The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1920-01-15
South Carolina Memorial

tnelf neTOlC operatives, tiouSaii''o vi
whom volunteered and were drafted
into the armed service of the nation
during the World War, and many of
whom made the supreme sacrifice,
textile arrangements of South Caro-
lima are literally subscribing to the
100000 fund for the erection Of a
memorial building commemorating,
those South Carolinians participat-
ing in the World War, according to
the headquarters of the South Caro-
lima Memorial commission in this
city.
The mill arrangements, according
to the commission, taking the ini-,
tiative in this matter are the Gran
iteville Manufacturing Company, Of
Graniteville, the Langley Manufac-
turing Company, of Langley, and the
Aiken Manufacturing Company, OF
Bath, which subscribed $500 between
them, 5000 for each enterprise. All
these corporations are in the "Horse
Creek" valley, of Aiken county,
which sent many sons to the war.
The memorial commission, said
that it has information that many
other mill managements intend to
literally subscribe to the fund.
Relatives to the participation Of
mill boys in the war, commissioner
Harris, of the State Department OF
agriculture, commerce and Indus
tries, in his annual report to the
General Assembly, has the following
to say:
ain South Carolina 307,350 men
were examined for the draft. OF this
number $4,000 were found fit for
military service, percentage OF
IT'S. am told that in the early days
of the war some were rejected be-
cause of the literacy test, rather than
for physical reasons. The average
for the United States was 1876 per
cent or 8 per cent above South Caro-
lina's average. The highest in the
United States was in Wyoming,
where the physically fit average
87.2. Therefore, in man power re-
sources South Carolina ranks high
,roonr tho Cfofoc
"It might surprise detractors OF
the South, especially those who fire.
ouently refer with great asperity to
the domestic condition in our mill
towns, to tell them that some of the
best fighting men of America went
from the cotton mills of South Caro-
lima. They were boys who had grown
up in the mill work. Far from being
undernourished, undersized, or "un-
der" anything else, they were excel
lent soldiers and served faithfully
and courageously on the Mexican
border and in France.
"Among the, mill towns that sent
National Guard units into the SER
vice are Pelzer, Williamson, Ander-
son, Olympia, Brookland, and the
Units from Fort Mill, Rock Hill, I'm
ion, Spartanburg and Greenville had
a large per centage of mill boys.
THAT they discharged their duty
fully, and honorably is proved by the
fact that the First South Carolina
Regiment, more than 500 mill boys
did the heavy preparatory work
which resulted Immediately in the
breaking of the Hindenburg line, at
Bellicourt and the freeing Of Bel
gium from the murderous grasp Of
the invader. That they discharged
their duty we'll is shown by the fact
that in Flanders there are white
crosses over graves where cotton
mill boys, heroes all, are asleep.
There were some mill boys who
came home to get the most priced
decoration of the whole war-the
congressional medal Of honor, in ad-
dition to numerous citations from
American and British Officers
and crosses from the French Gov
ernment.
"Then there were the mill boys
drafter into the s1st Division and
into numerous units that went away.
They made good soldiers, all Of
them, and the service flags of the
mill towns at home had many stars,
occasionally one Of gold, but never
a star that was not bright in honor
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