The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1919-08-22
LIEUT.. COL. e. r. GRAHAM THINKS
THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED
TO REMAIN.
MONUMENTS TO U. S. SERVICE
Regular Army officer Returns From
Official Tour OF Battle Fronts and
important Camps and Stations in
France. ....
DAILY Herald, August 49,

destroy in France the most lasting
monument that could be left there OF
Americas service to the French PEG.
pie and to humanity the world over
This is the view of Lieut.. Col
Ephraim Foster Graham, United
States army officer who recently re.
turned from an official tour of the
battlefields, during which he located
the. graves of his own brother Lieut.,
Richard Graham, former Vanderbilt
University student, his brother-inlaw
Col. james A. Shannon and Lieut.. Will
bur Herr, brother of another brother.
in-law, Col J. X. Herr, chief of staff
of the Thirtieth Division, all of whom
| were killed in action. Col. Graham
spoke of the beauty of the cemeteries
where the bodies of American sol
diers will lie in France beneath car
pets of poppies and other flowers, to
be cared for forever by the govern
ment of the United States and the
loving, grateful hands of the French
people. He spoke from the point of
view of one who has suffered the loss
Of his own brother as well as from
that of a soldier.
Col. Graham was a member of a
party Of unfortunate regular army of
ficers who had been kept in Amer
lea during the war as training officers
but ordered to Europe to study the
battletields of the western front, en-
barkation ports, service of supply,
etc, so that they may use the knowl-
edge thus obtained in training the
enlarged American army, students of
military schools, etc. They landed
at Brest on June / and after two or
three days study of the port of embar-
kation swung rapidly through all OF
the principal service of supply camps
and stations, making a detailed study
of aIle methods REORGANIZATION and
operation. Col. Graham was in Paris
nineteen days during the Inter-allied
Games, serving as one of the Ameri-
can army officials. Experience gained
by him as a member of the American
cavalry team at the Stockholm Olyn-
pic in 1912 caused him to be- selected
to assist Col. H. R. Richmond, also a i
Tennessean, in arranging the sched-
ule, rules and regulations for the
horse competitions. He also served
as assistant to Col d. d. Gregory,
statistical officer of the Inter-Alled
Games.
While in Paris Lieut.. Col, Graham
witness the Fourth of July celebra-
ton in which American and French
soldiers participated A complete
American regiment was in the parade
and to Col Graham they looked to be
the finest soldiers in the world.
Our soldiers marched better, con
Quoted themselves better and in ev-
cry way made a better appearance
than any others in the parade" said
Col Graham. lmpulsive French girls
and women shOwered flowers on the |
marching troops, but the American
soldiers kept their eyes straight ahead
with that firm, soldierly expression
that caused the French so often to
shout at them, "souriez! souriez!"
(smile. smile). The European soldiers
were laughing and flirting with the /
girls, but never an American failed |
in strict military department, It was
the same at Antwerp on July II when
the Belgian national fete day was
celebrated
In the cemetery at Thiacourt Col. |
Graham located a grave among the |
many white cross marked mounds |
that bore the name of his brother, |
Lieut.. Richard Graham, who was kill
ed on August a. 1918, at Bots du
Pretes, in the st. Mihiel offensive, /
when he held a hand grenade to his
own body rather than throw it after
he discovered that it would fall
among some of his own men. The .
grave of Lieut. Wilbur Herr also was
in this cemetery.
Col Graham said that the bodies of
Americans who fell are being gather
ed into large. beautifully cared for
cemeteries where each grave is mark
ed with a white cross bearing the
name. rank and unit of the dead Off |
Ger or soldier In the center of the
cemetery at Thiacourt is an American .
flag and nearest the flag have been /
placed the bodies of officers. Already I
the blood-red carpet of poppies that
covers the fields is spreading into the
cemeteries. It has been said that
peoples grow most abundantly on soil
that has been bathed in blood. Ruined
villages. where blood was split, are
now veritable gardens of scarlet pop
pies.
Before going over | held the opin-