Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-01-08
OUR ALLIES CELE-
BRATE FORCE AND
LIFE, SAY FRENCH

Paris, Dec. 40 orreSpundenceSt
Henry Bordeaux. the French novelist.
giving in the Revue Hebdomodaire an
account of his recent visit TO the graves
of the first three soldiers of the Ameri-
can ENpeditionary Force to fall on the
frenrn front, says: Later on a monu-
ment VIII rise there; later on the name
Of that obscure village that | cannot re-
veal now Will be known and will re-
SOUND across the ocean visitors will
come in throngs, even from over the
seas, to contemplate the horizon and
breathe the air impregnated with the
atmosphere of sacrifice and glory that
makes peoples strong and individuals
audacious and preserving"
Those graves are situated along the
stone wall of a little Lorraine village.
He says. "a tiny village right up next
to the front. II is nearly intact and
some of the 'inha bitants are still stick
ing to their firesides there The church
clock marks the hour, though the
church bell rings no more
"A shell bursts in the neighborhood
from time to time and the peasants
pause to listen to the explosion then go
on with their work. There are cows in
the sheds and poultry scratching about
the barnyard with assurance.
THE church is built on a hillside
near a cluster Of farm buildings that
seem to have been built upon the site
of an ancient stronghold Stretching
away from the buildings there is a nigh
stone wall alongside which is a line of
graves marked with wooden crosses
from which fly the French tricolor
They are the tombs of French soldiers
killed, most of them. at the end of Au-
gust, 1914. when the Germans after the
battle Of Morhange tried to invade this
part of Lorraine but We're repulsed.
There are three more graves, iso-
lated from the rest, in front Of the wall
where 1t rises before the buildings.
freshly dug. with chrysthemums not
Vet faded scattered over them These
are the tombs of the first American
soldiers killed during the war on this
front for the liberation of the world
Corporal Gresham and Soldiers Helm
right and Hay We're buried on the 4th
of November in the little village close
to the scene Of the fight"
After recalling the funeral Grafton
delivered by the French general COM
manding in the sector. NJ. Bordeaux
says: The read to this new cemetery
is known. Officers and soldiers passing
to their posts III the sector leave their
route tc seek out those three graves
but. why should not say it, They are
visited more by the French than BY the
Americans. 1t would seem that the lat
ter have not for the dead the attention
and the care the significance of which
has been transmitted to us by an older
past; their Saze seems to be more rivet
Ell upon the living.
men the first American battery
was one day in October brought TO our
front and put into action. it was real
ceremony. A general himself. priced
the honor of firing the first projectile
and the shell OF that projectile was
carefully packed up and sent to the
White House. Was it not the first at
testation of the force, of the United
States?
In another village. quite as near the
mont. where some 20 'inha bitanrS stil
remained girl was born the other
day. The same American general