The Cordova daily times., 1918-07-22
A DESERVED TRIBUTE

BriGadior General Charles y. DOyen.
'organilcr. drillmastcr and fighting
commander OF our marines whose dar.
ing victories ON the Marine hay" thrill
led the nation, has been myalidcd
home just as fame crowned him and
his Gen The tactics and SuCc"a; of
ion of the allied nations, and it VII
rot be unprofitable to inquire whether
their training or leadership have been
along special lines offering hell full
hints for preparing future troops.
While our army forces abroad are
drilled and commanded by West Point,
ers. or by those whose tactics and in
SEPARATIONS are OF military academy orr
gin, and whose lives have been spent
on shore. the higher marine officers
were trained at Naval academy and
have been sailOrmen for years. Gen.
eral Doyen. the actual field com
mander is a member OF the naval acad
emys famous class of 1881; so are Ma
jcr General Barnett. commander in
chief of the marine corps. and Brig
adler General LauChhemer who, prac.
tically speaking. is the chief of staff OF
the corps. Br'gadicr General i.ejCn-.
who has gone over to relieve Doyen-,
and the two regimental commanders,
the gallant Colonel Catlin. severely
y u nded in leading his regiment, and
Cor.n.l Ncvi,Ic- HON Vera C'H" will
,Un2 1Dnember---dre all AnnapDli, men
=. no arn sailors y education and by
practice.
Conditions in the army are $" dl
Traditions and drill methods are not
the same in the two services Life
on ,hipboard and work in small boats
tend to develop individual initiati|"
more than does the barracks system OF
squad control For trench preparation
the army system has obvious adNan-
tagrs. hut we should. nevertheless. eX.
prt tine marine to handle himself
somewhat better than a soldier i'll
the special cases of an attack across
broken ground. Then. aboard hip,
TARGET practice individual target praC-
ticc-is almost subject of worship.
The records OF national and intcr,a-
tional rifle matches are witness to the
pro-war days to wrest laurelS nom
the large services. 1t may be noticed
too that Major HolCOmb-the spirit
of marine corps target praCtice-haS
been effectively busy with the marines
who are in France. The developments
of trench fighting have led the army
to the use of the hand grenade, the
machine gun. etc, perhaps to the
unavoidable sighting of rifle instruc-
ton.
The navy has watched with interest
the working out of these two sys-
TENS III our training t'lIipS III
We have seen General Pershing's sol
diers receiving the best American
army system of training. modified by
lessons learned from our allies. At
the same time we have seen General
Pershing approving and encouraging
the somewhat different drills insti
tuted by Doyen for his marines. In
Doyen's camps there has been rifle
practice every day and for everybody
Conventional targets and known
ranges ranges have been almost ia
boo Instead there has been a series
of posts crowned with tin cans tc
represent German helmets; tall posts
and short ones, posts erect and posts
recumbent, some posts in the open
some in trenches some in shell holes
But every post had its can. Through
these stage armies of Huns the mar
ines have advanced daily-and nightly
in sunshine and rain and fog and
snow. Sometimes they ran, AGAR
they walked or crawled or wigglet
snakelike ON their bellies, but every