Kelly of the Foreign Legion: Letters of Légionnaire Russell A. KellyKelly, Russell Anthony
History
Kelly of the Foreign Legion: Letters of Légionnaire Russell A. Kelly
Kelly, Russell Anthony
France. Armée. Légion étrangère; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
The corporal could be most anything but I think he is Arab-French; he is
a quiet fellow and O. K. There are four Légionnaires with us; one of
them has served fifteen years with the Legion and another about ten.
These two are naturalized Frenchmen and fast friends. The old-timer has
a huge beard and is a very quaint character. I enjoy watching him; he
reminds me so much of those gnomes who used to interest me when I was
small. The other fellow is short and very brown. The way they confide in
each other is really ludicrous. When one has an imaginary illness he
takes the other aside and they get their heads together and sympathize
with each other; it is laughable. As they share their sorrows they also
share their joys. You buy their kind of joy by the canteen full, and
believe me they are a joyous pair. The old fellow has been joyous for
about fifteen years.
The other two Légionnaires are Belgians and unimportant. Then we have
two Italians who remind me of brigands. One is a big husky fellow and
the other is a typical dramatic villain; good looking, dashing and all
that stuff. We have an Italian kid with us, but he is only a nuisance.
The two brigands take an interest in him to the extent of continually
kicking and cuffing him around. Well, as I was reading the magazine I
heard a noise in the yard and upon going out found the six-foot corporal
slugging the five-foot five Légionnaire. I was glad to see it because
the little fellow needs a beating. He talks too much. Weeks was out
there and did not like the unevenness of the fight so he interfered. The
big brigand then came up and hit the little Légionnaire a “beaut,”
knocking him across the yard. The little fellow got up just in time to
be knocked back across the yard, and the big fellow was going to repeat
the performance when Weeks interfered again.
By this time we were all out in the yard enjoying the fun. The argument
got pretty hot and finally, as usual, the peacemaker got a wallop in the
jaw. The American section acted as if they were all hit, and in fact
they were when one of them was hit. In a fraction of a second it was the
biggest free-for-all I was ever in or hope to be in. We battled around
the yard to a fare-you-well and in no time the guard was on the scene
with fixed bayonets, but we still kept on.
In a lull in the action I happened to look around in time to see the
villainous looking bandit picking up a brick. I made a bee-line for him
and in no time had received a good clout on my bean for my trouble. The
guards eventually separated us, but the Americans carried the day. They
started to take me to the lock-up but I landed at the infirmary and had
my head bandaged. They locked Pavelka up, but he should have come with
me, as a friend of the bandits hit him on the forehead with a dish pan.
He needed bandaging and soon was sent back for treatment. We all shook
hands and called it square.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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