Omaha daily bee., 1918-08-28

Here we are in big machine, and tnere
goes the commander r-in-chief OF the American
army walking along in the rain, talking to
private
tall soldierly figure OF General John J. PERISH
ing as he passed our car, listening with such
absorbed attention to what the private was
saving that he was utterly oblivious to the
barrage OF salutess from all sides. The pr-
vate was doing all the talking and General
Pershing, as usual, was-listening. 1t was
very evident that this private had some i'm
portant information to divulge, and Persh1ng
was absorbing it as the sand absorbs the
| eager sea.
It was one of those misty, mostly morn
ings" that one encounters so frequently in
France. and the scene was the general head
quarters of the A. E. F., usually referred to
in letters, kilograms and conversation by the
doughboys as the G. H. Q. The place was
small French town not far from the Amer
lean front, where the big boss of the A. f. F.
was bieted in romantic-ooklng old French
chateau within close touch Of g. II. Q. In
the middle of the road, as far as the eye could
reach, were khaki-clad American boys toilng
like Italian laborers in an effort to mend this
road and put it into better shape for the
never-ceasing flow of traffic that daily swept
past G. H. Q.
|
up as General Pershing passed them, stand
rigidly erect and salute their commander with
military precision. He was by this time
aware of the fact that the barrage OF salutes
had completely inclosed him. for his hand
kept going up to his cap with the automatic
precision of an automaton. Life to General
| Pershing that morning was just one darned
salute after another
Somehow the work progressed faster and
| Al De- l,aI rAI
| His personality had left something electric
in the atmosphere that fingered there and in
spired the workers to do their best. This is
little way that Pershing has. 1t is entirely
unconscious He doesn't strive to impress
! his personality upon anyone, and there is
| surely no one in France who would assert
that the American commander possesses that
quality which we define as personal magnet
ISM" He hasn't bit of that. In fact,
certain detached aloofness always accompan-
les him. | can't imagine anyone going up to
BLACK Jack" Pershing and slapping him on
the back But, nevertheless, his personality
is strong force in the American army, and
it is force that encourages efficiency and
hard work. Pershing is just what he should
| be. He is the big boss of the A. E. F. AS
speeder-up of men he has no equal in
| France.
The .>sky-looking young Americans who
| first set foot upon French soil were indeed
the pick of our finest manhood. Clean
limbed and athletic, fred with patriotic zeal
to help the hardhghting Frenchmen who had
been defying the kaiser's hordes for so
many years, the newest allies in the cause Of
world democracy were eagerly anxious to
demonstrate their mettle in bout with the
Hun. Like Jobs charger, they had scented
the battle afar off, and the odor of it was
pleasing in their nostrils. Their intensive
| training in America had revealed much to
them. They knew the things that the Hun
knew and feared them not A large proper
ton of them came of American pioneer stock
and their forebears had outfought the Indian
on his own camping ground. They were
confident of taking every new trick that the
boche had in his bag and ultimately using it
against him.
1t was this sort of men that General
Pershing was bossing in France, and it was
| his job to turn our magnificent fighting ma
terial into battling machine that would
beat back the boche with irresistible blows.
The big boss had not been in France week
before he was on the job--seeing things,
planning things, doing things From the
time of his arrival things began to~happen
of big import to America We were no
longer in the position of an innocent by
stander, likely to be struck at any moment
by that big bully, Germany. No, we were
actively in the fight at last, and, God willing,
the big bully was in for a pair of black eyes
| from lusty American fists that would serve
merely as reminder of the more smashing
defeat that was inevitably to come to "this
intolerable thing" that had ruthessly sacri-
feed honor, decency and self-respect in a
nightmare scramble for power.
| It was characteristic of General PERISH
ing's personality that he was listening with
| h~tl Ill Is @o
that private was telling him, on the misty
morning that l first beheld him in action.
Listening is favorte stunt with Pershng
if such word as stunt" be not too undig-
nifed to apply to the commander n-chief.
| Wherever he is, or with whomever, he is it
is the other man that does most of the talk
ing. The consensus of opinion among army
men is that Pershing is the most loquacious
man with his ears in the world. He parts
with words like man sending telegram.
All of his conversation is Geographically
adage, Don't use two words if one will dc" )"
seems to be his maxim in life
General Pershing parts with words so
grudgingly, in fact that it is like work for
him to make a speech in public, when he
knows that he is expected to say more than
10 words When he made a speech in the
Picpus cemetery in Paris on the Fourth OF
July, 1917, it wasn't really speech at all. 1t
was a verbal telegram
Il hope, and would like to say it, that
here on the soil of France and in the school
of the French heroes, our American soldiers
may learn to battle and to vanquish for the
liberty of the world"
That's all there was-there wasn't any
more.
Standing before the tomb of the great
Lafayette in this same cemetery. General
Pershing said: Lafayette, we're here"
Could an entire volume have said more
than that?