ENGLISH LEGIONNAIRES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 189, 12 August 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

ENGLISH LEGIONNAIRES.

"TRICKED INTO JOINING." UNLOVELY TYPES. EX-SERGEANT SUMS THEM UP. Englishmen do not make good Legionnaires, according to ox-Sergeant A. It. Cooper, who joined tho French Foreign Legion at tho ago of 15, fought in the Dardanelles and won tlio Croix do Gucrro before he was 17, and served 12 years in all.

lie points out that an Englishman docs not join the Foreign Legion until ho is pretty desperate and down and out, and the majority of the English out there arc drawn from the lowest types. They do not amalgamate well with the other soldiers, are all out for themselves and do not easily acquire the spirit of the Legion. They are the grumblers and malcontents, and generally pretend that they liavo been cnticcd and trickcd into joining. 1-Ie makes some interesting observa? tions on his English comrades. One, he says, was believed to have been a colonel in the British Ar.mv who was cashiered, lie bccame a corporal, but suddenly left and was said to have been exonerated and reinstated in the Army. To Avoid Playing Football.

Another was a professional footballer. He was immediately put into the company's football team, with the result that they won all their matches and bagged tho cup. Twice he deserted and each time wrs caught. When he was brought up before the officers and questioned about his reasons, lie said that, as long as they made him play football, he would go on deserting. He had joined the Legion to cscapo from playing footbaU! _ , _ A third, Simpson by name, had .been in the Guards, was full of bounce, and at tlio outset regarded the Legion as child's play by comparison. Within two months ho 'had deserted. He found his way to England and thence to America, but was sent back on a boat to France, where he was arrested. Sergeant Cooper says he has known a deserter to be arrested and brought back the moment he set foot on French territory after 14 years. The Legion uevcr forgets a deserter. An Escape From a Train. One fellow, an Irishman, deserted and went over to tho Arabs from hatred of tho French, anil wr,; eventually captured with them during an engagement. Serjeant Cooper was detailed to escort hinf to Oran for trial by court-martial. Realising that tho man was bound to bo shot, Cooper resolved to help lnm to escape. When they Stopped at St. Barbo du Tlelat, "I sent the sentries to buy wino and cigarettes. When they wcro well out of the way I told linn to clear out: Then I staged a struggle, threw myself on tho floor of the carnage and shouted for help. In the confusion there was time for him to get away. I had, of course, to report the matter and had my rank reduced and was sentenced to M davs' prison." , , , , Another man whom Cooper helped out of the Legion belonged to a good family; his people would have nothing to do with him, however, owing _to some misdemeanour connected with a bank. So many complaints and lying talcs have been sent to the British Government bT the English typo of sknmshanker," says Sergeant Cooper that tho Charge d'Affaires Militaires has been warned against accepting any recruits in En "land, and it has been made illegal for°a British subject to join tho Legion; if he wants to do so now lie has to gne a false name and nationality.