"And they thought we wouldn't fight"Gibbons, Floyd Phillips
History
"And they thought we wouldn't fight"
Gibbons, Floyd Phillips
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
At first, our enlisted men on leave in Paris or detailed for work in the
city, were quartered in the old Pipincerie Barracks, where other
soldiers from all of the Allied armies in the world were quartered. Our
men mingled with British Tommies, swarthy Italians and Portuguese, tall
blond Russians, French poilus, Canadians, Australians and New
Zealanders. At considerable expense to these comrades in arms, our men
instructed them in the all-American art of plain and fancy dice rolling.
Later when our numbers in Paris increased, other arrangements for
housing were made. The American policing of Paris, under the direction
of the Expeditionary Provost General, Brigadier General Hillaire, was
turned over to the Marines. Whether it was that our men conducted
themselves in Paris with the orderliness of a guest at the home of his
host, or whether it was that the Marines with their remarkable
discipline suppressed from all view any too hearty outbursts of American
exuberance, it must be said that the appearance and the bearing of
American soldiers in Paris were always above reproach.
I have never heard of one being seen intoxicated in Paris, in spite of
the fact that more opportunities presented themselves for drinking than
had ever before been presented to an American army. The privilege of
sitting at a table in front of a sidewalk cafe on a busy boulevard and
drinking a small glass of beer unmolested, was one that our men did not
take advantage of. It was against the law to serve any of the stronger
liqueurs to men in uniform, but beer and light wines were obtainable all
the time. All cafes closed at 9:30. In spite of the ever present
opportunity to obtain beverages of the above character, there was many
and many an American soldier who tramped the boulevards and canvassed
the cafes, drug stores and delicatessen shops in search of a
much-desired inexistent, ice cream soda.
Many of our men spent their days most seriously and most studiously,
learning the mysteries of transportation on the busses and the Paris
underground system, while they pored over their guide books and digested
pages of information concerning the points of interest that Paris had to
offer. Holidays found them shuffling through the tiled corridors of the
Invalides or looking down into the deep crypt at the granite tomb of the
great Napoleon. In the galleries of the Louvre, the gardens of the
Tuilleries, or at the Luxembourg, the American uniform was ever present.
At least one day out of every ten day leave was spent in the palace and
the grounds at Versailles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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