Evening star., 1924-09-28

DIVISION!
The 1st Division was like the sing
ing horseman that rode at the head
of the forces Of William the Con-
queror into the battle Of Hastings:
tossing sword skiilfully into the air
TO catch it again it fell to the
rhythm of his song. a gay
cavalier, gallant fronting of the enemy,
4 first supreme sacrifice of utterly
fearless giving. the vanguard of that
unnumtered host that America was
preparing to send along the hazardous
trail blazed by the noble 1st Division.
II was not that their courage and
daring excelled that of other divi-
Sions; rather, it was that they were
the exponent of our fighting power,
the criterion, il We're, of the con-
trioution America was making to the
hghting strength of the allies. Just
as at Thermopylae little band Of
trained, indomitable SpartanS, mere
handful of Greeks. in their valiant
stand against the hosts of Persia. re-
Nealed to the Orientals and to the
Greeks the temper of the steel that
lay in the Scabbard of Greece.
SO this 1st Division. with its high
endeavor and its fearless facing of the
hardships of war, established stand
ard to which all succeeding divisions
must live up, flung out an oriflamme
of deathless valor that thrilled the
hearts Of the defenders of the worlds
peace.
Any one who saw their splendid
lines swing down our Appian Way
could not help but see the light of
high purpose in the Serried ranks of
these veterans of many field, though
so young, the proof of whose sublime
courage Shone in the chevronS on the
left arm or glowed with a kind of
holy fire from the individual deco
rationS for bravery as well as from
the general decoration of the Four
ragere presented to the division by
Marshal Petain.
The riderless horse that had its in
evitable place in those ranks seemed
10 lead a silent host of the slain COM
rades; for the first fighting unit, SO
relentless is war, must ever sacrifice
-, heavily of its devoted members be-
cause they are the pioneers. the trail
blazers into new methods of warfare.
Can't one see. through a mist of
tears. their brave little ways OF keep
ing their hearts gay? 1t was voiced
in the vases of valiant poppies set
about the platforms of their heavy
guns in the metal of those guns pol
ished like a mirror. in the kitchen
utensils Shinig like priced silver and
in the horse show they gave a t Pic
ardy. the groomed animals with shin
Ing fianks being the same horses that
at night would carry up to the front
the needed supplies; and that show
given only under the protection of the
arching trees that screened the
streets of Picardy. Brave lads with
gay hearts jesting as they kept in
the dawn their vigil with death.
Their glory is peculiarly their own;
TO other group may claim it, and
their rich possession of it makes no
ha
less frieze upon the walls of the
temple dedicated to liberty. Their
unique place in the annals of the war
is chivalrously epitomized in the re-
quest that their first three slain
should forever remain where they
were first buried, as an inspiration to
France and as a memorial to the
cause America had consecrated with
the youth OF her broad lands.
The glory of these men of Cam
tigny" is one with the glory Of Eng
lands Contemplate little army" 1t
Is the incense rising from the altar
that bears the first sacrifice, and to
the god of battles that sweet first
courage is priceless.
4 j < 4
COMEHOW that single shaft, that
~ towering column, so nobly in
scribed with the names of the fields of
battle and of the slain, supporting on
its summit a winged victory. inner
emily catches and holds for the eyes
OF men to see the peculiar contribu-
tion that they made they.
who were the standard bearers of
the Army Of America 1t is one more
notable monument in this city of
monuments, fitting tribute to the
noble 1st Division.
1t will be remembered that in the
-
our Government declared a state of
war with Germany. the momentous
words of President Wilson still ring
ing in the ears of Congress: I'VE have
no quarrel with the German people,
but only with the military despotism
of Germany. The world must be made
safe for democracy. We desire no
conquest of dominion. We are but
one of the champions of the rights of
mankind. We shall be satisfied when
these rights have been made as Sc
cure as the faith and the freedom of
nations can make them
We had not been at war with a
first-class foreign power for over a
century, and a declaration of hostil-
its summit winged Victory. inher-
the herculean task of training mil
lions of men for an art, the exercise
OF which America has had little need,
for her sword rests at long intervals
IN its Scabbar1
France could not wait for assist
ance, SO she sent a mission, with
Marshal Joffre at its head, to our
Government to urge that a military
force be sent to the battlefront with
out delay. He maintained that the
sight Of young giant, panoplied for
ba tile, would revive the war-weary
allies along the western front, would
give them that renewal of courage
and hope that alone could stem the
ebbfng of their spirit. The allies de-
manded a sign, and the 1st Division
was the answer to that demand their
numbers made up largely from the
Regular Army. Indeed, the first con-
tingent came from troops stationed
in Texas and Arizona, seasoned and
hardened to service in the Mexican
disturbances.
An effort was made to keep their
transportation to Hoboken secret,
hut their final destination was only
too evident. They rode in Pullman
trains to the port of embarkation,
significant contrast with their trans
portation from the port Of debarka-
tion at st. NaZaire to their training
camp in the Gondrecourt area.
Hommes-40" box cars on French
trains.
Their journey across the subma-
rine-infested seas was made more
hazardous in that theirs was the first
experiment in conveying troops to
France Cruisers and destroyers, like
Z valiant bodyguard, protected the
four groups of four ships each that
carried the first contingent
There must have been anxious
hearts in that group of young cru
hn nfi