Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-01-28
PAYS
VISIT TO CITIES
RAVISHED BY HUN
Declares He Never Imagined
Such Scenes of DeSOlation;
Views Ruins of Rheims
Cathedral.

Paris, Jan. 27.-(By Associated
Press. president Wilson yesterday
made his first trip to the battle front
and devastated regions, visiting
Chateau Thierry and Rheims. At the
close of tour that took him through
dozen RACED villages ending in the
ruins of the historic cathedral at
Rheims, he made this comment
mo one can put into words the
impressions / have received amongst
such scenes Of desolation and ruin"
That was Mr.. Wilson's only ex-
preston of his feelings after a trip
that every Frenchman has been hop
ing he would make before he takes
part in deciding what is to be ex-
acted from Germany for the devasta-
ton of northern France.
Visit a Duty.
Accompanied by Mrs. Wilson, Ad-
miral Grayson and very small par
ty, Mr.. Wilson left the Mural resi-
dence early Sunday morning, fore
going attendance at church and the
rest which he felt he needed very
much to perform what he said he
considered to be a duty. The party
motored first to Chateau Thierry,
where lunch was taken on board a
waiting train. The party then pro-
ceeded by motor to Rheims, passing
through many ruined villages and
along the old fighting lines, where
evidences of combat are still to be
plainly seen. After visiting Rheims,
the president and his party aban-
doned their motor cars and, board
ing a special train, returned to Paris.
At Belleau Wood.
The last part of the motor trip
was made in a swirling snowstorm,
the first snow Mr.. Wilson has seen
since last winter.
The first fighting ground was
reached as the party neared Belleau
wood, immortalized in the history
OF the war by the gallant fighting Of
American marines. The motor cars
turned off the main roads and
crawled perilously through back
lanes to bring the president close
to the place where the fighting took
place.
Tribute to Soldiers.
The president stood beside the
graves of 100 or more American
boys who gave their lives at that
point, and looked across the strate-
glc valley to Belleau wood, a man.
gled mass of tree trunks and under
brush, but now a national monument
to the marines, after whom the
French government have named the
place.
Col. Edward M. Watson of Mar
tinsville, Va, who commanded an
artillery battalion in the fight and
was later chief of staff of the 18th
division in the Argonne fighting,
stood beside President Wilson and
Brigadier General William w. Harris
and told the story of the battle.
Then Mr.. Wilson drove up the
hill, over which the American troops
smashed the crack Prussian divisions
mustered there to crush the green
horns" and where the advance on
Paris was checked. This was near
Chateau Thierry and the spot
promises to be a mecca for Ameri-
cans for many years to come
Greeted by Mayor.
On entering Chateau Thierry the
mayor greeted Mr.. Wilson, who re-
sponded quite informally. He then
drove on toward Rheims, passing
along the old battle line between
long lanes of barbed wire entangle-
ments now rusting away in the first
winter of peace between long, mud
dy trenches reaching over the hills
and down into hollows as far as the
eye could see, and past the wrecks
of dug-outs, ammunition dumps,
hospitals, barracks and all the other
litter left behind by the defeated
enemy in his flight.
1t seemed as if the fields had been
sowed by Mars with the wastage of
war in the hope that it would take
root and blossom. American, as
we'll as French graves lay along the
roadside. There were German
graves to be seen too. Desecrated
cemeteries were found in many cases.
AT every turn of the road was
a farm, deserted and in ruins, its
fields dotted with shell holes filled
with water and crusted ice. There
was constant panorama of de-
stroyed or charred vineyards, gar