{"id":20592,"date":"2017-07-16T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-16T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/?p=20592"},"modified":"2020-01-06T17:16:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T17:16:14","slug":"mdfdeusa-wwi-heres-to-you-alan-seeger-the-french-foreign-legion-bastilleday-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/07\/16\/mdfdeusa-wwi-heres-to-you-alan-seeger-the-french-foreign-legion-bastilleday-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70\/","title":{"rendered":"MDFDE\/USA: WWI: Here\u2019s to You, Alan SEEGER & the French Foreign Legion! #BastilleDay #MDFDEFriendshipMerciTrain70"},"content":{"rendered":"
Bastille Day 2017: La L\u00e9gion \u00e9trang\u00e8re avec l’Arm\u00e9e fran\u00e7aise et l’Arm\u00e9e am\u00e9ricaine\/The French Foreign Legion with the French Army and the U.S. Army.
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#GRATI<\/span>TUDE<\/span><\/h1>\n

#RESIS<\/span>TANCE<\/span><\/h1>\n

#FREEDOMOF<\/span>THE<\/span>PRESS<\/span><\/h1>\n

#MDFDE<\/span>Friendship<\/span>MerciTrain<\/span>70<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a9 The Official French-American Project entirely conceived by Ms. Elisabeth JENSSEN to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Friendship Train and the Merci Train (2017- 2019). All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Chair,<\/strong> Elisabeth Jenssen\u00a0Co-Chair,<\/strong> Tyler Abell<\/p>\n

Honorary President:<\/strong> The Comte Gilbert de Pusy La Fayette<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/strong> elisabeth.jenssen@francaisdeletranger.org<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\"alan_seeger3\"<\/a><\/div>\n
Alan Seeger (1888-1916)<\/b><\/address>\n

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A Message To America (1916)<\/h2>\n

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YOU have the grit and the guts, I know;
\nYou are ready to answer blow for blow
\nYou are virile, combative, stubborn, hard,
\nBut your honor ends with your own back-yard;
\nEach man intent on his private goal,
\nYou have no feeling for the whole;
\nWhat singly none would tolerate
\nYou let unpunished hit the state,
\nUnmindful that each man must share
\nThe stain he lets his country wear,
\nAnd (what no traveller ignores)
\nThat her good name is often yours.<\/p>\n

You are proud in the pride that feels its might;
\nFrom your imaginary height
\nMen of another race or hue
\nAre men of a lesser breed to you:
\nThe neighbor at your southern gate
\nYou treat with the scorn that has bred his hate.
\nTo lend a spice to your disrespect
\nYou call him the “greaser”. But reflect!
\nThe greaser has spat on you more than once;
\nHe has handed you multiple affronts;
\nHe has robbed you, banished you, burned and killed;
\nHe has gone untrounced for the blood he spilled;
\nHe has jeering used for his bootblack’s rag
\nThe stars and stripes of the gringo’s flag;
\nAnd you, in the depths of your easy-chair —
\nWhat did you do, what did you care?
\nDid you find the season too cold and damp
\nTo change the counter for the camp?
\nWere you frightened by fevers in Mexico?
\nI can’t imagine, but this I know —
\nYou are impassioned vastly more
\nBy the news of the daily baseball score
\nThan to hear that a dozen countrymen
\nHave perished somewhere in Darien,
\nThat greasers have taken their innocent lives
\nAnd robbed their holdings and raped their wives.<\/p>\n

Not by rough tongues and ready fists
\nCan you hope to jilt in the modern lists.
\nThe armies of a littler folk
\nShall pass you under the victor’s yoke,
\nSobeit a nation that trains her sons
\nTo ride their horses and point their guns —
\nSobeit a people that comprehends
\nThe limit where private pleasure ends
\nAnd where their public dues begin,
\nA people made strong by discipline
\nWho are willing to give — what you’ve no mind to —
\nAnd understand — what you are blind to —
\nThe things that the individual
\nMust sacrifice for the good of all.<\/p>\n

You have a leader who knows — the man
\nMost fit to be called American,
\nA prophet that once in generations
\nIs given to point to erring nations
\nBrighter ideals toward which to press
\nAnd lead them out of the wilderness.
\nWill you turn your back on him once again?
\nWill you give the tiller once more to men
\nWho have made your country the laughing-stock
\nFor the older peoples to scorn and mock,
\nWho would make you servile, despised, and weak,
\nA country that turns the other cheek,
\nWho care not how bravely your flag may float,
\nWho answer an insult with a note,
\nWhose way is the easy way in all,
\nAnd, seeing that polished arms appal
\nTheir marrow of milk-fed pacifist,
\nWould tell you menace does not exist?
\nAre these, in the world’s great parliament,
\nThe men you would choose to represent
\nYour honor, your manhood, and your pride,
\nAnd the virtues your fathers dignified?
\nOh, bury them deeper than the sea
\nIn universal obloquy;
\nForget the ground where they lie, or write
\nFor epitaph: “Too proud to fight.”<\/p>\n

I have been too long from my country’s shores
\nTo reckon what state of mind is yours,
\nBut as for myself I know right well
\nI would go through fire and shot and shell
\nAnd face new perils and make my bed
\nIn new privations, if ROOSEVELT led;
\nBut I have given my heart and hand
\nTo serve, in serving another land,
\nIdeals kept bright that with you are dim;
\nHere men can thrill to their country’s hymn,
\nFor the passion that wells in the Marseillaise
\nIs the same that fires the French these days,
\nAnd, when the flag that they love goes by,
\nWith swelling bosom and moistened eye
\nThey can look, for they know that it floats there still
\nBy the might of their hands and the strength of their will,
\nAnd through perils countless and trials unknown
\nIts honor each man has made his own.
\nThey wanted the war no more than you,
\nBut they saw how the certain menace grew,
\nAnd they gave two years of their youth or three
\nThe more to insure their liberty
\nWhen the wrath of rifles and pennoned spears
\nShould roll like a flood on their wrecked frontiers.
\nThey wanted the war no more than you,
\nBut when the dreadful summons blew
\nAnd the time to settle the quarrel came
\nThey sprang to their guns, each man was game;
\nAnd mark if they fight not to the last
\nFor their hearths, their altars, and their past:
\nYea, fight till their veins have been bled dry
\nFor love of the country that WILL not die.<\/p>\n

O friends, in your fortunate present ease
\n(Yet faced by the self-same facts as these),
\nIf you would see how a race can soar
\nThat has no love, but no fear, of war,
\nHow each can turn from his private role
\nThat all may act as a perfect whole,
\nHow men can live up to the place they claim
\nAnd a nation, jealous of its good name,
\nBe true to its proud inheritance,
\nOh, look over here and learn from FRANCE!<\/p>\n

Alan Seeger<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/a\/amverse\/BAD7802.0001.001\/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext<\/a><\/div>\n
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\u201cLegio Patria Nostra.\u201d The Legion is our homeland.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00abAu combat, tu n’abandonnes jamais ni tes morts, ni tes bless\u00e9s, ni tes armes\u00bb<\/em>.<\/p>\n

La L\u00e9gion \u00c9trang\u00e8re (The French Foreign Legion): D\u00e9fil\u00e9 militaire du 14 juillet 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CERA7LWdK_c<\/a><\/p>\n

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L\u00e9gion \u00e9trang\u00e8re<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegionetrangereOfficiel\/<\/a><\/p>\n

July 14 at 12:20pm<\/abbr><\/a> <\/strong>\u00b7 Apr\u00e8s le d\u00e9fil\u00e9, rendez-vous au “Cercle de l’Union Interalli\u00e9e”, jouxtant l’Elys\u00e9e, transform\u00e9 en bivouac am\u00e9ricain avec parade et exercices de d\u00e9monstration du Corps des Marines. Ev\u00e9nement fort apr\u00e8s la parade militaire exceptionnelle de cette ann\u00e9e marqu\u00e9e par le centenaire de l\u2019entr\u00e9e en guerre des \u00c9tats-Unis en 1917, quatre ans apr\u00e8s son d\u00e9but… Avant cela, d\u00e8s 1914, les am\u00e9ricains qui voulaient se battre aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s des fran\u00e7ais venaient s’engager dans les rangs de la L\u00e9gion \u00e9trang\u00e8re… certains seront \u00e0 l’origine de la fameuse escadrille Lafayette.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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La musique de la L\u00e9gion \u00e9trang\u00e8re marquera symboliquement de sa pr\u00e9sence la comm\u00e9moration en souvenir de ces hommes…<\/p>\n

My afternoon with the French Foreign Legion<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was desperate to ask Maurice, my guide, how many people he\u2019d killed but his quiet modesty stopped me<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeremy Clarke\u00a0 20 February 2016 9:00 AM<\/a><\/div>\n
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Foreign Legion Museum (Photo: Getty)<\/div>\n
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In the Foreign Legion\u2019s Museum of Memory at Aubagne, near Marseilles, I examined the kit, weapons and uniforms from the Legion\u2019s formation in 1831 up to the present day. Uniforms from the Crimea, the Mandingo war, the Mexican expedition,the second Madagascar expedition, the first world war, the Algerian war, the first Gulf war: there they all were, displayed in glass cases. My museum guide was Maurice, a proud Legion veteran. Green Legion tie, natty silver-buttoned regimental waistcoat, close-cropped head and an impressive row of medals on his chest. You only had to look at his lean face to see how fit he was. A tour of duty in the L\u00e9gion \u00c9trang\u00e8re is five years. Maurice has five under his regimental turquoise belt.<\/p>\n

More:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/2016\/02\/my-afternoon-with-the-french-foreign-legion\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.opex360.com\/2017\/04\/28\/en-2018-la-legion-etrangere-aura-retrouve-ses-effectifs-dil-y-20-ans\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/07\/04\/mdfdeusa-wwi-heres-to-you-alan-seeger-the-french-foreign-legion-independenceday-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/b>https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/04\/21\/mdfdeusa-washington-la-fayettes-spirits-live-on-in-philly-yorktown-mdfdejesuisladyliberty131\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/04\/02\/mdfdeusa-wwi-la-fayette-nous-voila-the-united-states-declare-war-on-germany-mdfdejesuisladyliberty131\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2016\/12\/11\/mdfdeusa-troubled-times-lets-hear-it-for-la-fayette-hamilton-for-some-inspiration-mdfdejesuisladyliberty130-hamilton\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/blog\/mdfdeusa-lady-in-liberty-visite-historique-du-comte-gilbert-de-pusy-la-fayette-a-leiny-mdfdejesuisladyliberty130-nps100\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/blog\/mdfdefrance-le-comte-gilbert-de-pusy-la-fayette-nomme-president-dhonneur-du-mdfdeparis-nyc16-cop21-mdfdejesuisladyliberty130-nps100\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/blog\/mdfdefrance-happy-4th-of-july-america-et-vive-feu-la-fayette-4julyfrance-mdfdejesuisladyliberty130-nps100\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/blog\/mdfdefrance-kudos-to-pascal-morand-for-his-leadership-in-haute-couture-cop21-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/06\/13\/mdfdeusa-mr-tyler-abell-named-co-chair-of-executive-committee-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/06\/06\/mdfdeusa-congrats-mayor-bill-peduto-for-your-leadership-in-green-citizenship-mdfdejesuisladyliberty131-cop21-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/06\/02\/mdfdeusa-dear-world-may-we-all-be-bartholdi-mdfdejesuisladyliberty131\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/05\/04\/mdfdeusa-wwi-live-from-austin-texas-all-aboard-the-merci-train-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/blog\/mdfdefrance-paques-2017-que-les-cloches-paccard-ne-cessent-jamais-de-sonner-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/04\/05\/mdfdeusa-wwi-the-mcny-commemorates-the-centennial-of-the-us-entrance-into-wwi-mdfdejesuisladyliberty131\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2017\/03\/22\/mdfdeusa-wwi-centennial-happy-97th-anniversary-40-8-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/2016\/12\/20\/mdfdeusa-all-aboard-the-american-friendship-train-1947-2017-kudos-to-the-late-drew-pearson-mdfdejesuisladyliberty130-131-mdfdefriendshiptrainmercitrain70\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bastille Day 2017: La L\u00e9gion \u00e9trang\u00e8re avec l’Arm\u00e9e fran\u00e7aise et l’Arm\u00e9e am\u00e9ricaine\/The French Foreign Legion with the French Army and the U.S. Army. \u00a0 \u00a0 #GRATITUDE #RESISTANCE #FREEDOMOFTHEPRESS #MDFDEFriendshipMerciTrain70 \u00a9 The Official French-American Project entirely conceived by Ms. Elisabeth JENSSEN to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Friendship Train and the Merci Train (2017- 2019). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,6928,1278,5548,4880,7,42,4718,5909,260,4730,5579,4724,8,160,161,9,10,11,1493,4834,7056,6796,4720,165,5547,5546,58,226,6145,170,5766,15,16,5057,6480,172,5622,59,5694,17,177,4697,20,6756,5360,227,56,22,395,4883,180,4752,7319,237,5314,24,4721,7057,7055,6332,7011,186,7241,1284,4723,7243,300,618,4722,27,4805,8196,4710,7077,3295,7030,1133,628,5833,5406,4763,28,4731,5386,4764,5675,193,194,195],"tags":[8628,8886,8772,119,719,5671,6291,8901,2975,8897,8917,8914,8899,402,208,5305,146,426,8882,8773,5201,7509,8724,8654,8888,1199,152,966,156],"class_list":["post-20592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-agriculture-and-crafts","category-animal-rights","category-architecture","category-arts","category-asia","category-asia-pacific","category-books","category-california","category-childrens-rights","category-cinema","category-civil-rights","category-climate-change","category-corruption","category-culture","category-diplomatie","category-dom-tom","category-ecology","category-economy","category-education","category-electronics","category-employment","category-energy","category-engineering","category-environment","category-europe","category-exhibitions","category-francophony","category-french-american-relations","category-gay-rights","category-global-warming","category-hawaii","category-health","category-high-tech","category-history","category-hotels","category-human-tragedy-2","category-immigration","category-international-events","category-internet","category-journalism","category-justice","category-la-marine-nationale","category-latest-news","category-leadership","category-lgbtqa-2","category-litterature","category-made-in-france","category-mdfde-2","category-medicine-and-health","category-mexico","category-middle-east","category-ministere-des-affaires-etrangeres","category-music","category-native-americans","category-nato","category-photography","category-policy","category-politics","category-port-structure","category-publishing","category-racism","category-railroads","category-religion","category-restaurants","category-russia","category-safety","category-schools","category-sciences","category-sculpture","category-security","category-sightseeing","category-slavery","category-social-entrepreneurship","category-society","category-solar-energy","category-south-america","category-southeast-asia","category-space","category-space-exploration","category-sustainability","category-terrorism","category-tourism","category-tweets","category-ubuntu","category-weather","category-wildlife","category-wines","category-womens-rights","category-world-war-i","category-world-war-ii","tag-mdfdefriendshipmercitrain70","tag-alan-seeger","tag-american-legion","tag-barack-obama","tag-boston","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-harvard-university","tag-jean-michel-lasaygues","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-le-cimetiere-militaire-de-lihons-somme","tag-le-general-pierre-de-villiers","tag-le-lieutenant-colonel-jean-philippe-bourban","tag-lieutenant-colonel-h-benoit-guiffray","tag-london","tag-marseille","tag-mayor-anne-hidalgo","tag-new-york","tag-paris","tag-pete-seeger","tag-the-40-8-society","tag-the-battle-of-the-somme","tag-the-comte-gilbert-de-pusy-la-fayette","tag-the-french-foreign-legion","tag-the-lafayette-escadrille","tag-the-society-of-the-cincinnati","tag-the-statue-of-liberty","tag-the-united-states-of-america","tag-united-kingdom","tag-washington-d-c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20592"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23419,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592\/revisions\/23419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.francaisdeletranger.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\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