France. Armée. Légion étrangère; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
=Denis Dowd=, of New York City, and Long Island, a graduate of Columbia
University, and of Georgetown, District of Columbia, a lawyer by
profession, of Irish descent, a fine soldier, passed the first year in
the trenches and was wounded October 19, 1915. We were in the same
squad—were wounded different days—again met in same hospital. While in
hospital, he received a package from the ladies of the American Church
of the Rue de Berri, Paris, in which was a letter. This was followed by
correspondence, later a daily correspondence. Then came an invitation to
pass his furlough with new found friends. Inside of twenty-four hours
after meeting, this hard-headed lawyer was affianced to the lady,
daughter of a professor at the Sorbonne. He entered, for the study of
aviation, the Buc Aviation School, and stood at the head of a class of
fifteen aspirants. While making a preliminary flight, previous to
obtaining his brevet, he was killed, August 11, 1916. In life he showed
a contempt of danger. He passed away with a smile on his lips. His body
was buried at Asnieres, near St. Germain.
=D. W. King=, Providence, R. I., member of a family connected with
cement products interests in England and America, a Harvard graduate—of
uncomplaining and unflinching disposition, though small in stature, he
was great in courage. I have seen him marching without a whimper when
his feet were so sore that only the toes of one foot could touch the
ground. He always had an extra cake or two of chocolate, and was willing
to divide with the individual who could furnish fire or water. He
changed from the Foreign Legion to the 170th, in 1915, and was seriously
wounded in 1916. On recovery he went into the Aviation.
=Edgar Bouligny=, a real American from New Orleans, Louisiana, had
served two enlistments in the U. S. Army. His father was minister to
Mexico, and during the civil war threw himself on the side of Human
Liberty, as the son, later, put in his fortune and health for
International freedom. He went from Alaska to France. He rose to be
sergeant in the Foreign Legion. He was three times wounded, then
transferred to the Aviation. Obtaining his brevet in three months, he
went to Salonica, Albania, Greece and the Balkans. He was decorated with
the Croix de Guerre, with silver star, in January, 1917.
=J. J. Casey=, a cartoonist from San Francisco, California, went into
the Foreign Legion in the early days and is still going strong.
Naturally of a quiet disposition, he will fight at the drop of the hat,
on provocation. He was shot in the foot on September 25, 1915, was in
the hospital of the Union de Femmes of France at Nice and went back to
the front, where he still remains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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