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After returning from the Tarawa-Kwajalein mission in 1944, Ed, at the suggestion of George Carlin, conceived an idea for a Tarzan novel with a new setting. With the Netherlands East Indies now invaded and conquered by the Japanese, a fresh and exciting background awaited Tarzan, one with peril unlimited and, above all, with a dense jungle that matched his African habitat. This was the Island of Sumatra, and in using it for his novel "Tarzan and `The Foreign Legion,' " Ed did some research.His foreword to the novel offered a statement of indebtedness: "My knowledge of Sumatra at the time I chose it as the scene of a Tarzan story was pathetically inadequate; and as there was not a book on Sumatra in the Honolulu Public Library, nor in any of the book stores, it bade fair to remain inadequate." He acknowledged information given him by various Netherlands government officials of India, Honolulu, and New York, and expressed gratitude to his "good friend" Captain John Philip Bird, who arranged a first meeting with the Netherlanders.
His worksheets, in addition to the customary glossary of characters, included two pages of details headed "Notes for Tarzan Sumatra Story." These listed geographical features, dimensions, and population ratios of the different races, and, as might be expected, devoted much space to the large variety of animals. For the animals that were vital to any Tarzan tale, the tiger and elephant, Ed prepared special notes. The Siamang gibbons had evidently aroused his interest for he wrote, "largest of the gibbons, great gymnasts, can make a terrific sound. Pouch in throat swells up like toy balloon, giving call a booming quality that makes it carry long distances in jungle." The Sumatran forest was described: "Enormous straight trunked trees, ensnared by giant creepers, vines, and huge air plants made a thick canopy overhead." He also noted certain savage natives — the Kubus; the Battas, who were cannibals; and the Orang-lu and Orang-lubu.
The 80,000-word "Tarzan and the `Foreign Legion,' " completed on September 11, reports, at the opening, the efforts of Hendrik van der Mer to evade the Japanese; he is accompanied by his wife Elsje, daughter Corrie, and two faithful Chinese servants. Van der Mer's wife dies of fever, and he and a servant are callously bayoneted to death by the Japanese, but Corrie and Sing Tai escape temporarily.
Tarzan first appears as Colonel John Clayton, an observer on the Liberator plane Lovely Lady, which is flying over Sumatra. The plane is shot down and Tarzan parachutes into the jungle, joined by Joe Bubonovitch, Tony Rosetti, and Jerry Lucas. Later, when the group is augmented by some loyal Dutchmen, it is called the "Foreign Legion," for its membership includes a Russian, an Italian, an Englishman, a Eurasian, and an American, Jerry, who is part Indian. The emphasis in the novel upon Oklahoma and Jerry as an Oklahoman is a tribute to Burroughs' friend Phil Bird, a native of the state. As in past stories, Tarzan becomes a rescuer, the godlike figure who descends at the crucial moment. The love affairs occur between Jerry and Corrie and between Rosetti and the lovely Eurasian, Sarina.
In "Tarzan and `The Foreign Legion' " Burroughs does not produce an individual villain, as in his previous stories, but instead presents all of the Japanese as villains of the most despicable sort. Here he has forgotten a lesson of the past and the vow he made after his unfortunate indictment of the Germans. In this respect Burroughs revealed himself to be just as susceptible to World War II propaganda as he was to the propaganda of the first war. But with the Japanese he goes to even greater lengths, exhibiting them both as callous, sadistic monsters and as comical and ludicrous cowards.
The Japanese "sub-men" display confidence only when the odds are in their favor; against the superb fighting of Tarzan or the Legion they flee in confusion or, when the situation is desperate, blow themselves up with hand grenades. Burroughs' emphasis upon hatred of the Japanese, although this is disapproved by some of the Legion, makes hatred appear to be an inspired feeling. Tarzan's natural instincts place him above hatred — the emotion had come only once in his life, when Kala, the she-ape, was murdered by Kulonga; yet Corrie, the Dutch girl, says she wants to hate the Japanese: "I often reproach myself because I think I am not hating bitterly enough." Jerry cannot share her feelings, and later she tells him that hate will make her "a better woman": "I do not mean petty hatreds. I mean a just hate — a grand hate that exalts . . . a common, holy hatred for a common enemy."
In a brief section of "Tarzan and `The Foreign Legion' " Burroughs provides an explanation for something that had long provoked comments and questions from Tarzan readers. This was the matter of the ape-man's unchanging youth. Tarzan reveals his belief in certain powers possessed by witch doctors and then recalls how, many years before, he had saved the life of a young black man; identifying himself as a witch doctor, the man persuaded Tarzan to agree to his "treatment": "It required a full month of concocting vile brews, observing solemn rituals, and the transfusion of a couple of quarts of the witch doctor's blood into my veins." Dr. Reyd, who has listened to this account, guesses Tarzan to be in his twenties. Burroughs, cagily avoiding any mention of an exact age — how could the jungle superman retain his glamor if his age placed him in the senior citizen bracket? — makes Tarzan's answer evasive: "That which I have told you occurred many years ago."
Tarzan also recalls another experience involving the achievement of perpetual youth. Certain "white fanatics" in Africa, described by Burroughs in his novel Tarzan's Quest, followed a practice of kidnapping young girls, killing them, and using their glands to prepare a compound. Tarzan reported that at the time, in rescuing some of the girls, he had obtained a supply of this compound. "Those who have taken it," he said, "including a little monkey, have shown no signs of aging since."
"Tarzan and `The Foreign Legion' `develops into a series of adventures, without any unifying theme other than a common hatred of the Japanese and the Legion's eventual goal to travel to the sea and escape to Australia. At the story's end, with the group afloat on a prau, they are shelled by a Japanese ship and hurled into the water; a British submarine appears suddenly to save them.
Rejected by Blue Book, on November 28, 1944, and by Popular Publications, new owners of Munsey's Argosy, a year later, "Tarzan and `The Foreign Legion' " never appeared in a magazine. Dedicated to Ed's friend Brigadier General Truman H. Landon, it was published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., August 22, 1947. In the book Ed pokes fun at another wartime friend, Colonel Kendall J. Fielder, picturing him dressed up as a "witch doctor."
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