The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1922-06-01
ALL BELOVED BY
GRATEFUL NATION
Tributes of Memorial Day Shared
by Each Defender of
the Country.
Reverence Alike for Those Who Be-
gan and Those Who Completed
the Work Of Freedom--Graves
In France Cared For.

The year 1918 brought the slgnlfi-
canoe of Memorial day directly home
to the present generation. The hero
ism of the sacrifices Of 1868 had not
been forgotten, but to the great ma
jority OF Americans II was merely
tale, not an experience. After 1918
there were few Americans who had
not suffered personal loss or bereave-
ment. The real meaning of dying for
ones country" was impressed on the
consciousness of the people. The sue
ceedlng Memorial days have found the
nation honoring the memory of the
young men who gave their lives In
France and Flanders, and revering,
with new sincerity, the men who, more
than half century ago, died that
America might live.
Americas Part in the War.
Two outstanding facts Of the World
war are universally conceded. Amer
ica's participation and Americas sac
rifice were small in comparison with
the labor and sacrifice of the nations
which fought through all the bloody
wears Of the struggle. Yet during the
brief period of American participa-
ton, America fought as hard as any
other belligerent nation, bore her full
share Of responsibility and burdens,
and thus, coming to the front when the
other nations were weary, actually
won the war. 1t Is generally believed
that but for the American army the
German offensives of March-June,
1918. would have carried Prussianism
to victory. America, therefore, with
out Boosting, and with full realization
that her sacrifice was small In COM
parison with the sacrifices Of France
and England and Belgium and Serbia
and Roumania, and even of Russia,
can cherish the qualification of having
actually won the war by Intervention
at the most critical moment. Belgi-
um's immortal herolsm saved civiliza-
ton in 1914; American altruism and
devotion saved democracy In 1918.
But the story was not begun at
Chateau-Thierry. 1t was not even be-
gun more than year before, when the
United States, driven beyond the ex-
IRENE limit of patience, formally de-
clared the existence of state of war.
1t was begun more than fifty years
before, when the young manhood of
the North marched forth at Lincoln's
call. What was done in 1S61-65 made
possible the elimination of 1918. 1t
is, really, all a part of the same glo-
rious story, Without Chickamauga
there would have been no Cantigny !;
the campaign In the Wilderness was
paving the way for the Argonne.
In Honored Graves.
All over the United States the
graves of true American men, graves
new and still unclaimed by nature,
and graves of long ago, leveled, per-
haps, by times mercy and strewn with
flowers by natures own hand, are hon
ored today by those whose lives have
been made livable by the nobility OF
those who have died. They gave their
all. and today we give our very little.
Life was as precious to them as Ii Is
to us; nothing that we can give can
be even weak beginning of their stu
DenUOuS gilt. INOI wv Nhty
great recompense: gratitude and hon.
age, and moments pause In the mad
whirl of life to bestow Thought and
a flower on the graves Of those whose
lives were the price of our happiness.
In France, too; and on the dike-cut
fields OF Flanders, our heroes rest.
Fear not that these boys of ours, who
are so far from us today, Will be
neglected or forgotten. France, saved
from utter destru, ton, Is still dumbly
grateful for the miracle, and genera
tlon after generation will weep at the
graves of the men who came from
afar--and stayed In France forever.
There where they made their high sac
rifice, they are surely at peace; and
not even the sorrow Of the loved ones
over there whose gratitude, though Inn
personal Is greater <han we who had