Lloyd Thomas (DDE 764) - Naval Cruise Book

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, fl - . ,717 xg , .fn 'ii lf: ., ,,.,- ,W lil 149 5 J! -. , x I UW N l J .F H 9 I 'E' l A f Y, f . I X-. ' um It -'P I- ii uv xi- 5 1' Oran is a large and modern' city fnothing like the conception most people have of Africay with broad tree-lined avenues covered with modern shops and side-walk cafes. Most of its population is a mixture tmade up of Arabian, French and Spanish blood. As soon as you 'step off the ship, you are surrounded by all kinds of little Arabs wanting smokes and candy for Pappa . ' Everywhere you go they follow you, and if you don't watch them closely, they will pick your pockets. Most of them look as if they haven't had a bath or change of clothing in months and most likely they haven't. While in Oran we took a tour -to Sidi Bel Abbes, the home of the French Foreign Legion and the boot camp of all legionnaires. Here they are trained to be sent out to different posts all over the world. They are known to be the best trained fighters in the world, and have often won battles when they were greatly outnumbered. The Legion is made up of men from all coun- tries, therefore a recruit must take an oath of allegiance to the Hag of France while serving in the Legion. However, if they are to be sent to battle against their mother country, they are asked if they desire to iight and if not, they are not forced to do so. A big percentage of the men are German, many of whom served in the German Army in World War II. There are also some Italian, Spanish, French and a few Americans.

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E5 -... .-5 .X g - . T5-ss at k ..., , ran, geria Twelve days after leaving Newport, U.S.A. we steamed into the bay of Oran, Algeria, North Africa, the land of mystery and beautiful women, or so most of us had been led to believe by the books we had read and the stories we had heard, but our first look was far from romantic. We were welcomed by heavy seas and high winds, in fact, by one of the roughest storms that had hit the ship in many months. After considerable difliculty we moored along- side the Yellowstone in the inner harbor, and because of the high sea walls around the harbor we thought the storm would have little effect on us inside, but to our regret, we were never more wrong. The seas poured over the wall and pounded the ships alongside as if there had been no wall at all. All the ships lost lines and cables from the terrific beating of the waves, and some broke away completely from their moorings, one ship lost its anchor, and several had to put out to sea. Although we were in a sheltered spot we lost .several lines and received a hard blow on our fantail from a small French ship along- side. The Harwood, our sister ship, was severely damaged, as the French would put it hors de combat fdisabled, out of the fightj and had to proceed to Gibraltar for repairs. There was no liberty for the crew until the following day.

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l- , ucybul some prayed xo . Some saw the French Foreign Legion Post at Sidi Bel Abbes After we left the Hall of Fame we headed for town where we did some shopping and then started back to Oran by bus. It was a long and tiring trip and most of us slept, leaving the drixer to his everlasting horn blowing We were escorted throughout the post by English speaking members and shown the various points of interest, the most in- teresting being their Hall of Fame which contains relics from the beginning of the Legion up to the present time. When a man dies in the Legion, his name is put in the Gold Book which contains thousands of names of men whohave fought and died for the Legion, from all nations. These books are kept in a large handcarved case, which, like the rest of the' Hall was made by the Legionnaires themselves. There is also an arsenal which contains all types of weapons captured from the enemy in the different battles they fought, ranging from poison darts and knives to modern pistols and rifles. , ft r' ji., ff, 5 , I 16 xx ' 9 f , ' 7 . ,, jd!!! '44 H. S. 5