MARCH PAST A HERO.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15138, 30 November 1914, Page 10

MARCH PAST A HERO.

—— : ♦ . REGIMENTAL TRIBUTE TO A BRAVE YOUTH. There was an unusually moving little ceremony at Uouuiguei _ux, litar tne i _vi-uc., vi. oilier <..->>' (says tue Pans ! corre-poiuient ol the "Dany Mail"). It was -arrieu on to the so-emn accompaniment ol tno tumble oi tne enemy's &uu_, lor tne troops who tooK part wero in the lu.t reserve of tue bring lino, and by now are back' in tne trenches again. It was mc 127 th Regiment of Infantry, and they were doing Honour to tiio youngest soldier in nicir ranks, Leon Lemaire, aged twenty. He was being presented with that distinction coveted in the French Army above ail others, the military medal. mii- is now he won it. A few days before tho colonel of tlie 127 th had sent Lemaire with au important message to the captain of one of the companies ot tho regiment in tho trenches. Ho had no sooner shown himself on tho level ground to run forward on his errand than thc German troops, whoso trenches were hero only at short range, opened a fierce lire upon him by vol- I leys. First a bullet passed through j the young man's greatcoat; then his cap was struck; his haversack and i watcr-I—ttlo were riddled by several shot*"', then a hole was bored through) the scabbard of his bayonet. j Through it all young Lemaire advanced coolly and without faltering, and finally ho reached the trench where the captain to whom he bore tbo message "was —miraculously enough, without a wound. So now General Gallet pinned on to hi 3 breast the littlo diver medal, .and then after the customary embrace he made him stand there by his side while the whole regiment, with colours frying and'with its band playing tho "Marseillaise," marched past him with a salute The uniforms were torn and soiled, the- men were unshaved, and some of them wore haggard, but tho President of the Republic in his great review on July 14th at Ixongchamns, never saw a march past carried out with greater dash and spirit than this tribute of the 127 th to the courage of their young comrade. And while ' the little ceremony was going on a German Taube monoplane ; came circling overhead. The French- ! men did no*, deign to notice it, but the airman up above there passed to and fro, evidently puzzled as to what this curious little parade just outside the firing-line i-_i_-.it moan. Unable to •■..t.'-.y himself he dropped two bombs, which hurt no one, and Sew ..way.