The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1919-01-09


defiance of all precedent they storm
ed, with rifle and bayonet in frontal
attack, against massed machine
guns.
"They threw themselves upon the
victory-fushed Huns to whom this
unconventional kind of fierce onset
came as complete and disconcert-
ing surprise. They fought like de-
mons, with utterly reckless bravery.
They paid the price, alas! in heavy
losses, but for what they paid they
took compensation in over-full meas
ure.
"They formed of themselves a
spearhead at the point nearest Par
is, against which the enemy's on
slaught shattered itself and broke.
They stopped the Hun, they beat him
back, they broke the spell of his adj
vance. They started victory on its
march.
"a new and unspent and mighty
force had come into the fray. And
the Hun knew it to his cost and the
French knew it to their unbounded
joy.l The French turned. Side by
side the Americans and the French
stood, and on that part of the front
the Germans never advanced anoth-
er men from that day. They held for
awhile, and then set in the begin
ming of the great defeat.
"I was in Paris when the news of
the American achievement reached
the population. They knew full well
what it meant. The danger was still
present, but the crisis was over. The
Boche could not break through. He
could and would be stopped and ul-
timately thrown back, out of France.
out of Belgium, across the Rhine and
beyond!
"The French, so calm in their
trials, so restrained in their own vic
tories, gave full vent to their joy and
enthusiasm at the splendid fighting
and success of the Americans. The
talk of them was everywhere in Par
is. Hundreds of thousands of Amer
lean soldiers already in France,
thousands coming upon every steam
er, millions more to come if needed
and they had shown the, great stuff
they were made of! All gloom van
ished overnight. The full magnifi-
ccnce of the French fighting morale
shone out again - both behind the
lines and at the front. Ills ne pass
eront pas" 'On les aura
"They made good there - officers
and men alike. They made good ev-
erywhere, from Cantigny to Sedan.
They made good on land, on the seas
and in the air; worthy comrades OF
the war-seasoned heroes of France
and Great Britain, worthy defenders
of American honor, eager artisans Vi
American glory. When, for the first
time the American army went into
action as a separate unit under the
direct command of it's great chief,
General Perishing, Marshal Foch al
lotted them ten days for the accom-
plishment of the task set for them, l.
e., the election of the German army
from the strongly fortified st. Mi
hiel salient, which the enemy had
held for four years. They did it in
thirty hours, and made a complete
and perfect job of it.
"I have had the privilege Of see
ing these splendid boys of ours, in
all situations and circumstances,
from their camps in America to the
front in France-the boys and their
equally splendid leaders. The sa-
cred inspiration of what I have thus
seen will stay with me to my last
day.
ct confess find it hard to speak of
them without catch in my threat
and moisture in my eyes. see
them before me now in the fair land
of France - brave, strong, ardent;
keen and quickwitted; kindly and
clean and modest and wholly free
from boasting; good humored and
good-natured; willingly submissive
to unaccustomed discipline; uncom-
plainingly enduring all manner of
hardships and discomforts; utterly
contemptuous of danger, daring TO
fault, holding life cheap for the
honor and glory Of America. What
true American can think of them or
picture them without having his
heart overflow with grateful and af-
fectionate pride?"