Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-05-29

! Ine following feature STORY OH tN1SII1-
orial Day was written for The Dispatch
by Forrest E. Doucette while he was a
patient at Pastime Park, U. S. Veterans
bureau hospital at Tucson. There are
$4,000 eX-servicei men in Arizona, 300
! of them in hospitals, Doucette writes.
The story:
LEST WE FORGET"
! Thirty thousand vets lie buried in
Europe.
/ In eight cemeteries in Europe whose
; beauty thrills you with emotion, these
gallant men sleep forever-under white
crosses that dot the landscape like the
winters snow.
/ Next September 10000 American
/ Ilegionnaires wifi fare overseas on a
sacred pilgrimage to. these hallowed
graves. II
OF these eight cemeteries six are in
France, one is in England, one is in
Belgium, '''1
Their official name, location and
number of graves, are as follows:
| Meuse ,Argonne, Romagne : sous
NGontfaucon, 14.+07 -
SuresneS, Paris, 1906.
Oise-Aisne, Fere- ZEN Tardenois, 5.946.
st. Mihiel, Thiacorrt, 4.141
Aisne- -Marne, Belleau, 2,212, !.
Somme, Bony, 1896. s. '''f
Flanders Field, Waereghem, Belgium,
$685.
Brookwood, London, England, 437.
cts lonesome-sort O. lonesome-it's a
Sunday day to me,
1t pears like-Inore'n any day nearly
ever see
Yit, with the stars and Stripes above
a-flutterin' in the air,
On evry soldiers grave I'd love to lay
a lily there"
james Whitcomb Riley.
/ With bright May sun shining over
head, Arizona along with the entire
nation will pause today in the
observance of Memorial Day, the day
that annually is observed throughout
the nation in honored memory of that
mighty host Of our fallen comrades
who have passed on before us, a day
when we publicly show that they still
live in our hearts as closely as in the
days when we marched and fought side
by side.
American legion posts this year, as
in the past, will assist in every way
possible in the proper observance of.
the day and with other service organ
izations take a prominent part IN
appropriate services, paradeS, grave
decorations and ceremonies in honor
of the dead.
In many cities in Arizona and
throughout the country the American
legion has been asked to take full
charge@of all plans for the day and it
is the general belief that within a few
years this will be the universally
accepted practice-for the ranks of the
G. A. r., that grand old body of men,
is shrinking fast, and those left with
us cannot take the active part in the
days observance that they have in the
past.
III order to preserve this day, that
SO years ago was set aside by the
Grand Army of the Republic as a
MEMORIAL DAY, dedicated to the
| memory of the comrades who had
passed on, the American legion has
made a universal appeal that May 80
be forever referred to as MEMORIAL
! OA4 dIlu 11OU AS"SAOAt O"J' S"0
has been done by some in the past.
True, we decorate the graves of our
departed loved ones, but in loving
MEMORY, therefore we should think
of May 80 as MEMORIAL Day and
dedicate it to the memory of our heroic
dead, who made their breasts barM-
cade between our country and its foes.
Men Of the G.sA R. have seensnany
Memorial Days come and go, have felt
the full measure Of sorrow and happi-
ness.
One by one companions of his youth
brave boys of his own company-have
gone to the camping grounds Over
There. He feels that perhaps his turn
will come next. Somehow he feels
that THIS Memorial Day is different
and he knows wherein it is different
He misses CHEEKY greetings.
John, his youngest son, is not here
to pat him on the back as he starts
off, not here to say, as he used to say,
| Goodbye, dad, show 'em you can still
step it off with the best OF EN-" For
John is sleeping in far off Flanders
Field He died, as his father in another
war would have died, for his country