The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-11-01
Esprit de Corps and
Mceasd1g Training
/ GiUea ROqver TO The
I Soldiers Z, of the Sea
IHE FRENCH, tired from count
less attacks, were filtering to
the rear. The roads were


.s choked with war material,
with. roaring trucks and rushing cam
IONS Everywhere the refugees were
hurrying toward safety, carrying with
them their household effects, dragging
their cows behind their heavily loaded
wagons-sad, yet smiling and striving
to be brave. The last great German
drive was on, pounding relentlessly
forward toward Paris.
But in contrast to this picture was
another, that of great trucks crammed
with full-chested, steel-muscled men,
Fastening to the front. Men from the
far-away were these new warriors of
new vim and new ideas and new meth
DDS of fighting. Men who knew Ger
many only as thing to be defeated,
who never had met Fear, who laughed
at the horrors of the Huns. They were
United States marines.
But the odds were against them.
the swift-moving hordes must be halt
ed And more than that, halted by a
body of men who must make up for
their inferiority in numbers by SUI
periority of fighting power. The trucks
churned on.
Children, standing by the roadway,
threw flowers to those marines and
cheered them. White-haired old wom-
en-, rocking atop the refugees carts,
called blessing to them. But would
'they-these bronzed giants from over
SEASIDE able to achieve the impos-
sible? More than one wOndered-and
hesitated to think of the outcome. .
A night in an open wheat field.
Then the great clash! And out of the
great tangle of wars complex machin-
cry came a message that was cleo
trfcal in its results. The weary
French took on new life. The British.
standing only few months before
with their backs to the wall, fretted
in a new anxiety to attack. The
whole great organization Of civiliza-
tion, fighting there on the western
front, suddenly saw the dawn of a
new day, and the brightness of new
hope For those United States ma
rines had done the impossible. Fight
ing against odds of nearly ten to one,
the marines had turned back the
enemy-and started the rearward
rush toward Berlin that still is con-
tinuing.
They had proved that they were the
real supermen. Marines with as many
as ten and eleven bullet holes in
| them still fought forward. Others,
ordered to the rear, obeyed, only to
return without waiting to have their
| wounds dressed. Men MORALLY wound
ed swept on until the machine-gun
| nests of the enemy were captured
| then died. Still others, felled by the
enemy, forgot their own wounds that
they might ask of the wounds of some
comrade. or insist on not being given
aid until Mter-there were comrades
who must be cared for first.
Why the Marine Is Fighter.
! And why? Why should this body
of men-and remember, the total au-
| thorized strength of the United States
marine corps Is only 75,000-be able
| to accomplish so much? Why should
| they be the real "supermen" which
Germany believed it alone possessed
until Chateau Thierry and Belleau
wood and Bouresches? Why should
they be able to accomplish such deeds
of heroism that the grateful French
nation ordered the name of Belleau
wood changed to Bots de la Brigade
de Marines? The answer comes in
two things-esprit de corps and the
marine training.
There's never an idle second in the
life of a marine. His training never
ceases-and, more than that, there
never is time when the belief is moi