France. Armée. Légion étrangère; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
=Kenneth Weeks=, of Boston, 25 years old, a graduate of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a member of Delta Kappa
Epsilon Fraternity, author of “Driftwood,” “Esau and the Beacon,” “Five
Impractical Plays,” and “Science, Sentiment and Sense.” Passed the first
winter in Battalion D, of the 1st Legion in Rheims Sector. He was in the
Arras attack of May 9th and 10th, and mentioned for bravery. Acting as a
grenadier in an attack on Givenchy, June 17, 1915, he was first reported
missing, then captured; and, several months later, officially, killed.
He said, “Mother, is it not better that I should die than that the
Germans should come over here?”
=Paul Raoul le Dous=, Detroit, Michigan, promoted to sergeant, decorated
with the Medaille Militaire for saving his captain’s life on the Ancre.
=Ernest Walbron=, Paterson, New Jersey, volunteered at the start of the
war, fought in Artois, Verdun and the Somme.
In August, 1916, was detailed as interpreter to an English Regiment,
while leading it to the front was hit by a piece of shell. As no one
else knew the way, he kept going till he reached the destination, then
fainted. He could not be taken back on account of the bombardment.
Gangrene set in and his leg was amputated. He was decorated with the
French Croix de Guerre and Medaille Militaire, also with the English
Military Medal.
=Andrew Walbron=, brother of Ernest, decorated with the Croix de Guerre,
Corporal in the 78th Regiment, has been wounded four times.
=Paul Maffart=, American, Foreign Legion, 19 years of age, killed.
=Haviland=, Minnesota, brought down his first Boche machine, April 28,
1917.
=Ronald Wood Hoskier=, South Orange, New Jersey, a Harvard graduate,
Aviator. His father is also in France in Red Cross work.
Hoskier fell while he and his companion were fighting six Boche
machines. He and two Boche fell among the advancing English troops and
were all killed, April 24, 1917.
Cited in General Orders of the French Army: “Sergeant Ronald Wood
Hoskier, an American, who volunteered for service in the French Army. He
showed splendid conduct and self-sacrifice. He fell on April 23, 1917,
after defending himself heroically against three enemy machines.”
=Paul Perigord=, college professor, formerly an instructor in St. Paul
Seminary, later a parish priest at Olivia, Minn., went to France and
into the trenches at the outbreak of hostilities. Cited four times in
army orders, decorated with the Croix de Guerre, promoted to a
Lieutenancy in the 14th Regiment of the Line. Later, he returned to
America on a patriotic lecturing mission.
=Victor Chapman=, son of John Jay Chapman, was one of the splendid
fellows that it was a pleasure to meet and never to forget. Changing
from the Legion to the Aviation he was killed near Verdun, June 23,
1916, in a battle with French comrades against German machines. The
“Petit Parisian” headline announcing the event, said: “The king of the
air dies like a king.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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