The Daily Alaska empire., 1931-05-30
STEAMER HARVARD FAST ON ROCKS
Obligations of Citizenship
 Are Stressed by Maj. Atkins
 in Address On Memorial Day

prayer that He will ever watch over those who sleep in eternal rest, will grant to them the fullest measure of celestial happiness.
 Memorial Day is indeed a most solemn occasion. It is tinged with compassion and tenderness that commands from us the strongest emotions of reverence. In the ceme- teries of the land thousands upon thousands of great Americans sleep. Only a few have had the privilege of fighting on the battlefield for their country and those who died on the field of honor are far less.
 But all have served, have helped to build for America and American ideals, have contributed to earthly happiness by having lived. Some, by the grace of God, were permit ted to round out their allotted three-score and ten; others passed away before they reached the great llllitOp O1 A4C, anu AioAiJ WSAS stricken down in the flower of youth, just when life held forth bright promise and their days of service were drawing near. For them all we mourn and on Memor- ial Day we honor them, we cher ish their memory just as we honor and cherish the memory of those who died in patriotic military serv- ice.
 Fought tor Principles
 So today the American people
 assemble once again to observe an-
 other Memorial Day. At the tombs
 of the war dead we kneel in the full realization that to them we lowe a particular debt of gratitude
 Words of eulogy. eloquent though lthey may be, are only feeble ges-
 lures of acknowledgment. They gave the full strength of their
 manhood to the cause of righteous
 ness; they fought for the principles lall Americans cherish and they died for the salvation of the na- ltion, that we, the living, might
 find happiness and enjoy the bene- fits of a citizenship established and maintained by the blood of patriots
 who loved freedom and democracy
 more than they feared death.
 "On this day of memories we
 turn back the pages of the past land from the gloom of eternity we
 resurrect. in spirit, those gallant
 land unvanquished warriors W h C
 fought so gloriously for America land American ideals. Tn spirit we
 see them once again. They are
 marching across the ramparts oi
 time, swinging along in military ! sprightliness, heads erect, ever marching onward courageous and unafraid. Across the vale of the years we see a new nation borr
 into the world and we visualize
 the bitter struggles of our men al Valley Forge, at Saratoga, al Brandywine- for the prin- ciple of freedom they gained witt
 ultimate victory at Yorktown.
 "A new trail is broken through the vast wilderness of the Wes' and down through the years oul men continue to march for tht building of great empire. We set them at Gettysburg, Antietam . Shiloh--we are with them at Man. ia Bay and as they storm thu heights of San Juan hill. Within our present generation and within !, the memory of most of us as sembled here today we see then fighting the battles for freedom .. across the seas, advancing hero . ically through deadly shell fire tt ! achieve victory at Verdun, Soisson and Chateau -Thierry on the West ern Front. These, my countrymen are the great Americans, the peer Hess citizens and patriots whom WI
 llOllOl tOQdy, aAi0 eAoAAON5AA eAAS. have passed on to their eterna reward they have left behind al
 undying heritage that will foreve
 inspire future generations and ligh the way for us to likewise serve. Sacred to Legion
 "The observance of Memorial Da. is especially sacred to those wh
 make up the rank and file of tha y great organization of World Wa veterans, The American Legion. l
 was out of the flaming cauldron o 2 war that the Legion had it's birth Composed of those who served, wh y experienced the strife and turmoi j. of armed conflict, Memorial Da recalls with startling vividnes memories of those comrades wh did not come back, who sleep to $ day on the battlefields of Franc n where they fell in the service c o the Flag. Legionnaires, as long a e they live, will cherish. and rever IS the memory of their departed com ,. rades, but at the same time the