“Esteeming less the forfeit that he paidThan undishonored that his flag might floatOver the towers of liberty, he madeHis breast the bulwark and his blood the moat.”“Under the little cross, where they rise,The soldier rests. Now, round him, undismayed,The cannon thunders, and at night he liesAt peace beneath the eternal fusillade.”
“Esteeming less the forfeit that he paidThan undishonored that his flag might floatOver the towers of liberty, he madeHis breast the bulwark and his blood the moat.”“Under the little cross, where they rise,The soldier rests. Now, round him, undismayed,The cannon thunders, and at night he liesAt peace beneath the eternal fusillade.”
“Esteeming less the forfeit that he paidThan undishonored that his flag might floatOver the towers of liberty, he madeHis breast the bulwark and his blood the moat.”
“Esteeming less the forfeit that he paid
Than undishonored that his flag might float
Over the towers of liberty, he made
His breast the bulwark and his blood the moat.”
“Under the little cross, where they rise,The soldier rests. Now, round him, undismayed,The cannon thunders, and at night he liesAt peace beneath the eternal fusillade.”
“Under the little cross, where they rise,
The soldier rests. Now, round him, undismayed,
The cannon thunders, and at night he lies
At peace beneath the eternal fusillade.”
G. Casmese, real friend, old soldier of the Legion, got mixed up and disappeared in the quick-acting movements of these chain-lightning times.
Russell A. Kelly, son of a New York stock broker, went through the hard and early fighting and was killed at Givenchy, June 17, 1915. His father, a true descendant of the Isle of Unrest, on hearing the news said,—“He did his duty—I do not complain.”
John Huffert, New York, would not drive a motor car in the rear, so he scrambled out on top. In an aeroplane, he became the hero of several desperate battles above.
John Roxas, Manila, Philippine Islands, son of the largest land owner in the Philippines, having absorbed American freedom, he is carrying it to Germany.
William E. Dugan, 27 years old, Rochester, New York, graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joined the Legion, Sept. 19, 1914, changed to aviation, October 15, 1915. Decorated with Croix de Guerre, wounded at Verdun.
Kenneth Proctor Littaner, Sergeant in military life, poet in civil life, decorated and cited, as follows:—
“A good pilot, brave, devoted to duty, an excellent soldier, invariably showing energy and coolness, especially on Feb. 8, 1917, in course of an engagement with a German machine, his aeroplane hit in several places, he compelled his adversary to retreat.”
Narutz, an American philosopher, a serious personage, went through the hard fighting of 1915 and was killed on the Somme in July, 1916.
Norman Prince, Boston, Mass., a Harvard man of splendid character, was descending in the early darkness at Corceuix, when his machine ran into a telegraph wire and tipped. Taken to Gerardmer, while lying unconscious, the Legion of Honor was pinned to his breast alongside of the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire. That day he had brought down a Boche machine, the third he had accounted for. Cited as follows:—
“Prince, Sergeant, Pilot in Squadron V. B. 108:—An American citizen, who enlisted for the duration of the war; excellent military pilot who always shows proof of the greatest audacity and presence of mind;—ever impatient to start, he has executed numerous expeditions of bombardment, particularly successful in a region which was difficult in consequence of thefiring of the enemy’s artillery, by which his aeroplane was frequently hit.”
Killed October 15, 1916.
Fred Prince, brother of Norman, is now in the aviation, while the father, Mr. Prince, is one of the best friends of the Foreign Legion boys, and they, like France, do not forget.
Dr. Van Vorst, from the middle west, a Spanish War veteran in America, adjutant in the Foreign Legion. He introduced new sanitary ideas into the camps of repose and kept the stretcher bearers busy cleaning up.
William Thaw, Pittsburgh, Pa., passed the first winter, 1914-15, in the trenches with the Legion, rose in aviation to lieutenant. One of the best liked Americans in France. Cited frequently in General Orders, decorated for bravery, wounded in the arm. Promoted to Major in U. S. Army.
One Citation: “Thaw, pilot, corporal at that time of Squadron C. 42:—Has always given proof of fine qualities, courage and coolness. On two separate occasions, in the course of scouting tours, his machine was violently shelled and was struck by shrapnel, great damage being done. Nevertheless, he continued toobserve the enemy’s positions and did not return until he had accomplished the object of his mission.”
Another citation: “Lieutenant Wm. Thaw, an excellent pilot. He returned to the front after receiving a serious wound, and has never failed to set an example of courage and dash. During the German retreat, he showed initiative and intelligence by landing near troops on the march, so as to place them in possession of information. Brought down his second aeroplane, April 26th.”
Braxton Bigelow, grandson of John Bigelow, author, New York City, a mining engineer by profession, followed this occupation in Alaska and South America, was promoted to captain in France and disappeared in a trench raid, July 23, 1917.
Henry Claude, Boston, Mass., one of the Legion grenadiers, was cited in the Orders of the Day and decorated for conspicuous gallantry at Auberieve, June, 1917.
Edward M. Collier, Bass Rocks, Iowa, Aviator, injured in a smash-up June, 1917.
Elliot C. Cowdin, a Harvard man, member of the Foreign Legion, home address Gramercy Park, Manhattan and Cedarhurst, L. I.
First American to receive the Medaille Militaire.
Citation:—“Cowdin, Sergeant, Pilot in Squadron V. B. 108, an American citizen engaged for the duration of the war; executes daily long bombardment expeditions, is an excellent pilot and has several times attacked the enemy’s aeroplanes. He attacked them and forced them successively to descend; one of them appeared to be seriously damaged, as was his own and his motor by the firing from the German avion; his helmet also bore the traces of several shots.”
Snowy Williamshas been in different sections of the Foreign Legion, in Serbia, Albania, Egypt, Africa and France. He was gassed, wounded, taken prisoner, almost burned to death in hospital; but made his escape, was decorated with the Croix de Guerre and twice cited in Army orders. A famous jockey, he runs with the Legion rather than with horses, and comes out, in both cases, a winner.
Everett Buckley, Kilbourne, Illinois, a former racing automobile driver, having competed with Barney Oldfield. On Dec. 15, 1917, during a battle with a two sector Boche machine, had his control cut, dropped 8,000 feetand arrived, a prisoner, in Germany. Eight months later made his escape into Switzerland.
M. Paringfield, of San Francisco, a soldier of the Legion, was shot below the knee in an attack, spring of 1917. Killed in autumn, 1917.
Allen Richard Blount, son of Richard Blount, the chemist of North Carolina and Paris, entered the Foreign Legion with his father’s consent, who said he would be satisfied if the boy killed five Boches.
One morning that young man brought thirty German prisoners into the French lines, received the Croix de Guerre, a brilliant citation, and a trip to Paris, and went back again for more.
Edward Charles Genet, Sassening, New York, killed in aeroplane near Ham, is buried at Golancourt in a German cemetery. The machine was smashed, the body placed in a wagon, drawn by one horse, which also carried the wooden cross which marked the grave and the U. S. flag which covered the coffin.
F. W. Zinn, Battle Creek, Michigan, graduate of University of Michigan, passed the first year in the Legion, was hit by a chunk of metal in Champagne attack, September 1915, which did not break the skin, but broke bones andmade internal troubles. On recovery, he went into the Aviation. Later he was promoted to Captain in the U. S. Army. As modest as he is brave, decorated for gallantry, having received two citations in two weeks, he said:—“Do not say anything about me, there are too many unknown Frenchmen who deserve publicity more than I.”
Harman Edwin Hall, killed at Givenchy, June 17, 1917.
W. R. Hall, or Bert Hall, one of old Legion, who went into the Aviation, well-known, well-liked, good soldier, decorated with the Croix de Guerre with three citations. On furlough in America June, 1918. Author of “En l’Air.”
James Norman Hall, Corporal, Colfax, Iowa, aviator, author of “Kichinger’s Mob,” shot down two Boche machines, and destroyed a third. Four days later, June 25, 1917, fighting seven machines, was wounded, and reported killed. However, he managed to make the French territory, and landed in an empty trench with the wings of his machine resting on each side.
Writing to a friend, he said:—“I am flying 125 miles an hour and now I see why birdssing.” Hall was the first American aviator to win the distinguished service cross of the American Army.
John Earle Fike, Wooster, Ohio, Foreign Legion, killed at Givenchy, June 17, 1915.
James B. McConnell, 28 years of age, born in Chicago, graduate of Haverford, Pennsylvania, and University of Virginia, a Railroad, Land and Industrial Agent, by profession. Writing for an American magazine, he was killed before the material was printed.
He said:—“The more I saw of the splendidness of the fight the French were making, the more I felt like a slacker.” He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre, and killed March 26, 1917, while fighting two German aviators. His body was found amid the wreckage of the machine by French troops on the advance through the devastated district. The old bullet marked propeller from this wrecked machine, which formerly marked his grave, has now been superseded by two cannon, erected by special order of the U. S. Government.
McConnell said,—”The war may kill me but I have to thank it for much.”
Schuyler Deming, American citizen, soldier of the Legion, killed in attack August, 1917.
Dr. James A. Blake, American Surgeon, who gave his services to France at the outbreak of the war;—was requested by the French Government to take charge of the hospital in the Ave. du Bois du Bologne with 300 beds. He was decorated with the Legion of Honor.
Marius Roche, New York, arrived in France in 1914, only 17 years of age, decorated with the Croix de Guerre, wounded at Verdun.
Edward Mandell Stone, a Harvard graduate, was the first American volunteer killed in France.
N. Frank Clair, Columbus, Ohio, died in hospital of wounds received in action.
Nelson Larson, a former American sailor, was killed on the Somme on our Independence day, July 4, 1916.
Brock B. Bonnell, Brooklyn, New York, soldier of the Legion, seriously wounded, returned home to America, decorated with the Croix de Guerre, the Medaille Militaire and a wooden leg.
Frank Whitmore, Richmond, Va., decorated for conspicuous bravery, on the Somme, July, 1916, wounded in the spring offensive, 1917, now in hospital, covered with bandages, medals and glory.
Edward Morlae, California, an old American ex-soldier. He served in the Philippines with the First California Heavy Artillery, then in the Mexican Civil War, then turned up in France and tried to pass Spanish conversation off for French. He was wounded in October, 1915, decorated with the Croix de Guerre and is now in America. A good soldier and aggressive character, he is one man who will always be remembered by Americans in the Legion.
H. W. Farnsworth, Harvard graduate, Boston, Mass., killed in attack 1915, was a correspondent of the Providence Journal and in Mexico when the war broke out.
From France in his last letter home he wrote,—“If anything happens to me you may be sure that I was on my way to victory for these troops may have been demolished, but never beaten.
He preferred to become a Petit Zephyr de la Legion Etrangere and to sleep, like the birds, under the open sky, surrounded by congenial comrades, exchanging horizons with each season.
J. S. Carstairs, a Harvard graduate, was a member of the Foreign Legion.
Geo. W. Gansonput in the first winter in thetrenches with the Foreign Legion. He was a Harvard graduate whose ministerial manner did not prevent the mud from hanging to his clothes, nor the whiskers on his face. He was mustered out and went back to America, but he returned to France in 1917 and went into the artillery service.
Robert Pellissier, a Harvard graduate, became a sergeant in Chasseur Alpins. He was killed on the Somme, August 29, 1916.
Henry Augustus Coit, a Harvard man, died of injuries received at the front, August 7, 1916.
Robert L. Culbert, New York City, was killed in action in Belgium.
Albert N. Depew, an American youth, wears his Veterans of Foreign Wars badge beside his Croix de Guerre. He has been a gunner and chief petty officer in the United States navy, a member of the Foreign Legion, also captain of a gun turret on the French battle ship Cassard. After his honorable discharge from the American navy, he entered French service, was transferred to the Legion, fought on the west front, and participated in the spectacular Gallipoli campaign, was captured on the steamship Georgic by the Moewe, a German commerce raider, and spent months of torture in a Germanprison camp. He has written a book, “Gunner Depew”; and is at present on a speechmaking tour of America.
Demetire, St. Louis, Mo., soldier of the Legion, killed four Germans,—two with grenades, two with rifle, in an outpost engagement the night previous to the attack of April 17, 1917. Going over the top the following day, he was killed.
Henry Beech Needham, American journalist, was killed near Paris, 1915, while making a trial flight with Lieutenant Warneford, who was the first man to, alone, bring down a Zeppelin machine.
D. Parrish Starr, a Harvard graduate, was killed in action September 15, 1916.
Andrew C. Champollion, New York, an American, painter by profession, Harvard graduate, a big game hunter, went to the front March 1st, 1915. He was a descendant of the Champollion, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, and grandson of Austin Carbin. His ancestors had followed Napoleon’s Eagles through Italy and Egypt and this boy was killed by a bullet in the forehead at Bois le Pietre, March 23, 1915.
In his last letter he wrote:—”Last night weslept in the second line trenches (not so bad), but today we are nose to nose with the enemy on the frontiest of fronts. It is the damnedest life imaginable. You are no longer treated like an irresponsible ass, but like a man, while you live the life of a beast or a savage.
Guy Augustine, of San Francisco, son of the U. S. Consul to Barcelona, member of the Foreign Legion, was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for bravery at Chalons-Sur-Marne, July 14, 1917.
Sylvain Rosenberg, New York, 23 years of age, son of Max Rosenberg, with the 19th Company of the 251st Regiment, wounded on the Marne, Sept. 7, 1914;—in Argonne, Dec. 8, 1915,—cited in the Orders of the Day,—and killed March 15, 1916, at Verdun.
The Lafayette Escadrille, No. 124, is an offspring of the Legion, formed by Rockwell, Curtis, Thaw, Hall, Back, Chapman, Cowdin and Prince, who kept pounding the Colonel of the Legion on the back, so much that he gave his consent, to get rid of them. It has formed a nucleus of All-Americans that became the start, or foundation, of that immense fleet of aeroplanes that is to furnish the eyes that will find the weak places in the enemy’s line throughwhich the Allies will march to victory. First Americans to carry their national flag into action as a fighting unit, April 11, 1917.
Originally called the Franco-American Escadrille, but the name was changed to satisfy pro-Germans, who claimed to be Americans, but these aviators did not change their emblem. The Red Indian sign is still on the machines. The old boys from the Legion are in the seats, and we hope to see every man an officer, dressed in the uniform of his own country.
About the time the United States entered the war, the Americans of the Legion offered their services to the American Government at home and were not then accepted and the following letter, among others, was sent to the New York Herald by a French lady:—
”American Veterans in France.
”American Veterans in France.
”American Veterans in France.
“April 28, 1917.
“Sir:—May I ask through your columns why it is that those few Americans, brave enough to seek voluntarily, while their country was still neutral, the ranks, of our army, have not yet been claimed by their own Government, whose citizens they remain, while all at homeare apparently receiving commissions and honor, are these men to remain sergeants and soldiers in the French Army, unrecognized and unhonored by their mother country?
“To me, their part was such a beautiful one, to leave home and luxury and peace for this carnage to follow their ideals, to risk death voluntarily, if it aid their friends.
“Surely, your people cannot understand how deeply the spirit of those boys has touched the hearts of French women in these trying times. And, now that the spirit of your people has risen to their side, are these leaders to be forgotten?
“The two aviators, Genet and Hoskier, who have died since April 3, were in French uniform. Frenchmen respect them; do not Americans?
A French Mother.”
The Continental edition of the New York Herald is not a mail order catalogue, or a political organ, it is a real newspaper, and the only American journal published in France. It is well printed on good paper. It records the doings of society. Its columns are open to the opinions of others. It publishes the most cutting criticism of its own policy with the greatestof pleasure. It prints every appeal for charity—from humans to cats.
It fought for International Honesty, when leaders and trimmers were silent. When the leaders woke up, it pushed. Its accurate information, often suppressed by the censor, makes every blank space an honor mark. While the editor, like the petite Parisienne, whose demure eyes cannot conceal the lurking mischief within, just writes enough editorially to make the reader wish for more.
Its vigorous American attitude in 1915 and 1916 gave the French people hope. It gave the repatriated American comfort, for it strengthened his convictions. He felt better for knowing that some, at least, of his countrymen had the courage to stand up for the cause he was willing to die for. So, he went forward cheerfully. He knew he was following the right path and he was not alone. The Herald gave him comfort. It sustained him in adversity.