Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-02-12

the war or whose health was shat
tered through exposure or other
causes are the special care of the
legion and there is vast organiza-
tion with headquarters in Wash
ington which carries on continually
a. system of relieving these men. a
veteran is not asked, by the legion
ii he is member in good stand
ing. They simply ask that he be
honorably discharged from tho serv-
ice of the United States and in need
of assistance.
The legion is also concerned very
vitally with the future. In their
effort to preserve the memories and
incidents of the great war they
have two-fold purpose. The vet
eran likes to remember but the
American Legion hopes that the
world will remember also and that
through these memories which were
bitter to many and sad to almost
all they have a firm belief that
another great war may be averted.
Over in France, when the mus
tard gas lay white in the valleys
and the G.. /. cans whined overs
head, the ping of machine gun bull
lets mingled with the crashing roar
of Austrian SS's and b o M bOi n &
planes wheeled high overhead and
"kicked loose their tail gates" the
men of the American Legion who
gave their lives were buried in
shell holes, beneath fallen trees, in
abandoned trenches or behind the
lines in rows in cemeteries. They
were buried by their comrades and
on the battlefront they went to
their last long sleep with the roar
Of artillery, the crack of. rifles and
the whine Of shells, the music OF
battle to lull them to their rest.
Bury Their Buddies
1t is a tradition brought down
through the years that the Ameri-
can soldier shall be buried by his
comrades and that the buglers shall
blow taps over his grave and that
the firing squad shall fire volley.
This is the last mark of respect
and signifies the passing of q hero,
a soldier, a man who has given his
best to his country.
In time of peace the ranks of the
legion thin, not as they did in
1918, through wounds and gas and
bursting grenades but through sick
ness and through the effects of
wounds received then that have
taken years to kill and to every
man who wore the uniform in that
war the post of the American
Legion to which he belongs or,
which is nearest to him when he
dies accords that solemn and tradi-
ticnal ritual, the funeral of sol
dier.
There are color bearers in the
legion and a chaplain and squad
to fire the volley and buglers and
the organization turns out and
marches to the grave to the slow
music and the hating step and am
other service man is laid to rest.
having been accorded that honor
which is the due of all men who
dare to offer their lives for their
country.
There is a feeling of. security in
unity The men who belong to the
legion know that whatever may be-
ld1I In0ul II1SII CO1HI dQSS w III dSOlSJ
them. They are cared for and
guarded. They work. together in
small things for their own posts or
their own communities and in great
things that have state, national or
International import and they are
all members of the new army, an
army of peace which grew out OF
that fierce struggle on foreign soil
and which holds to this creed.
Preamble of American Legion
Constitution
For God and country we asso-
ciate ourselves together for the fol-
lowing purposes:
To uphold and defend the con-
of the United States of
America and the state of Arizona;
to maintain law and order; to fos-
ter and perpetuate a 100 per cent
Americanism; to preserve the mem
oriea and incidents Of our assoCia-
ton in the great war; to inculcate
a sense of individual obligation to
the community, state and nation; toI
- - @~ - $50 - - - uu