The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-15
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

odlu Non rindenDurg to Old kalSer
 Bill.
 The durned old doughboys won't be still.
 i, They are after us again and now we know
 That we are up against the old Rain
 bow"
 l When the Forty second division was
 christened The Rainbow Division,p no
 one dreamed that in reality rainbow
 was to arch itself over every field of
 battle in which it took part. At it's
 first appearance it caused but little
 comment but when it appeared again
 and again it was eagerly watched for
 as good omen.
 Chasing the rainbow for the pot O gold at the trails end isn't half as
 fstuous as was the lure of ambition
 which, like a will O the wisp, led the | German militarists a merry dance of death until their country was lost in | the muck and mire and it's proud Elm | peror was languishing unmourned even by his people on foreign soil. think 1t within the facts to say that
 the imperialistic dream of world do-
 minion by the Germans was chased by l the Rainbow boys from democratic l America. Strange as it may seem, all history had been focusing on this point. The stage had been set after centuries for the inevitable conflict be- | tween autocracy and democracy and right proud I am that it was an Amer | ican division selected from twenty-six states which was to have the center of
 waiting on the outcome
 | The officers and men who played the | leading part in the momentous drama i have for the past few days been the guests of this busy city, which, however, was not too much engrossed in it's com mercial affairs to stop for awhile to l do honor to the heroes who had made American arms a symbol of freedom, 1 for the lesser gnationalities and had heartened the lovers of liberty where the foot of the oppressor had borne
 down heavily. They came as a cleans | ing breath to drive out the miasma of | selfishness which was beginning to show itself after the sacrifices made
 under the stress of war
 ] l can only speak for myself. but it was mighty hard for me to realize that l was actually talking to men who 1 had gone through the inferno which ragged through the hard-fought paths
 of the Argonne forest St. Mihiel, and Chateau -Thierry. I recalled the awful
 days when we waited eagerly to read
 the latest bulletins which told of the 1 terrible toll of life being exacted by the merciless warfare of the twentieth
 century Huns who had run amuck and i seemed bent on pulling down the pil-
 lars of civilization.
 | Do you fully understand that from | February 15, 1918. until November II.
 1918. the Rainbow division was never l in quiet sector. except for brief period in August, when, exhausted. it
 was withdrawn from the front lines for rest and recruitment. It held a front line trench for Ito days, making a rec
 ord that was never surpassed. With night forays into No Mans Land. dodg- ing exploding enemy shells from great
 guns or dropped from airlpanes. in- terspersed with hand to-hand battles
 in the dark with proving Huns, crawl | ing through barbed wire entangle-
 ments, or hurriedly putting on gas
 masks, trench life was one long night I mare, but their spirit never broke.
 
 ] Not only this, but these men turned ! their backs upon their business, their homes, their loved ones, and faced death in a thousand forms for those | of us who remained behind The di- vision arrived in France on November l l. 1917. and landed back in the United
 States in the srping of 1919. after nearly eighteen months in the service
 It was on.May 19, 1919 at Camp Shelby. l Miss, that our boys in the 167th infan- | try ended their military careers and | once more took up their lives as citi- ! zens.
 Casualties were heavy during the fighting in France. Some of the units 1 lost more than 50 per cent of their men. 1 including officers; all lost heavily. Re placements had to be made, the places of the fallen men being filled by vol unteers or drafted men coming from every part of the United States. The l67th, when mustered out, had on it's rolls one or more men from every other state in the union. these almost if not equaling the Alabama boys still with l the regiment. This was practically
 true of the other units. This is why
 when mustered out of service the Rain bow division personnel represented every state in the United States. 
 We have long talked about Americas melting pot limiting it to this coun- try's> ability to take the various peo- pies coming to it from other lands and making Americans out of them It has been the marvel of students of eth nology as we'll as sociology; but one thing more was needed, and that was to take the citizens of the United States and amalgamate them into one CO., besive body that would withstand inc tension and the pull of the various sec tions of the union. Out Of the crucible Of war we got at the foot of the Rain bow division somethino ,oora