Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1919 — DIED HERO’S DEATH [ARTICLE]

DIED HERO’S DEATH

Arnerican’s Tribute to Soldier of the Legion. Victor Pronounced Typical Member of That Wonderful Body of Men Which Has Made French Military History Glorious. I have lust seefi a Thipnnai happened to. be T>f tliy coiiijainy. the Severn!,’ "Do you know that Victor.; is ili'Hd?" HP lisked: —It snerned tn me almost impossible. The legion without, Victor! I askex! how lie had died. "He was killed, but he gave .them 2^ "Of c ( iliky"hß ; “aiirrtEat was hi- habit - "F ilm" one of the five Who are left." continued mv informant. In April we xvere 120 stripig. Then' may be more now. but they must be recruits. Victor a. short time ago, captured ten (termans and received the military m<‘jk»l. Nnw he H i-hwh at Algernon Sartoris in r'hicago f ws:"“ “ Sergetint Houligny, an American legionnaire, has a suapslmt of lictpr. rndermvi iTrt s w-r 111 en : -A typf ca I legionnaire.” Victor xv;i« a Breton; born in Morltiix. He was tattooed all sSSEZ There was nothing in hfs military noteb<q)k save records- of .his. numerous campaigns. He was a soldier, pure and..siinj>l e.—As Boullgny says,lie v\as typical of all that was best in-the le- j glon—courage, honesty, bravery. His history tnn?~tvl’rtreh Ttr-irtK-lieu ri: Hn wore fhe~ medals nf Morocco. Hrtikin, “the war crbssDwTtli several palmsTinfl' finalLv tin- iniliffiry medal -a glorious Victor acted, .always .as _g stimulant; he was always gay and always kind. On one of our long marches he saw that I was suffering; lie ctnne to HTP" and offered 'to carry my haversack in addition to his own. I declined his olTer, but his courage and kindness went to my heart, ami in spite of sore feet I arrived in Mount Meton with my company, thanks to Victor. Among, the soldiers \iciors name was proverbial for gallantry. On lhe banks of the fetid rivers of Annam. on the burning‘sands of l ietor was there. Tn -the mud—Sti<l mile of the trenches of France he was also there. Atways* -kind? always ■ t houghtful of lathers! Simple and unaffected, he relatexlMeeds.4jf-xalor..tluLD.would move a—stone; deisl< that .would enrich the already glorious military history of France. T" asked Bodies Victor got. He answered “When I lust saw him. he was whirling; hist! gun about his head. There were about a dozen dead Bodies around him. I think tin officer killed him with a revolvgjgl couldn’t swear to it, but I think When I last saw Victor in Paris a little xvliile ago I asked him hoxx’ he had won his military medal-. “In a fit of bravery,” he answered. Victor xx-iis always baring those fits of 'bravery ; they are common In the legion. Now he is dead on some lonely battlefield, but his is the death that he would have asked. In the words of Gen. de Castelman: "It is the best possible death,” the only possibledeath for such as he.