New Britain herald., 1919-01-27

Y ~ = 9gli1[ q iftSilg the Old fight
siffgS a7i1fess After visiting Rheims, the
presidential party Boarded a special
train and returned to Paris. The last
part of the motor trip was made in q
snow storm.
Arrives at Rcllcau Wood.
The first fighting ground was
reached as the party neared Belleau
Wood INN ortalized in the history of
the war BY the gallant lighting of
American marines The motor cars
turned off the main roads and
crawled pcrilOusly through back
lanes to bring the president close to
tho place where the fighting took
place. The farmers were blowing the
shell-cratered fields as the president
stood beside the graves of 100 or
more American boys who gave their
lives al that point and looked across
the strategic valley to Belleau Wood
mangled mass of tree trunks and
underbrush but now a national mon
ument to the marines, after whom the
French government have named the
place.
Col. Edward M. Watson, who COM
manded an artillery battalion in the
fight and was later chief of staff Of
Argonne fighting, stood beside Presi-
dent Wilson and Brig. Gen. William
w Harris and told the story of the
battle.
Then Mr.. Wilson drove up the hill
over which the American troops
smashed the crack Prussian divisions
mustered there to crush the green
horns and where the advance on
Paris was checked. This was near
Chateau Thierry. Mr.. Wilson saw
the ruins Of bridges over which the
Americans thrust back the enemy line
and shell-marked houses which sur
vived the battles.
The mayor of Chateau Thierry
greeted Mr.. Wilson who responded
quite informally. He then drove on
towards Rheims passing along the
old battle line between long lanes OF
barbed wire entanglements now rust
ing away in the first winter of peace;
between long muddy trenches reach
ing over the hills and down into hol-
lows as far as the eve could see and
past the wrecks of dugouts, ammuni-
ton dumps, aviation sheds, hospitals,
barracks and all the other litter left
by the defeated enemy in his flight.
Secs Many Soldier Graves.
American, as we'll as French graves
! lay along the roadside. There were
| German graves too. Dcsecrated GEM
| eteries were found in many cases
! There was q constant panorama Of
| destroyed or charred vineyards, gar
| dens and homes.
| The president was welcomed at
| Rheims by the mayor and IL commit
| tee to whom Mr.. Wilson explained
| that he had not come to the dcvastat-
| ed regions sooner because he had
| been wholly engaged at Paris with
| the business of making peace. Before
| going to the cathedral, he passed
| through the streets OF a deserted city
| which was once the home of 115, 900
| people but where less than 5000 now
| are eking out an existence among the
| ruins He visited Red Cross Canteens
! where hundreds Of destitute persons
| are fed night and day and the hospi-
| tai where the sick and injured are
| cared for.
a light blanket of snow covered the
ground as the president drove up to
| the cathedral and Rheims, raViShed
| and naked in all its misery and desc
| lation, looked like a graveyard in the
moonlight. There were more crows
in the air, circling over the ruined
| town than there were human beings
below in the Uttered streets.
| Cardinal LucOn, archbishop of
! Rheims, who stood steadfastly by
his charge for four years, during
which time scarcely a day passed
without q German shell hurting death
| into the city, met the president at the
| fence Of rough boards which now eX-
| cludes curiosity seekers and encloses
the rubbish into which this most his
tOric edifice has been reduced. The
cardinal conducted Mr.. Wilson to the
nave of the cathedral, where in 1914
| the Germans during their short occu-
| patton of the city placed their wound
| ed, and then, being forced to evacu-
ate, burned their men to death bv in
| cendiary shells that fired the root but
! did not damage the vault.
All over the tagging, worn smooth
! through the years by millions of feet
bringing F'renchmen to an hours de-
votion we're piled heaps of rubbish,
remnants Of statuary and frescoes
and fragm ents of columns and sculp-
lures which were counted the most
perfect and complete examples of
Gothic art. AS the president and the
cardinal stood together looking up-
ward, while the prelate briefly re-
counted the story Of four years OF
constant destruction, they looked
straight through to the clouded skv
The snow furry that was covering the