The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-01-04

new great fighting force could d
which had come under his orders, an
he knew what he meant to do an,
! could do with it. 1t is an eloquen
fact that when six weeks later h,
struck his great master stroke whicl
was to lead ultimately to the ute.
defeat and collapse of the enemy, Am
erican troops formed the larger por
ton of an attacking force which, be
. ing thrown against a particularly
vital position, was meant to deal ant
did deal the most staggering blow tt
the enemy; and other American troops
were allotted the place which from
, the paramount responsibility attach.
ing to it, may be termed the place
of honor, in the center of the line, ir
immediate defense of the approaches
to Paris.
They made good there-officers anc
men alike. They made good every
where, 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 artisanc of
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 Pershing, 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. Mihiel
salient, which the enemy had held for
four years. They did it in thirty
hours, and made a complete and per-
feet job of it.
l have had the privilege of seeing
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 sacred inspira-
ton of what l have thus seen will
stay with me to my last day.
l confess l find it hard to speak of
them without a catch in my throat
and moisture in my eyes. | see them
before M now in the fair land Of
and quick-witten; kindly and clean
boasting; good-humored and good
natured; willingly submissive to un-
accustomed discipline; uncomplaingly
ClldQllAS dll llldlillCl VI QSIlPo dllO
discomforts; utterly contemptuous of
cheap for the honor and glory of
think of them or picture them without
having his heart overflow with CRATE
full and affectionate pride?
AS l observed our army "over
there l feel that in them, in the mass
of them, representing as they do all
sections and callings of America,
there had returned the ancient spirit
of knighthood. / measure my words.
l am not exaggerating. If l had to
find one single word with which to
characterize our boys, 1 should Sc
lect the adjective "~knightly."
A French officer who commanded
a body of French troops, fighting
'fiercely and almost hopelessly in Bel
leau Wood near Chateau Thierry
(%since then officially designated by
the French government as the Wood
of the Marine Brigade), told me that
when they had arrived almost at the
point of total exhaustion, suddenly the
Americans appeared rushing to the
rescue. One of the American officers
hurried up to him, saluted and said
in execrably pronounced French just
six words: "Vous-fatigues, vous-
partir, notre job" "You-tired, you
get away, III job"
And right nobly did they do their
job. Need l ask whether we shall
do ours?
The Tide of Our Gratitude.
The job now before US is to raise
the needed funds to enable the organi-
cations included in the United War
Work Campaign to do their. No one
who has not had occasion to see u
army over there, car fully realize
how much of comfort, of cheer and of
homefeeling these organizations are
bringing to u boys. For, these boys
with all their knightly virtues are
very human. They are healthy young
animals with strong appetites for food
and for recreation. They will attack
a dish of American ice-cream OF a hot
with which they attack a German ma
chine-gun nest. They. will crowd in
to an entertainment hut, a reading
and writing or lecture room with an
eagerness comparable to that with
which they storm enemy positions.
And they have an intense and touch
lIiS iOLSluS IOl lOuIC. /
The feeling of the long distance
separating them from home is the one
hardest to get accustomed and re-
signed to for those splendid fellows.
The organizations of the United War
Work, with the vast ramifications of
their benificent activities in all places
where our army is fighting, training,
constructing or resting are giving to
the boys something akin to a home,
something which brings the sweet and
eagerly welcomed touch of American
surroundings and atmosphere into the
strange and unaccustomed world in
which they are moving for the time
One must not think of those who
are representing these organizations
in their contact with the army, as
bespectacled anaemic beings. They
are, on the contrary, red-blooded men
and women, with warm hearts and
sympathetic understanding. The serv-
ices and benefits of the great organi-
they represent are open to
any and every nan wearing the Unit
I'd States uniform, irrespective of race,
)r religion or antecedents. No QueS-