THE FOREIGN LEGION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15884, 3 April 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE FOREIGN LEGION.

AMERICANS AT THE FRONT.

TRENCH EaPERIENCES.

The story of the four Americans, three of them the scions of wealthy families, who, eager for adventure, ami anxious to aid the. Allies, have enlisted in the Foreign Legion, and have since fought against the Germans both in Belgium and in France, is cited everywhere in Paris in proof of America's friendship for the cause of the allies. William Taft, cousin of Harry Taft, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, wealthy beyond the -dreams of avarice, and James Hall, a celebrated automobile driver and airship pilot, are now members of the French aviation corps. William Carstairs and James Blake, two of the best-known members of the American colony in Paris, are still in the trenches. "Hall and I spent ten weeks in the trenches along the Aisne,'' says Mr. 'fait, and we would have been there yet had not the call come for airship pilots, and the two of us were chosen among the others. " Of course, we are glad to serve as aviators, for to tell the truth the warfare of trenches is dreadfully monotonous, and when one has to go without a drop of water to wash hands or face for 25 days, as we did, it becomes also rather unclean. Invisible Enemy. "Ten weeks in the trenches, all this time under German artillery fire, and the only enemy we saw was a email herd of cows, which trooped out of a ncigiibouiing forest in perfect formation. Under such conditions, all one has to do is to burrow himself deeply into the ground and await developments, which seem never to. come. " Another very oppressing condition is the darkness of the night, while the vermin are a veritable Egyptian plague. I took my first bath, while in trendies, in the river, but the pleasure was somewhat spoiled, as right near me lay a dead horse. Of course, horses cannot be buried when hundreds of dead soldiere are still unburied. A man cannot show his nose above the trenches without drawing a fusilade. "The Foreign Legion is a strange conglomeration of humanity Our sergeant was a German, our lieutenant an Austrian, and so was the captain, but they all were full of hatred for their compatriots. "We joined it because we were in a hurry to get some action. We could have gone as volunteers, but the preliminaries seemed too long for us. You see, we were afraid that the war would end before we got out to the front. So we enlisted in the Foreign Legion. "' What made us risk our lives? I cannot speak for the others, but i was attracted by the pay— were getting two fnncs a day, board, and lodging thrown in. The lodging was not what one would style first-class accommodation, but the io)d was plentiful, even if the menu was getting to be tiresome after the first few weeks. Making Up Arrears. "The worst of the whole thing was the la:k of washing facilities. 1 am stopping now at Ritz, for as an aviator 1 have my evening off, and the amount of water I use daily is simply frightful. 1 wish 1 could shed my skin for the sake of cleanliness. "But, jokes aside, 1 have met daredevil fellows in my life, but none whose courage could equal the courage of the Frenchmen. They care for only one thing— beat the Germans. Nothing else counts with ,them, and I don't see what the Germans, can do against a national spirit of the kind. The French troops are actually cheerful. I heard more grumbling in militia service in America. "Will the allies win? Say, ask me if the sun will rise to-morrow! The Germans have no more chance than the bull in a Spanish arena. The bull—l beg pardon, the Germans—may do some damage, but it's the finish that counts, and if 1 was a German, I'd hate to think of it. It will surely be the finish of Germany."