The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-12-05

great deal of attention has been
n directed during the present year 70
the question "What memorial to the Great
war will most likely stand out from
all the others being erected by the present
generation and endure the longest through
cahturiss to come to remind future genera
tiSns or time when virtually all the world
was under arms" 4
in almost every nation recently at war
monuments In many patterns are being
built, commemorating battles. campaigns
the achievements OF generals or the anal
victory itself. The best thought and senti-
uient OF thousands OF publicspirited archi-
tects and patriotic societies are embodied
in!theseg monuments, and each Is designed
to. be Wpermanent symbol of nations
gIktitude or appreciation.
Hut time dulls the edge Of sentiment.
Too often the stirring emotions OF to-day
give way to materialsm tomorrow. Great
tomBa at which mighty crowds now gather
with dotted hats and solemn memories may
be neglected and forgotten in another
century, and some even win be allowed to
crumble.
So those OF far seeing vision have
wondered what memorial would be inspired
by All episode sufficiently indelible In the
history OF the war TO outlast the futures
forgetfulness.
An American aviator, flying low over
battlefield torn by the enemy's shells,
seems TO have solved this imposing prob
lem in an impulse that came to him as he
saw a tragedy enacted directly below him
it was tragedy that was only an incident
OF "a tragic day so slight n its hattla.
field significance that harGie general
heard Of it, and no news alroatches re-
corded it for qvi.ian populations at home.
Yet the impulse born to this American
aviator who witnessed it, and who was
himself killed shortly after, promises to
endure in marble on an everlasting founda-
lion Of reverence when other memories
have passed away.
On June II, during the Verdun battles
Of 1916, one hundred men. comprising the
fast remnant of a French company. were
waiting in their trench for the order to 60
over the top toward Douaumont, where
German artillery regiment was stationed.
The French soldiers had been ordered
to stand ready. Their guns were poised,
bayonets fixed and held upward, each SOL
der ready to spring at the word of COM
hand, The non-commissioned officer who
had taken the place of the slain captain
ind lieutenants held his watch before him,
watching the minute hand as it approached
The time fixed for the charge.
The field through which ran the trench
was being churned with the German
shells The damp ground was soft and
Overhead, daring the rain of shrapnel from
the German artillery. few the American
aviator, Gordon L. Rand, son Of the
wealthy New York banker, the late George
c. Rand Young Rand, whose name was
included in the membership OF many OF
New York's most exclusive clubs, had
been an aviation enthusiast before the
war. and was one of the first young Amer
leans to Join the Lafayette Escadrille.
As the young American lowered over
The trench, ready to guide the attacking
company to its objective point when the
uon-commissioned officer gave the word,
be saw the ground below heave suddenly
in one mighty surge. Before he could
sides OF the trench rolled together, com.
pletely engulfng the hundred soldiers be.
tween them.
There had not been time for the men
10 even throw up their arms. Not cry
escaped them-so sudden was the Jcatas-
trophe Where there had been trench
with its human tenants there was only
vacant ground pierced by long line OF
motionless gun barrels, each with Its bay.
onet pointing rigidly to the sky.
No one of those hundred soldiers es.
caped-none had moved. There had been
10 wavering in the line. The protruding
bayonets were a mans shoulders apart,
as If they were held above the heads OF
al company on inspection parade.
The young American dipped his airplane
10 the ground. He would have landed, but
he knew the engulfed men were beyond
his help, even should he escape the rain
of shells about him. He few back behind
h.s own lines for new orders, but as he left
the field he vowed to himself that II he
lr,cd through the day he would make pro-
,IsIon that the fate of that little band OF
soldiers waiting for the order % 60 over
the top never should be forgotten.
THAT night in his hangar the American
drew check upon his French bankers for
100000 francs and sent It with his squad
ron's mail to General Headquarters with
the reuueCt that the sum be turned over to
the proper agency to insure the erection
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