FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION

Southland Times, Issue 22009, 8 May 1933, Page 2

FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION

PRAISE BY AMERICAN. “MOST MALIGNED REGIMENT.” “The majority of Foreign Legionaries are college men, and their comfort is the first thought of their understanding and kindly officers,” according to a statement by Mr Philip Ortiz, an American who has founded a society called “The Friends of the Foreign Legion” to tell the world the truth about “the most maligned regiment in the world.” A year ago Mr Ortiz sent his 18-year-old son to college at Grenoble. Shortly afterward his son announced that he had joined the Foreign Legion. Filled with dismay, Mr Ortiz at once went to Sidi-bel-Abbes to “help his son out of the mess into which he had got himself.” “I did not visit the Legion for 24 hours. I lived with it for four months in the outposts as well as in central depots,” said Mr Ortiz. “As a result of my observations I am . the proudest father in the world. I think my son lias embarked on a great career in the greatest body of men in the world. I want him to stay his full five years and win a commission, so that he can return to command the men whose friendship he has already won in the “I met half-a-dozen Britons, but there

aren't many, as the British Army goes far enough afield to satisfy any man’s craving for adventure. Discipline is stern—but so it is in the Brigade of Guards.”