The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-11-04
FOCH LAUDS j. s.
AID; WILD OVATION
General Pershing Leads Veterans
in Frenzy of Cheering.
MARINE HERO RELATES DEEDS
Reviews Admiringy the American
Contribution to Victory, Speaking
in Praise of the Rapidly the
Great Armies Formed.

Kansas City, Mo-. Nov. made
welcome by the leather lungs of So
600 fighting men, Marshal FOch, COM
mander in chief of the allied armies,
spoke a comrades greeting to the
buckOs of the American Legion in con-
vention here
He praised them for their herOism
in the Argonne and the Meuse, and
Endorsed the purposes of their post
war organization. In answer they
just hOwled and threw their hats and
pressed into the hall until the walls
bulged. 1t was the maddest moment
of a glOriOusly mad reunion.
General Pershing had introduced
the marshal to the convention as "Our
commander, hOnOred not only for the
affectiOnate relationship of other days,
but also for the unity he represents,
the unity which has grown out Of war
time associations and now sustains
the ideals of our republic"
He reviewed admfringly the Amer
lean contribution to victory, speaking
In praise of the rapidity with which
the great armies formed, the skill of
the navy, the stupendOus efforts of
American shipbuilders. Then he
turned to the last weeks of the war.
Praise for Heroes.
'This splendid spirit of an entire
nation we find again on the battle
fields of France, where it was blazoned
II yirfT1 of
and herOism," he said.
ct was the spirit of the Second and
Third American army divisions which
took part in the battle of the Marine
and distinguished themselves imme-
diately in the operations around Chi
teau Thierry and in Belleau Wood.
Again it was the spirit of those five
divisions which, on the 18th of July,
participated in the victorious counter
offensive of the Tenth and Sixth
the Marine and contributed in great
measure to that victory.
FINALLY, it was that spirit which
animated all the American army when,
on the 24th of July, General Pershing
formed your splendid units under his
own direct command.
ION the 18th of September, 1918,
the First American army delivered its
first battle on the soil Of France. 1t
dislodged the enemy from the st.
Mihiel salient where he had en-
trenched himself for nearly four years,
l. hn
of the hills of the Meuse. From the
very first the American army entered
into glory How many further laurels
was it yet to win?
''The st. Mihiel operation was near
~ ended when the American army at
tackled on new front. On the 25th
of September it was engaged on the
right wing Of the vast allied offensive.
The point of direction assigned to it
was Mezieres, on the Mouse.
''DeplOyed from the left bank of the
Mouse to the eastern confines of
Champagne, it had three army corps
in line on a front of nearly forty kiIo-
meters
Nothing Could Halt Yanks.
Before it stretched the region of
the Argonne, formidable emplacement
of the German defense, a wooded ter
rain, rugged, different in its very ma
ture, and rendered more so by all the
defensive organizations which had
been accumulated during the last four
years.
conI1 dicoO11ro or abooly
your army 1t threw itself with gen
erous ardor into the immense melee.
Fighting without respite night and
day for a month, advancing in spite
of the pitfalls and the counter-attacks
of the enemy, it succeeded, by pure
force of tenacfty and heroism, in liber-
ating the wild region of the Argonne.
"After st. Mihiel. it could now in
scribe proudly upon its banners the
name of the Argonne.
"On the 10th of October, this great
task finished. it Joined hands with
the Fourth French army in the defile
of Grand Pre-.
"On the LIST of November, just three
years ago, the First American army
again attacked, and, in a splendid ad-
vance, reached Buancy, penetrating
the German line for more than ten
kilometerS.
"The enemy, this time, retired def
nitely; the Stars and Stripes at once
took up the pursuit and, six days
later, f1oated VIGOROUSLY over the
Mouse reconQuered.
"After st. Mihiel. after the Argonne,
the American banners now bore the
name of Mouse. In few months you
had taken $4,000 prisoners and 1,40O
cannon from the enemy"
RMAIAnnI 10 TAI 10 To IknAM