The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-10-13
FEW people in London hay,

A FEW people in London have been asking themselves wonderngy; What
would be too much after the style Of our official commuique the complets Of
which are obviously acting on the idea that our enterprise is o great and so
overwhelming that the world must needs know about it; and 50 what is the
use OF blowing the thousand horned trumpet of propaganda? Yet humble
private as am, it would exceed my ability TO do full Justice to the memorable
struggle of my fellow countrymcn Just a Ndehght here, a glance there, and
the reader must draw his W. conclusion N these very spare facts
ThitY-tw months ago left a corps Of heroes in the full glory and the
mcnt was a fighting retreat and when these gallant fellows fought alone that
others might get ready They snIl had the sacred heat of an immediate Of
Hachn, Of Icmonde, Of Antwerp and Malincs, of Quatrccht and Newport,
Their greatest glory and their greatest mayrdom-the battle OF the lser-
was yet to come They we're hungry, fighting, rctrcaung struggling loot by
ioot-and in the DEPTHS of their souls they were still wildly hoping Tor a
sudden turn of the tide
On reaching after a long absence, that sacred patch of unsu1Gcd though
blood ,drencfcd Belgian soil. nv surprise is difficult to describe Our native
genius for organization had turned the val into something very much like a
going concern, After the heroic glorious, murdcrouS muddc and struggle OF
the first months a STEADY. regular systematic organization; after the total dis.
machinery, a modern cockwork, second checked engine Such was the ire
mendous change noticed as soon as set foot over there. %
Think OF it, As far back as the courtesy OF France will allow, training
camps and munton works turn on, the human and mechanical reinforce
mcnts and despatch them as needed Closer to the frontier special schools,
Officers. officers sgnallrS engineers, on the human side; motors electrical
apparatus, guns rifles. bomtthrowes and machine guns NJ the material side
that holds back the tide Of German v9ndalsm. al elaborate system whereby
every individual gives his utmost and IS nearly automatically, withdrawn to
recuperatc from his dreadful cxeruons.
This, then, is the business OF war-a settled routine something very like the
team work in a cotton factory These were the men had seen painting and yet
tevelins in al UNEQUAL hut inprrung struggle Their fierce tcmGers had
been cubed to "he daily round the common task" of going to death as one
wen to ones office, their extreme independence broken into a conscious self
imposed discplnc-tor the sake Of king and country
And theirs is no easy task In the temporary capital La Pame the great
est need is the enlargement of the already extensive emergency and field hos
piak. And when was privileged to live in what called a quiet sector
run sccteur dc rcpm0 lived close o a little chapel with a mortuary holding
not a single night but cohns were laid by twos and thrces and half dozens
on the grass outside amidst the wild cornnowers the thsles, and the peoples
awaiting their turn for a funeral service
That queue of dead mcn-nen killed without glory, withous fuss, without
any sensational battle nws-that queue of sacred heroes awaiting their turn
nrcssiyc Of the silent sacrifice my fellow countrymen have undergone during
the time when nobody has been speaking about them-london Observer.