In May 1914, the francophile Watt left Egypt with his aeroplane and took up employment at the Blériot factory and airfield in Buc, outside Paris. Fired by the widely held conviction that Britain would stay out of a European conflict, Watt offered his services and his plane to the French government on 2 August, the day France declared war on Germany. This gesture was welcomed and he joined the Aviation Militaire section of the Foreign Legion as a pilot. Though he was ranked an ordinary soldier, his colleagues in Bleriot Squadron No. 30 referred to him as ""Capitaine"" in deference to his previous status in the Australian Militia. Posted to Maurice Farman Squadron No. 44 in April 1915, he earned the Legion of Honour badge after he and his observer crash-landed in no man's land and succeeded in making their way back to French lines with valuable intelligence under intense fire from German positions. Soon afterwards, Watt was awarded the Croix de Guerre—with palm leaves personally presented by General Joffre—and promoted to the provisional rank of captain. As a foreigner, however, he was not eligible to command a French unit. Watt always proclaimed his antipodean connection while serving France, painting a kangaroo on the nose of his plane, which he named "Advance Australia". Considered a no-nonsense type, he once introduced himself to a British pilot with the words "I am an Australian and I haven't got any manners".