The Butler weekly times., 1918-04-18
The Rainbow, National 6,
Division in Battle.

t. By the general of the Eight
French army, Gerard. they are laue
ed and thanked in a way that make
red blood tingle.
l. BY the war correspondents nea
: to the battle of the giants in the Ian
: OF Lafayette and Rochambeau, the
: are given the laurels of glory.
e They" are our tin soldiers. The
! are the Forty-Second Division O
G the United States Army of Libera
. tion in France. General Pershin'
i writes OF them as holding "the Am,
y front" So our tin soldiers ar,
S fighting, and winning, and dying il
the trenches all their own.
We know. 1t is no longer smart
or easy. or decent to call them oul
tin soldiers" We have labeled
them beautifully now. They are the
Rainbow Division" and the Rain.
bow Division is the National Guards
men from the American Northeast
and Southwest. and from regions at
the four cardinal points OF our coun-
try. They are Texans in it, the boys
from Oregon. perhaps, and boys from
Missouri. we suppose. There are
Yankees in it. Ho>siers. "tar-heels, "
'crackers "-probably. There are COL
legans in it; lawyers. doctors, clerks,
! farmers. divinity students and pugi-
lists. But no slackers. of course, and
none who used to be loafer. Loaf
ers know nothing about the State
troops, except to call them tin sol
1 dicrs.'
Let's not be too hard on the loaf
ers, however. All OF us have called
them tin soldiers" more or less. If
we live in the older and richer states,
we used to let them build their own
armores and buy their own equip
ment, largely. 1t was their pride and
patriotic happiness to do so. Ii we
live i'll the younger states that are not
SO rich. we grumbled at giving them
anything. at all. Our backwoods anu
big-city legislators. alike. begrudge1
them paltry appropriation each year
Tor uniforms and antique rifles; for
one trip to the state encampment, and
for the upkeep OF an adjutant gen
erals office. If they wanted to spend
their own money on the public, in
such fashion, the more fools they!
We continually talked about disband-
ing them altogether then Il
flood came. or a riot. or a lynching,
and we yelled to them for help! So
it was in Arkansas. So it was even
i'll wealthy Ohio, with its big cities,
its shows and ceremony.
They were tin soldiers" in their
state militia days. They were tin
in their National Guard
days, under the Dick act. They were
tin soldiers" even after the Mexi-
can frontier troubles. that took them,
baked them, kept them long away
from home-and trained them.
But now they are the Rainbow D;.
Vision 1t is their name because they
span the country, from ocean to
ocean and border to border. But
alnboW is something more than t
pan 1t is also an arch In the :
'ook of Genesis it is Gods promise ,
II future brightness and earth S sal {
alton. b
We like to shape these exalted +
acts into symbolism. We like to e
eieve we shall do something more a
rateful and substantial ior the erst- a
lille tin soldiers" and present
fn l.,
t euloSy and our stock adjectival
dmiration. We want to believe that
ley will never again be tin soldiers 4
n our lips, nor neglected soldiers at a,
1r hands. II
We say they are exalted, high, a
reat-as far above any ignorant o
reJudice as a rainbow is high above 4:
lie bowels OF a tin mine-San An h'
'nio Express. ~ n,
In express ing the pride OF Mis- M
'uri in the Missouri Signal Corps W
ith the Division, General Clark, sa
cir old commander wrote Major be be
arrett as follows: in
The Governor has learned with on q,
epest satisfaction and pride OF the an
lendid achievements of the Forty ca ca
cond (Rainbow) Division composed co
tirely of National Guard troops and TN TN
which your command is a part, in ii
successfully repulsing the raids Ba l;aa
the enemy on March 5th and 9th. tn
e has noted the action of the ga
ench field commander in officially -
the exceptional cool
IS, efficiency and gallantry of the
Ficers and men of the Division and
1t twenty-four members of this
Etional Guard organization have
EN- decorated with medals of honor 81
: their gallantry. -
He directs me to convey to you,
through you to your officers and
N, his congratulations upon the 81, Sts
gnificent manner in which you i
We acquitted yourselves. 1t is In In