The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1921-12-14
MARSHAL FOCH RETURNS TO SUNNY FRAN s

Today, Marshall Ferdinand Foch leaves tn,
United States to return to his home in France.
The visit OF this great military genius to oul
country will long be remembered To us he
brought much of the sunshine of his native land
and his presence in our midst was an inspiration
and benediction
In winning the greatest Of all wars, Marshal
Foch, because Of his deep pety and religious fer
vor won the tile of "Chrsts Gray General,
This may seem strange statement for a
secular newspaper to make. But, it is the bust
ness of a newspaper to get at facts. If the facts
ere of superna nature it is still the business
of the newspaper to get at them and to record
them.
1t seems to be beyond all shadow of doubt that
when the hour came in which all that Christ stood
for was to either stand or fall Christ raised up
man to lead the hosts that battle for Him.
When that hour came in which truth and right
charity, brothery love- justice and liberty We're
ither to triumph or to be botted out Of the world
Christ came again upon the road to Damascus
Whoever does not realize this and see it clearly
as a fact, he does but blunder stupidly.
great crowdng company Of critics, all filed
with the ego of their own conclusions, attempted
diagrams But while they were thus engaged
you could have found Foch in some quiet church
humbly giving God the glory and absolutely de-
dining to attribute it to himself.
Can that kind of a man win a war? Can
man who is practical soldier be also practca
Christian? And is Foch that kind of a man? Let
US see
If you were to know a man who came home
every night with bag filed with gold nuggets
you would naturally be curious to know where he
vent to get them
In the same way, when you see a soldier vim
nng battles you are curious to know from what
source comes his genius
Where, then, did Foch go for the strength
and magical power to bring home the marvunusl
victories he won over Prussia and the unholy al
iances she made to crush the world and drive
freedom from the earth?
The answer is not far to seek Memphis boy,
Who served as soldier in France wrote letter
o his parents, and the letter was published in the I
Jommercal-Appeal. This letter told briefly
where Ferdinand Foch got power to win the war.
This soldier, William Evans by name, told of
Meeting General Foch at close range in France.
Evans had gone into an old church to have
ook at it, and as he stood there with barred head
atisfying his respectful curiosity, gray man
With the eagles of a general on the collar of his
habby uniform also entered the church
Only one orderly accompanied the quiet gray {
nan. No gtterng staff of officers, no encourage
f goId-laced aides were with him; nobody but t
ust the orderly. a
Evans paid small attention, at first, to the gray L
nan, but was curious to see him kneel in the I
hurch, praying The minutes passed until full n
of an hour had gone by before the
ray man arose from his knees. U
Then Evans followed him down the stree. and d
as surprised to see soldiers salute this man in
rcat excitement, and women and children stop t.
ing in their tracks with awe-struck faces as he i
aSscd. il
1t was Foch. And now Evans counts the cx- G.
erience as the greatest in his life.
During that three-qIarters Of an hour that the Il
aneralismo of all the Allied armies was on his e
nees in humble supplication in that quiet church,
1000 guns were roaring at his word on a hun oil
red hills that rocked with death. a
Millions of armed men crouched in trenches rC
rushed across bood-drenChed terraines at his al
generals and field marshals, artillery,
valry, engineers, tanks, fought and wrought pl
ross the map Of Europe absolutely as he COM tc