Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-02-18

could never understand why he was
hated and despised. He was hated
for the viciousness with which he sup
for the yellow streak which those few
seconds revealed.
Americans fought during those
last Few seconds too. The casualty
lists among any Of our fighting divi-
sions is ample testimony as to that
It may be said that they were too
I reckless that they were even fool
hardy; but the fact is that they didn't
know how to quit"
I tried once to get the psycholog-
ical explanation Was 1t possible
that this was difference Of race,
when the American troops were made
up of all races? Was 1t difference
of climate? The United States, re-
membered, had the greatest extremes
of climate, and this tribute did not re-
fer to any particular section Of our
country. Mr.. Macfarlane spoke in
equal praise of western ranchmen and
the fighting men of New York's east
side, of miners from Minnesota, farm
er boys from New England, and the
typical battalions OF Mississippi and
Louisiana.
1.-THE distinctive character of the
American troops" he said, was pro-
bably due to their superior intelli-
gence. Every man seemed to know
what he was fighting for. He was
obeying orders, not merely because
they were orders but because 1t was
only through obedience to orders that
the job he had on hand could be ac-
complished. He was there to fight
He was there to end the war. He had
magnifcent confidence in his ability
to do 1t, but he wanted to get 1t Off
his hands as quickly as possible. War
wasn't business. It was just some
thing that had to be attended to at
all hazards before he could get back
to business again. So he threw every
thing he had into it-even those things
that govern a man during the last few
seconds of his life.
"They weren't all trained, but they
were all there with whatever they did
possess. This was we'll expressed by
one captain of an Alabama company.
which had had the benefit Of very lit
tie training. He himself was civil
ian by every instinct, and had never
thought of military life unit few
months befre. There was grave
question as to whether his men could
meet the emergency that had arisen,
and the matter was put up to him.
"'We-all don't know much about
fghtin', he replied, but If you-all will
show me wheah that wah is, I shore
will carry my men to it,
1.-THE full measure Of Americas con-
tribution," continued Mr.. Macfarlane'
cannot be appreciated until 1t is re-
membered that our troops were train
ed almost to a man for sort Of war
fare which they were not called upon to
carry on. The first training our
troops received was for trench fight
ing; but from the day our armies took
the field, trench fighting practically
ceased.
"If we had been depending on train
ing along, we might have made less
brilliant showing. But the American
character, that individual initiative
and resourcefulness, that sublime faith
in themselves, that egotism, II you
wish to call 1t so. that intelligent un-
derstanding Of why they were there
and their complete abandonment to
the Job in hand-all these things which
went to make up the quality known as
American courage atoned for whateV-
er other lacks may have existed and
brought the war to a sudden end.
I'm the crisis of hand-to-hand fight
ing, in fact, a soldier was quite apt to
forgot all the training he had re-
ceived. The experience Of young
lieutenant In the Belleau Woords, I
think, was typical. He was telling me
of the time he first killed another hu-
man being.
He had been we'll drilled in the use
of the bayonet. In case he should
come face to face with an enemy, he
wouldn't lose second. Just one
thrust with all his strength-he had
the exact technique. he was sure, from
thousand practice bouts in camp.
And now, stumbling through the brush
he might be called upon at any mo-
ment to put this knowledge into dead
ly use. There were Germans in those
woods, he knew. There was every
chance that he would meet one. He
did. That instant. while his every
nerve was waiting for the encounter,
a Boche appeared. And the lieuten-
ant killed him-by swinging his rifle
as though 1t were a baseball bat and
smashing his head with the butt. In
the supreme moment he forgot all his
training and fought as an elemental
man would fight.
Mr.. Macfarlane discounted the pic
turesque tales Of war in which soldiers
are represented as going "light-heart-
ed" into battle. To Americans, he
said, going over the top was always q
very serious and solemn job. The
nearer one got to the front the great
er the solemnity. They did not enter
upon such work as this in the spirit OF
a boyish prank.
| There was no gayety," he said.
There was no singing now. There
was no tendency to Jolly each other
A fireman does not joke or sing when
he is rescuing a child from a burning
building; but it is his job to complete
the rescue and he does not think OF
quitting it."
On a few great occasions, Mr.. Mac
farlane had an opportunity to see our
men going over the top" 1t was not
anything like his mental pictures of
what the ordeal would be. They didn't
rush. They advanced steadily behind
the barrage, one knot Of men shoot
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