The sun., 1919-03-23

CTo!S &c Guerro tFTepchl, nVe
Medals OF Honor. twelve Military
Crosses (British). ffty-three Mill:
tary Medals British. 1&0 Distin-
guished Service Crosses, OF which
twenty-elght were awarded to Of
ficers and liz to enlisted men: thir-
teen Distinguished Conduct Medals
(British).
While IN France the division
travelled 1850 miles. They adj
vanced their front line approx
mately twelve miles.
THE divisional postal statistics
show that he men were enormous
letter writers. The following figures
are Appropriated from careful data
| possa3 efscSfs. ~ ~
"Number OF letters despatched to
the United States, 4.05s,0o0.
Number OF letters received from
che United States, 100000.
weight of letter mail received
from tho Upited States. rs tons.
Eight thousand German helmets
were sent to tho United States by
the men OF this division. New
Workers sent $4,000 to their homes
In money orders"
Such are the statistics. For a his
tory. until writing men who actually
were With the Twenty. seventh and
preferably of It. through the whole
SHOW" have time to arrange their
material. distil their memories and
give TN the whole splendid story in
rich detail, civilian America cannot do
better than read the historical sketch
| which was prepared on board the Levi
athan. and then in the light of that
sketch. the sheaf OF divisional Incl
dontals and anecdotes reported from
France during the war and since.
Jss,NsEF
Their War story. by Themselves.
Here Is tho sketch. In part:
Fighting in Flanders is an an
Client pasthne OF nations dating
back to tho days of Cesar. and yet
Flanders. where the New York Di-
vision sustained Its first heavy bat
tie casualties. is not warllke in ap-
peararcq.
THE ROAD that leads to the ruins
of fpres in the late summer OF
1918 was moving, congested dl-
war. ON one side there were lazily
moving windmills with long arms.
symmetrical cones of harvested
grain ana young green forests OF
hop vines, Old men and young
women worked in the nelds, while
above them floated balloons that
peered into enemy territory.
ION the other side OF this high
way We're miles OF road screening
tcamoufiage) made OF slashed bur
lap which protected the troops
and sac trnffi. from observation n
the enemy that held the heights
Nierstaat Ridge and Mount Kem-
mel Beyond these screens, on tho
other side OF tho road from the
unperturbel peasants. men were
huddled in shell holes behind laby-
rinths OF harbed wire. waiting 10
kill or be killed
And so In Flanders there was
at this time to be found con-
trast as strange as II was gro
tesque ana hideous.
1.-THE New Workers. had come to
the battlefield with no precon-
ceived ideas, but they found the
British digging. digging. line on
line Of trenches toward the rear.
The Yanks thought these precau-
tons we're humorous, but the Tom
mics had a grim memory which
may he summed up in one word.
Passchendaele.
Trusted 10 Guard the Channel.
III the fortunes of war had been
reversed, II the Allies had lost. his
torlars would have characterized
Flanders as tho graveyard of the
British army. and yet the sacrifices
made by the British an this part
OF the western front were for def
mite, far reaching reasons. The
Channel ports meant llfe 10 Eng
land. meant more even than they
did TO France, and no preparation,
no effor, was too great TO stop the
Hun or TO provide against the day
when the picked armies OF Rup-
precht should come sweeping Gown