Norwich bulletin., 1919-06-02

Fighting Doc" Clifford. a Baptist
minister from Tucson, Arizona, who
served at the front with the 5th Ma
rines and was given the Croix de
Guerre, deeply impressed and thrilled
a good sized audience at the Davis
theatre Sunday evening when he spoke
at the Saith anniversary meeting of the
Norwich Young Mems Christian AS
ISOLATION telling of the war experiences
as a Y. NJ. C. A. worker that covered
accompanying the marines in the
front lines in Belleau Wood, at Ver-
dun and in the Argonne Forest. At one
point in his address which lasted about
an hour, Doc" Clifford spoke his mind
on the attitude of Germany is saying
what they will and what they won't
sign as peace terms. They were
craven towards to surrender as they
did, he declared, just to save their own
cities, and for his part. though it
meant the loss of more precious Ameri-
can lives, he was sorry we had not
gone right on to Berlin. (Applause.)
They must sign the terms that are Of
fered to them and we mustn't waste
any sympathy on the crowd that says
PITY the poor Germans" The place
for them is with the poor Germans
they express pity for and they should
be promptly deported and never al
lowed to come back to this country
where only 100 per cent. Americanism
should be seen and the hyphen should
be banished no matter what nation
ais it applies to.
doc" described the status of the
marines in the military establishment
of the country, the Leather Necks, as
they call themselves. They looked up
on the Y. VI. C. A. as of very little use
to them and in fact had a grudge
against it for the writing paper hand
ed out in the ''Y" canteens because of
the words army and navy on it but
nothing about the marines. Upon his
firts arrival in France in January, 1918,
and joining the Fifth Co., the top SER
gents brusque greeting was that they
didn't want any d. parson knocking
/ about with that outfit. But the par
| son set up his little canteen with it's
! stock Of chocolate. cigarettes, etc. in
an old wine cellar and for three weeks
| kept store with never a sign of any
! change in the attitude of the men
| towards him. Then came the day that
! changed all. The company was or
dered on a hike at night, eighteen
miles out to the place where there was
to be trench training, and eighteen
miles back the next night. DOC" made
| the hike with them, soaked to the
skin and sleeping in his wet clothes
| because he was so green that he
| didn't dare to undo his blanket roll
| because he knew he couldn't do it Jur
| again.
| He carried a pack filled with ciga :
rettes. tobacco and chocolate, intending
| to have it handy to give away to any
man who would be helped by what il
contained. He was glad enough tc
| empty the whole thing in the first
| hour for he found that was quite long
| enough to carry the load. Waking III
| after a good sleep upon his return tC
quarters after the hike and repair
ing his store to take charge, he founG
a transformation had taken place
there. The marines had taken charge
| swept it out and tidied it up, built 6
roaring fire in the stove and borrowed
an arm chair from some French fam
lily for him to sit in before the fire
and get fully rested They told hin
he had done his bit and hencefortE
they Were going to look out for him
and they did.
4! The speaker paid tribute to the hon
esty of the men when they got good.
OH "iawbone" or trust, from the can
Teen ana SAID InaI ne never MADE any
charge for what he gave the men OF
the front line for that was considered
welfare work, and in the St Mibie
sector in four days he gave. away 81,
500 worth.
He told of, the men waiting in thei
pup tents in the dark just before tn
signal to go over the top, passing tn
time in shooting craps but inviting
him to give them a little talk ant
dropping their game while he spok
earnestly of the serious things of life
He mentioned also a communion ser
| vice that he held at Verdun on invi
tation of the men, with 50 attending, o
all denominations and faiths.
He spoke of % days in the trenche
and of his first trip into No Man
) Land and into the German trenche
where doc" Clifford said he saw tn
finest looking German officer he ha
ever seen. Fine looking because h
] was dead one" explained the speak
err. land / have his revolver. In it wer
five bullets. .yo of them dun DUN
s and three of them with the point
}, tipped with verdegris so that the poe
. fellow that those bullets hit woul
:; have no chance of recovery. That
d the kind of people that we are aske
e to have sympathy for in the peac
b terms.
f Just twelve months ago. said doc
Clifford. they broke camp to go int
BelIeau Woods; on the 6th of June h