The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-14
CALLS ATTENTION OF RAINBOW MEN
 ID CIVIC DUTIES
Senator Underwood Ad- dresses Veterans in Jef- ferson Theatre on Out
 look for the Future

AH duureSSlnS the veterans Of the Rainbow division at the meeting in the. Jefferson theatre yesterday, United States Senator oscar w. Underwood said:
 Alabama is proud to welcome the first reunion of the Rainbow division within her borders. We rejoice that we were allowed to furpish our quota or men to the Fighting Forty second. As long as time shall last and history shall tell the tale. the story of the great war in Europe will not be com plete until the splendid part that the halnoow division played in fighting the war Is told in the history of our country More than half the states m the union were represented by unit of their National Guard in the division. They had volunteered at the first call for service on the Mexican border, They were the citizen -soldiery representing the National Guard of their home states. They entered the great war already trained troops, ready to serve and sacrifice for the defense of their country and the honor of it's flag.
 The first word that I heard of the Rainbow division was before it was assembled or had received a name or number. Early in July, 1917, a young officer asked me to secure him an as- signment for foreign service i called on the Secretary of War to prefer his claim. The Secretary consented to send him overseas and told me that they were organizing a National Guard di vision. made up of units from the sev- eral states, and that Major McArthur had been selected for it's chief of staff Within the month, the orders were is sued for the assembling of the various units at Camp Mills and General Mann was appointed as the first commander of the division. In the fall of that year. went down to Long Island and saw the last review of the division before 1t sailed for Europe. l was greatly im- pressed by the military spirit the sol dferly appearance and the youth of the men that made up its component parts, and felt then that the German Emperor would have to reckon with these sol diers when his troops met them on the 
 T suppose the story has oft been told before, but l will tell it again. When I met General Mann on that oc- casion, l asked him why the division had received the name of the Rain bow division.' He told me that. imme- dfately after the announcement of his appointment dS the 1D9JOT general III command and the numbe of units com ing from the various states, he met an cld-time army friend in the corridors of the war department, who tcongratu- lated him on his appointment, and then said General, l am interested in the units that compose your division. They come from as many states as there are colors in the rainbow Mann replied That is a good omen. We will call it the Rainbow division. because it will bring the word of promise and peace to the struggling battalions of our allies
 THE NAME
 "The name may have come by chance, but it will live forever in the records of our country. The splendid fighting record of your great division in many of the great battles after we reached the firing line demonstrated conclu sively for all time to come that the citizen soldiers of our National Guard are as capable of accomplishing great feats of arms as the best of the regu- lars may claim for their own.
 'It was a great privilege and honor for your soldiers to have taken their splendid part in the battle in Cham pagne on July 14 and IS. 1918. when the German Emperor threw fifty shock di- visions against the French line com manded by General Garraud, expecting to break the French line take Challon the next day and flank Paris. If he had succeeded. disaster might have come to our arms The Rainbow division was the only American division in that bat tie, which was the turning point. or the Gettysburg. of the great war. Up to that time the flow tide ot German inva- sion was threatening the splendid de of tho French and E,ncli sh armies. After the German defeat in Champagne, the ebb tide set in and flowed continuously backward until the armistice was signed on November II of that year.
 "The Marne-Aisne offensive. the vic tory of St. Mihiel. the crushing defeat of the enemy in the great battles in the Argonne. all stand as brilliant records of your achievement, your training and your battle courage. Yon served to the End: you policed and occupied the enemys territory, and not until the last did you return to your homes and your loved ones and enter again the pursuits of civil life. You came back with the nation owing you an everlasting debt of gratitude. You came back the pride of your states and the pillar to sustain the future of your country. It is the soldiers of the great war, the young men of America, that must meet the problems of peace. the reconstruction from war conditions. the upbuilding of the nation and the peace and safety of the land in the coming generation.
 THE SACRIFICE
 'T cannot proceed without saving 4 word for the gallant men you left be- hind you, the men who made the su- preme sacrifice for their country. your i late comrades in arms and the nations dead No words of mine can better depict the great throb of the Ameri can heart for their loss than the words of the southern poet when he said of soldiers of another cause: " On Fame's eternal camping ground l
 Their silent tents are spread; And Glory marks with solemn round
 Tie bivouac of the dead
 Let me say a word for the future: We are standing in the dawn of new l era of our republic. The fixed stars | have faded from the sky. we grope in | the uncertain light of the future. Es ! tablished landmarks are lost, new ways l
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