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one by one for us to shoot at. He looked like the pictures I saw years later of Ho Chih Minh. I learned that there was a whole division of Annamites in a camp between Cazaux and Arcachon. Like the Italians, they were being fed in idleness. They had been brought to France for army service but would neither fight nor work. The few I had seen employed at Cazaux exceptional cases.

I supposes that the Annamites figured it was not their war. But other French colonials had just as much reason to feel that way, yet some of them, notably Moroccans and black Senegalese, were good fighting troops. The Senegalese were far better fighters than our own ^[[strikethrough]] n [[/strikethrough]] negroes, thoug^[[h]] the latter were excellent labor troops. The Annamites at that time had given no evidence that they were capable of fighting at all. So we Americans generally looked on them with contempt which I now realize was unjustified. 

Some other things I heard during that time made me feel more cheerful. The American Second division had gone into action near Chateau^[[-]]Thier^[[r]]y and did valiant service there holding the Germans as they tried to push further toward Paris. We began to hear about the marines, Belleau Wood and all that.  And on the train returning toward Paris in late June I met a naval officer.  He told me that American supplies were pouring into St. Nazaire and being moved promptly. He also told me that 180,000 of our troops had landed the previous week at Bordeaux. It [[strikethrough]] be [[/strikethrough]] looked as if we might begin to pull some weight.