Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1919-06-13
PRESIDENT WILSON ON MEMORIAL DAY,

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of Paris, where many Americans
are buried, President Wilson was
the principal speaker. He said:
mo one with heart in his breast
no America, no lover of humanity,
can stand in the presence of these
graves without the most profound
emotion. These men who lie here
are men of unique breed. Their
like has not been seen since the far
days of crusades. Never before
have men crossed the seas to for
eign land to fight for a cause of hui
manity which they did not pretend
was peculiarly their own, but knew
was the cause of humanity, of man
kind.
"And when they came, the found
comrades for Their courage and their
devotion. They found armies of
liberty already in the field-men
who, though they had gone through
three years of fiery trial, seemed
only to be just discovering, not for
Il moment losing the high temper of
the great affairs, men seasoned in
the bloody service of liberty.
Joining hands with these, the
men Of America gave the greatest
of all gifts, the gift of life and the
gift of spirit.
at will always be a treasured
memory on the part of those who
know and who love these men that
the testimony Of everybody who saw
them in the field of action was their
unilinching courage, their ardor to
The point of audacity, their full con-
seriousness Of the high cause they
had come to serve and their con-
slant vision Of the issue. 1t is de-
lightful to learn from those who
saw these men fight and saw them
waiting in the trenches for the
summons to the fight that they had
a touch of the high spirit of reli-
gion; that they knew they were cx-
hibiting spirit as we'll as a physi-
cal might, and those Of us who
know and love Amrica know that
they were discovering to the whole
world the true spirit and devotion
OF their mothcrland. 1t was Amer
lea who came in the person of these
men and who will forever be CRATE
full that she was represented,
"And it is the more delightful to
entertain these thoughts because we
know that these men, though buried
in foreign, are not buried in an
alien soil. They are at home, sleep
ing with the spirit of those who
thought the same thoughts and en-
tertained the same aspirations. The
noble women of SureSnes have given
evidence of the loving sense with
which they received these dead as
their own, for they have cared for
their graves; they have made it
their interest, their loving interest,
10 see that there was no hour of
neglect and that possibly through
all the months that have gone by
the mothers at home should know
That there were mothers here who
remembered and honorcd their
dead
You have just heard in the bcauli-
ful letter from Monsieur Clcmcn-
ccau, which believe TO be The real
message of France TO us on a day
like This, message of genuine com
radcship, message of genuine SYM
pathy, and ! have no doubt that if
our British comrades were here
they would speak in the same spirit
and III tho same language. For the
beauty of This war is that il has
brought a new partnership and
new comradcship and a new under
standing into the field of effort of
the nation.
But it would be no profit to us to
culogizc these iliustrious dead if we
did not take TO heart the lesson
which they have taught us. They
are dead, they gave their utmost TO
show their devotion to "a great
cause, and they have left us to sec
TO IT that their cause shall not be
betrayed, whether in war or in
peace.
1t is our privilege and our high
duty to cOnSccratc ourselves afrcsh
on day like this TO the objects for
which they fought. IT is not ncccs-
Sary that ] should rcherse to YOU
what these objects were. These men
did not come across the seas merely
to defeat Germany and her assucI-
ated powers i'm the war. They came
10 defeat forvcr the things for
which the Central Powers stood,
The sort OF power they meant TO as
Sert in the world, the arrogant, self
iSh domination which they meant
to establish, and they came, more
over, TO see to il that there should
never be a war like this again. II
is for us, particularly for us who
are civilized, to use our proper
of counsel and agreement