The Washington herald., 1922-10-23

Judge from accounts oil DiSuict oeiegAtes
back from New Orie1hs, was an affair
calculated to shock mice" people. The rough old
days of the A. E. F. revived for week.
The boys were glad to be back among scenes of
olive drab agan-among crap games and plain
talk.
The world veteran has slipped back into
civilian life For the most part he is glad to for
get the days of 1918 But he can get the
brand of them off his soul. He never can be
quite the sort of man those around him.
He have the same sort of sympathes,
the sort OF affections, the same sort of fears,
the same sort of triumphs. He never can find full
understanding except among his own-the comrades
of camp and billet.
He may have hated these men when he was
forced to associate with them. He may have been
unable to feel the common bond that the
welding. Not one in thousand had a good
time in the army. Not one in thousand
in sympathy with the sort Of life he forced
to lead during those days. The cup Uncle Sam
set before the young of the nation bitter
and few drained it without a wry face.
But the bad taste has been forgotten. The
veterans today beginning to live in the sweet
of memory. They have begun appreciate
the opportunity of coming of their isolation
once a year and associating with their kind. 1t
is like emerging from the solitude of dense forest
into crowded city where there are men and
and children, lunch rooms and soda foun-
tans
The veteran is not entirely other
During war days it did not seem that the men
who served would have any distinct individuality
aferward. Everybody of age, it appeared,
in the army But during these short four years
this condition has disappeared large extent.
The former soldier sailor already has become
something OF a character. Hardly one in ten of
the he meets in his Office workshop or on
the street is equipped to understand him. Ig-
norancc OF the hardships and of the joys OF mill
tary service again is becoming rather general. The
veteran stands alooi and lonely. He is only about
one in ten among the young men. genera
tion i> rising like a tidal wave about him-the
lads WHO are IS and 20
Is any wonder that the boys had wild"
time aaNew Orleans? 1t like homecoming
after long absence. Often in the loneliness and
the misunderstanding their thoughts had gone back
to days OF cave in France and Germany. to the
gatherings in billets after the long darkness of
winter nights settled the little gray towns
to the cafes and the gasthaeuser. Their natural
inclinations to stage a duplication of those
scenes.
The veteran is not other are. He may
be a salesman in shoe store or clerk in a
government department-but- he is not an ordinary
salesman ordinary clerk. The light of the
and the others know it. He may be
poor in money, but he is rich in memories
Fratcrnal orders, in order to weld men to-
gether in brotherhood force them to undergo
common experience, the details of which usually
are kept as carefully guarded secrets. This may
be either rough-and-tumble picturesque. But
after going through it the always have
common ground for understanding
This is exactly what brings men of the Ameri-
can Legion together. Their initiation lasted for
over a year-day after day month after month
They have the common experience OF mess line and
slun1, blankets on the ground, hard boiled" top
sergeants, long marches, etc. Could any other
ritual bind men into 4 body more effectively,
The loyalty of the men to each. other is
stronger today than it in 1919. 1t will be
stronger still in 1895 1t will be strongest of all
in 1880. The American Legion has had hardly
a good start as a brotherhood of men. Its best
years are still far in the future
The person who thinks that the veteran. can
be dealt with as individuals any question af-
feeting their welfare is making foolish mistake.
The whole Of past history shows the fallacy of
such an attitude The intatory rites of the order
were too binding Any man who ever rode the
old gray mare" 10 4 veteran always loyal forever
to association of veterans
How does the world war veteran differ from
those Of his own age who did not 20 to war and
those who have grown to manhood since the
armistce? He differs because he has seen the
souls of men stripped nsked-because he has lived
for time in a world where the greater part of
the little ceremonies and eourteses that pad the
rough edges of life discarded He differs
because French mud has caked his boots and
French rain seeped into his spirit He differs because
he knows Of things which others only can read
about He differs because death sat in the same
billet with him. and marched in the same souad
with him. and slept the same blanket with him.