The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-07-24

an old country-whose youth had
largely been sacrificed before he
came-was magnificent. He was
never conquered, benovolently assimi-
lated, culturally captured--he clamor-
ed for gum and consumed candy by
the ton, but he did every job that was
asked of him. He did more than any
one could or did expect of him. He
frequently performed miracles be-
couse his superiors could not perform
the most rudimentary tasks-Deins
new to the game. He would have gone
to Berlin if he had not been stopped
by the armistice. But in the shadow
of Rheims Cathedral he continued to
talk about the Goddess of Liberty"
Moreover and this is final, neither
the German, nor any other race which
saw him in action will ever invite
him to come to Europe again as the
Kaiser and his advisers did two brief
years ago. The next time a presi-
dent of the United States happens
to say "too proud to fight" Europe will
figure of speech, not a statement of
fact. But the American soldier did
more than teach Europe the greatness
IOf America-he fought. Every Amer
lean who saw him in Europe learned
something new and unforgettable
boys faith in his country was as sim
pie, complete, unqualified as that of
a child but for that faith and in that
faith he walked and lived and died,
as only strong men can. And Of this,
the greatest of all his revelations,
he was at all times unconscious.
Since he did not understand the
language or the civilization about him,
and it was different from his own,
the American soldier affected and
plainly felt certain sense of superb
ority. Physically he was, on the aver
age, the finest man in Europe. SO
much of the best of France and Brit,
ain was buried on the tragic battle
fields, and this he felt There was
race pride. You felt it, too, seeing
these Americans in the lonesome
places of the world, remote hamlets
all the way from Barbecue to Baden
"a sudden revelation that we Ameri-
cans are not only nation but a race
and you and the man who guarded
a water tank or cranked a Ford car
under the shadow of the Vosges were
at once alike and together different
from all else about.
But there was something big and
free and simple about the American
soldier. He was like child in much
though not in fighting. He took his
Europe unabashed and unblinkng-
he saluted his officers with extra fery-
or, not because they were officers, but
because they were American officers
But amidst all that was strange ,un-
comfortable, incomprehensibe, he pre-
served his poise, his chuckle, his in
describable slang and his never-fail-
ing good humor
1t was the pick of our youth, this
A. +. f. In groups it was frequently
awkward, occasionally grotesque -
but always strong, wholesome. Our
army was not drunken nor was it UNI
clean. think of the boys in the
Tuileries Gardens and on the ship
some of them Marines, with all the
glory that the designation carries, as
they talked with my six-year-old son
gathering at his port-hole each
morning to discuss with him solemnly
such great problems as he presented.
Often they seemed in way of the
same age-his older brothers, kind
and careful brothers.
And this sense of wholesome fresh
ness, Of clean youth, was about almost
all of them. They saw Europe I'M
abashed and unafraid-they clamored
for America necessarily. They were
frequently absorbed in America in the
midst of Paris. l saw five hundred
of them following a scrub baseball
game in the Bois de Boulogne, totally
! ignorant of the fact that Marshal Foch
was passing by-their eyes were all
for the national game before them.
Self-sufficient they were-their hui
NOR as surprising as joyous They
spoke score of dialects-Southern
Northern, Eastern and Western. In
the United States one would have
commented on the differences, but in
France 1t was the amazing resem-
blances that was impressive. One said
again and again, 1--WE are a race after
ALL"