THE FAMOUS FOREIGN LEGION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2305, 12 November 1914, Page 7

THE FAMOUS FOREIGN LEGION

FIGHTING IN FRANCE. Contrary to all precedent, a portion of the famous Foreign Legion.is to-day on French soil ready to defend its adopted county against the invader.. A certain romantic glamour surrounds the Legion, 6ince it is, according. to the novelist, the only place where a man who. through some folly has utterly lost caste, can hope to regain. his honour; to-day, however, the Legion has nothing to do with romance, and is solely concerned with practical necessities. Every Legionary has doffed his green' epaulettes and is- allowing the brass buttons-of his uniform to- become as dull as the atmosphero will make them, because he is on active service and concerned not with parade but with practical facts. Ho has no number on his kepi or uniform, and tho brass buckle of his belt is blank .of crest or inscription; it might seem that these things marked a Legion of the Lost Ones whom in battle nothing could face because they sought the forgctfulnoss of death, but,.in point of'fact,-among:the Legionaries there are. many, men who have volunteered for honour's;sake, men of Alsace-Lorraine who have not forgotten the tricolour that, once flew above Strasburg, Englishmen wild foradventuro, and men of, every nation'who feel that they /owe a debt-,of-gratitude, to France. ~'',.,■ : , :

I had a conversatidn.:to-day (says the correspondent of. a London daily) with a sergeant of the Legion who has .just returned from tie firing line with, his, regiment, and,expects to be back'.there again in a few days.. '"We do .not talk, about, home in the Legion," no teld me; '■'there are height Englishmen, in my section, and good 'soldiers, they are everyone of them, but I have no, idea who they really are or .what,.class, they, belong to. They talk French to .one. an?, other just as overyone else does, and, as you know, no questions- are. asked of. anyone who volunteers. .for. the Legion. . AVe have had. a hard,time, of it, marching regularly 30 or 40 miles a day, and' often for days we. did hot have a hot meal. Never before did I. realise the difference that hot.food made to a man; after, a day or two without it one has no heart iett. However, we did not do. so 'badly; we had .'always bread and, wine, and then we often came across, an English regiment.' Air tho English soldiers have lots and -Jots of Vpwmy" sausage; I cannot think why, Tlut it is a faot that everyone of them has a good supply of sausage. Then, as in time of ,war, people become more or less savages, we settled down to barter, so much sausage for so much bread'or wine. I always thought your English soldiers only cared for beer and whisky, but it is wonderful how fond they are of wine. "In my company we are really very cheerful. There is a Spaniard, a well-known'inusic-hall singer, who . has a splendid voice, and every" night when not iii action we have "a 'sing-song,' in which he takes the principal part. 'Then we have our philosopher. Heis.a Pole, with a great long beard,..and all the time he .is. talking . But ho is far away the best shot in the company, ■ and he lias' only one, weakness: his feet get sore when he has to march rar., Whenever we calf a halt,' he comes up and says to me: 'Sergeant, how long are wo going to rest? Have I time to take off'my.boots?' If I say 'Yos,' he does not worry about his knap-* sack, that is still on his back, but he unlaces his boots at once, and .'then sits in his socks and talks philosophy. I warned him that his feet would surely,, swell, but he, paid no attention, and somehow he always manages to get his. boots on again. We are vefy proud of. him, and one day we showed him to two English officers, who. told him-that, a philosopher was a man in a. dark room looking for-.a black cat that was not there. The whole company roared 1 with laughter, but he did not mind a bit, and only answered that he was a Doctor of Philosophy in more universities than I can remember, and that there-\ fore lie probably knew as much more than the English' officers about philosophy as they did about fighting.. "In the' Legion discipline is very strict, especially in the firing; line. There my sergeant's stripes count for a lot, but when we are not fighting wo are all very good friends, and get along very well together. Of course, all tho legionaries who are serving in France, are volunteers."