Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-08-06
Of MEN
WHO persisted At
MARINE DECORATED
French Pay Tribute to Her0ism
OF Enemies as Well as Their
Own Soldiers Who Fell IN
Great Struggle


tAHHnflAteW fres@ correspondence.
Acy-en- Multien. Department IL the
Disc. France. Jult 2S-Since the
fourteenth 81 JulY D. many VI the
smiling fields ~ the "lsle of France "
fresh. tricolored flass have thrust
.their standards proudly above tho
browning stalks ff ripe wheat ON
almost every sunny hillside in almost
every valley between The Marine and
ne Aisne. IN the growing barley. the
alfalfa. the clover aJ the roadside iu
clusters under frui trees. inc red
white and blue of France like a more
vital fleur-de-lys. pale the peoples
ana daisies ana Corn-fl0U ers chat
sprinkle growing grain.
For here ten months gone. the bait
tIe ~ the Marine WAS fought and here
today the fields are sown with graves
each with Us four posts thrust solidly
boz the ground with wire stretched be-
tween % mark the spot whore some
soldier lies so farmer ploughs above
them, though his field Doe patch
worked with hundreds of the tragic
mounds az many fields are. More,
Doc cuts the weeds 0r the aggressive
grain from every one. even those of
the invaders, and every ONE Is marked
with ils cross or its headboard
Not the French graves alone are
marked The burial place Of every
German fallen In battle has lbs own
fence about IT, Is kept free OF conceal
ing verdure and is marked with itg
CROSS The only distinction Is i'm the
color OF the crosses. The French are
white. and the Germans are black.
And on each is printed number of
the regiment to which the dead bee
longed There IS seldom anything
else. Now and again. whore the
name OF the man was known wherg
bis being an officer served 10 identify
his body, the name is on the cross
and q wreath from his comrades Or
his family who have made "a pilgrim
age 90 the spot where ne lies. other
wise. he is only soldier Of France
and Am soldiers NJ France are equal bop
life as in death
Searching for Their Own.
ON the fourteenth of July the
countryside Of this part Of the repuh-
lic. which since the days of the Ca
pets has been known as the isle OF
France" was scattered with living
people soldiers ou leave from the
front young widows In heavy black
leading little children older people
bowed with age and sorrow, come q
long way stumbling along the sunny
roads peering into the fields, an
searching for their own.
Most of these searching groups
carried new flags to replace the wind
washed aud sunbleached emblems
that had marked The graves since the
battle of the Marine Some Of the
comrades carried many, one for the
grave OF each man of his regiment
who died on the hilltop or who lies
buried in the valley. When he re
turns 90 his regiment down there,
in the trenches after his leave of ABB
seuce the poilu' tells those of the
regiment who remain that each grave
he could find Of theirs has a brand
new flag ON it ana That 1t was thus he
spent the national holiday.
Next before the entrance to the
cemetery of Au-en Mutton IS q tomb
not unlike many others In the hills
and valleys that Die between the
Marine % is perhaps sixty or seventy
feet long-so long that there was not
room for ID within the cemetery walls.
Like the smaller graves. H. too, Is
surrounded hy "a wire fence, and new
flags and flowers constantly renewed
decorate o. Az one end is tempo
rary cross 81 from upon which Il TINS
legend Here repose seventy-tWo
soldiers of France. fallen ON the field
OF honor ln september 1914 Thcy
recapmred Acy from the Germans
they contributed 10 the victory OF The
of the Marine which saved France '
Here almost every dag there come
to this peaceful village and 20 many
like 10 throughout the Isle OF
France" slender Figures muftled IN
heavy black They hneel beside such
long. common graves and pray
white The approaching visitor un-
covers The kueeling figure &c last
looks up.
your husband Madame
Perhaps she answers wistfully
'It was his regiment and he was killed
here somewhere hereab0uts, al
least" Sull kneetng she runs her
hands lightly along the wire that sep
arates her from the mound, as Il It
were the body Of her beloved, covered
perchance with the glorious tricolor.
Her eyes, as they look over the RAJ
diant hills ana beyond, CLEAN UNI
shed tears
.For France" she says very softly