Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-09-06
THE FIFTH DIVISION REUNION
AND SOME MEMORIES OF 1913
Why Could the American Army Be More
Democratic In War Than Most
Americans Are In Peace?

DlANS are out at last for the first reunion
4 of the famous Fifth Division of the
United States Army. which will raise
cheerful tumult in this city next week.
The buddies - about 1000 of them are
now on their way from the four quarters
of the country on Pullman or freight trains.
on rubber tires or afoot. as the accidents Of
fortune dictate.
They are leaving banks and farms. lathcs
and CowpunChers saddles. mines and col
legcs, to rejoice rather wistfully in Il re-
newed sense Of the perfect companionshp
that was theirs when, for a blessed interval
war relieved all of us from the nightmare
of accumulated social superstitlons.
Reading of all this and remembering the
great days of 1918. one cannot hut feel a
sudden sense Of loss. of something fine
broken and gone forever out of the life of
this land. For the army in which the Fifth
Division held SO shining place was in some
ways a perfect manifestation of the demo-
cratic spirit.
All its men were proud to be equal and
friendly and understanding. We weren't
doing much lynching then. We weren't
shooting one another. Negro citizens. in
stead of being burned alive to make Ku
Klu1 holidays. were being cheered as they
marched away to suffer and fight with the
rest.
Religious bigotry had not been revived
by incurablc fanatics. Men of all CrccdS
fought and sacrificed and died together for
the greater hope that was in their hearts.
The army really educated great many
college men, n great many rich men and
great many poor men. 1t taught them to
understand America by understanding each
other. There was never anything like 1t
on such scale, in the world before.
There never may be anything like it
again. For il was in one way n nation in
itself vitaized by faith and cnnoblcd by
generosity and great purposes and great
beliefs.
The survivors Of the Fifth Division aren't
coming to Philadelphia merely for good
time. They are coming. though they may
not always realize it. because they remem-
ber that life for them was made nearer per-
fcCt only when it was terribly hard and
tolerant of no meanncss
The men Of the Fifth who. under the
direction of Captain Bacon, are preparing
the reception Of the buddieS. will tell you
that. while there were other great divisions
in the army. the Fifth was Gods Own.
because it was chosen BY fate and the high
command to take some Of the cruclest pun
ishment and assume some of the most ap-
palling tasks allotted in France.
II swan the Meuse and built bridge
head while machine gun bullets swept 1t like
summer rain.
1t was paradcd and cited by Pcrshing for
''one of the greatest feats of vaor ever
achieved by any army.
Five thousand of its members were deco
rated on the field, and as tribute Of honor
it was made the spcarpoint of the culmi
mating american movement at st. Mihiel.
But the whole army was much like the
Fifth.
1t had no taint of arrogance Its eyes
were lifted up. 1t seemed always to be
fighting for something bigger than the world
itself.
What. then. has happened to us since
1918? Where has our generosity, our wis
dom and our understanding gone?
Who can explain the spiritual processes
Of the man who. for his country's sake,
checrfuIy offered himself for slaughter in
trench, only to return, as many have
done. to do for money everything In his
power to thwart the better hopes of that
same country. to Illustrate its better aims,
to drprcsS its vitality and dispirit its
people?
What of the men who gladly gave up
their sons for principle that they them
selves seem willing to betray for profit?
You might suppose that America no longer
HP'NPu lOSul courageous anu splTlNcN
! citizenship.
What is the matter with n social system
| that makes it difficult for the average man
to have anything like the soldiers COnCcrH
| for those about him or the soldiers sense
| of pride in his unit or the soldiers wise
humor and wiser regard for the honor and
| safety of his country?
Can we be sensitive to fundamental
truths, to the rules Of honorable personal
relationship. only in times Of terrific stress
Why is it that after more than n hun
| dred years OF democratic experimentation,
we found the spirit OF democracy best "x
| pressed and most fully realized in an army
in an organization which is supposed to be
| at best undemOCratic?
This city will warmly welcome the Fifth s
survivors. And it might be worth while to
remember that il the spirit that moved the
| Fifth and all other army divisions could be
re- established in this country in times Of
peace the world would a new sort OF
civilization.
1t would see true democracy.