THE FOREIGN LEGION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 50, 2 June 1916, Page 4

THE FOREIGN LEGION.

Interesting accounts are now being published of how the British residents of Paris, at the outbreak of ; he \\a". Ivied to form a regiment of die'.r o n. and rh a result of the first neoling, held at the Imperial Club, about *ivc hundred men offered themselves ': enlistment. The authorities, however, were unable to accept the oiler of a separate regiment, and the same repiy was given to Hie corps of American volunteers,, so it was decided that the British volunteers should be dratted 'into the Foreign Legion. About four hundred of I hem began to drill at once in the exhibition grounds of the French capital. Every new recruit of the Le'eion had to pass an extremely severe

medical examination, which was hold beneath the shadow of Napoleon's Tomb, and about twenty per cent, were rejected. The actual number accepted was 35,400, made up as follows: —SOO Britons. 500 Luxemburgers, 600, Americans, 1000 Spaniards, 1500 Greeks, 1500 Belgians, 1000 Czechs and, Galicians, 1700 Poles and Banes. 2000 Swiss, 3500 Russians, 5000 Italians, 10,000 Alsatians, and 6000 of various nationalities. After the first fewj months all the British members were transferred to English regiments, but not before they had been in several engagements and suffered losses. The pay of the men of the Legion is the same as that of the other soldiers of [ France—two pence half-penny per day J and an allowance of tobacco and wine - so there is no question of the mercenary spirit having incited men who have tin-own up good positions to fight 10. France. It is a great sight, says one English writer, to see a regiment ol the Legion on the march ; negroes and blond Swedes go cheek by jowl with swarthy Italians ;, men who have dined with kings and dwelt in marble halls sink their identity under a borrowed name, and march-with a Polish tailor or a cowboy from the Wild West. Ail sorts of famous men have fallen on the field of honor while fighting with the Legion—poets, novelists, actors, and others—and there are few sections of the fighting forces in the field that have a more romantic history. .In ad- | dition to the Foreign Legion with the ' French Army there are many thousands of Americans and others who. have joined the British forces. The fact that men of all nations have rallied to the ranks of the Allies is one of the striking features of the war. It tells us that in its heart the world is with ns in the great fight for human liberty.