed as our guide sang out what kind of time are you having pat the irishman saluted with one band dug the other into his pocket and pulled out enough watches to make you think you were in a pawn shop oh a coln im havin lie he says 1 I got N nan an from each of thil ahlm fellas 11 we counted fourteen prisoners in the bunch pat sure thought he was rolling in wealth after we were rested up we were issued rifles shrapnel helmets and belts and then started down the communication muni cation trench these trenches are entrances to the fighting trenches and run at |
