The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-10-05
FIRST DIVISION
KEEPS PACT
Continued from Page u.

Continued from Page u.
younger sons Vt the flag now carry on.
Behind the massed bands of the division
ard in step to the same old rollickins
tunes that drew onward the. tired feet
of the men who fought under the same
flngs, first came the composite regiment
from the Sixteenth and Eighteenth in
fantry of today. They were trim in
khaki and brass and stepping proudly
in their youth with here and there
among them stern faced veteran reg
nlars who still serve with the old
regiments.
Old Uniforms appear
Behind these cameAthe spotless guns
and gun teams of the Sixth artillery,
rolling forward TO pay their last thumb
cring salute 10 the fallen, then the
veterans no longer in the armies, Of
ficers and men walking shoulder to
shoulder now under the standards that
proclaimed them to be all of the war time
10Th or 18TH, the 26th or 2Sth, the sixth
or seventh of fifth artillery or first
engineers or come other, unit of the
fighting First division of. 1917-1S.
Some wore again tie old uniform, but
most were in civilian clothes of varying
hue and cut.
But those lads are soldiers STILL"
said one old army sergeant as he
watched the veterans tramp by. "See
them straight backs and see 'em keep
their step. They've not forgotten. those
boys"
Behind these again came the men and
horses and guns of the Washington
garrison as escort OF honor and little
group of veterans of the Fifth division,
meeting in simultaneous reunion with
their comrades of the First and march
ing in honor of the comrade dead. Then
came American Legion men, veterans of
other wars, the men and women who
worked overseas to help the fighting
men of the division as they could, day
and night; the nurses, the Salvation
Army and all the others who claim it
an honor to have been associated with
the stalwart vanguard of the A. f. f.
High Officials Present
Up past the tall monument the pro
cessi0n rolled to ,deploy out over the
grass and under THE trees and form
o living wall of khaki about the scene.
On the platform at the base of the
shaft, decked cut in autumn leaves
and fldgs, were Secretary Weeks and
all the high officers who served with
the division abroad or at home, az
well as many distinguished guests from
the cabinet and diplomatic corps and
Washington's public life. There. too,
was II squad of trim bluejackets from
the navy to rig the bunting aad handle
the halyards when the time for the
unwilling came.
The services were simple The tale of
how the funds for this great tribute
came, mostly from the contributed pay
sOf members of the division itself, was
told, a letter from General Pershing,
its first commander, was read to say
that to the commanders who led the
First division abroad mo higher trib-
ute can be paid than to say that they
were worthy of the men they led"
Commander Recites Deeds
To its commander in battle, Mai.
Gen. Charles s. Snnmerall, the division
left the task of telling of the spirit
that had moved it in France, the de-
voticn to patriotic courage in which its
dead had laid down their lives. He
touched upon tina bitter days of
ia "Ath NhChy suns lliSlhS
their ears, of the first clashes in the
trenches of Lorraine and Picardy, of the
crashing attack that brought Cantigny
back into allied hands and told the
world that 1.-THE America of Bunker
Hill and Gettysburg was still the
America of the battlefields of France"
In all its desperate fighting, General
Summerall said the First division had
never failed to take its objective, it's
battle lines had rolled always forward
and its dead were always behind that
line. mo enemy hand gave them burial, {"
he said in proud sorrow.
Then came the flourish of trumpets,
the snap of saluting lines and the
President and Mrs. Coolidge arrived to
stand as the masking draperies were
whipped aside and the guns roared
out their salute. The Presidents adj
dress of dedication followed, and the
living veterans of the First division
had completed the task they set for
themselves in 1918, they had kept their
80 ~ With tbos, 1ooI