Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-13
Lesson l.
Your Post of Honor.

| | one of your obligations as a citizen of | the United States. The citizens of 1 republic must always be ready in the 1 hour of need to leave their own homes | and take up arms in defense of their | rights and principles. Otherwise the 1 Republic could not long continue to 1 exist. The men who now enter mili- | tary service deserve the gratitude and | respect of their fellow citizens. l You are doubtless making a heavy 1 sacrifice in order to perform this duty ! to your country. Hundred of thou sands of other young men and their l families are face to face with similar
 sacrifices. All our citizens will sooner CT later be called upon, each to bear l his or her share of the burden. Men and women, rich and poor, all alike ! must do whatever is necessary and
 must give up whatever Is necessary. l For no personal interests or feelings 1 can be permitted to stand in the way at a time when the safety and honor | of the country are at stake.
 1 As a citizen soldier you are chosen America is justly proud of the sol- diers of the past who have won for us the rights today denied and put | in serious danger by the high handed ! attacks of the German government.
 America will be no less proud of you,
 as you fight to uphold those rights.
 great. As warfare is today conduct ed the individual soldier counts for more than ever before. Your own skill and bravery no matter how hum 1 ble your rank, may easily be import
 ant factors in deciding whether engagements is to be won or lost. You
 can not depend upon anyone else to carry this personal responsibility for 1 you you must depend upon yourself. l Americans are we'll fitted to meet
 this test. During the Civil war, at
 the battle of Antietam. the 7th Maine l infantry lay, hugging the ground, un- i der a furious storm of shot and shell. 1 Private Knox, who was a wonder | full shot, asked leave to move near ! CT the enemy. For an hour afterwards i his comp mpanions heard his rife crack officer finally, from curiosity. "crept :! forward to see what he was doing, and i found that he had driven every nt,n away from one section of a .Confeder-
 ate battery, tunabling over gunner aft
 CT gunner IS they came forward to fire. At the end of an hour I CT so. piece of shell took off the breech Of his pet rife and he return i ed disconsolate; but after a few min
 utes he gathered three rifles that were ] left by wounded men and went back 1 gain"
 | In the Confederate armies individ / | ual soldiers were no less skillful, coll
 and brave. On both sides they were Americans. i Here are a few cases quoted from 1 official records. You must read be-
 tween the lines to get the full ben l eft of the stories they tell of re- l sourcefulness and courage.
 On June 9, 1862. Private John Gray, 5th Ohio infantry. mounted on an l artillery horse of the enemy and cap ] tured a brass 6-pound piece, in the
 face of the enemy's fire, and brough: it to the rear"
 On October 121863, Private Michael Dolgherty, 18th Pennsylvania cavalry. ! "at the head of a detachment of his | exposed to a deadly fire from the en- emy and succeeded in disiodging them from an unoccupied house which he and his comrades defended for several hours against repeated at tacks, thus preventing the enemy from fianking the position of the Union forces"
 From May to Il, 1864, Private JeS n B. Lynch. 3d Indiana cavalry, carried important dispatches from the Presi- dent to General Grant passing through the enemy'S country. escaping capture
 delivered his message and returned to Washington with replies thereto" On April 27. 1899, Private Edward
 White. goth Kansas infantry during a
 fight with insurgents in the Philippine Islands. swan the Rio Grandet de
 Pampanga in face of the enemy's fire and fastened a rope to the unoccupied trenches, thereby ena bling the cross
 ing of the river and the driving of the enemy from his fortified position"
 On May s, 1900, Private William P. Maelay 43d L. s. Volunteer infantry. charged an occupied bastion, saving the life of an officer in a hand-to- hand combat and destroying the enc my"
 In all these cases medals of honor were granted. The incidents however. are typical of the army. Thousands of similar stories might be told. They the national army when the time comes to show the stuff of which it is made.
 Tales of heroic courage can be found oil nations. But the American army has it's own special tradition, which these incidents illustrate. It Is the tradition of intelligence. self-reliance. and indi Vidual daring on the part of men serv- | ing in the ranks.
 The Individual Soldier Counts.
 Other things being equal, an army l made up of self-reliant, thinking men I has a great advantage over a merely | machine-like army, and this is espec- 1 ially true in present-day warfare. Maj. | Gen. Hugh L. Scott Chief of Staff, U. l s. A.. remarks on this point:
 The conditions under which modern | wars are fought are ever making in | creasing demands on the individual dier must know how to interpret ac- curately orders and signals. for the | enemy's fire may often so isolate him from his leader and comrades, perhaps only a step away that he may be b4iA U" II cli iiiS ON II III his actions conform to those of the whole line; he may have to use his own judgment in opening fire, in ad- vancing, in intrenching."
 Fair Play.
 A second tradition of the American army, which need only be mentioned is that of fighting fairly and treating even the enemy with as much human ity as his own conduct will permit. As for slaugtering or enslaving the civil ian population of captured territory, attacking prisoners or assaulting wom- en American soldiers would little such crimes in time of war as in time of peace. In this respect most of the civilized nations of the world think alike.
 Fighting for Rights and Principles.
 There is a third splendid tradition nf A 11rh hicln