Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-11-12
CAPITAL HONORS
WORLD WAR DEAD
Roosevelt Visits Tomb.
Johnson Warns Aggressors
U. S. Will Be Ready.

The marble Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier. symbolic of the glory Of
the thousands of men who gave their
lives for the United States in the war
that ended November IL, 1918, was
blanketed today by wreaths of many
colored flowers, placed yesterday in
simple testimony of the dead soldiers
heroism.
Armistice Day 10 years after the
big guns in France and other parts
of Europe ceased their lethal rumblings
inspired the men who spoke at the
amphitheater by the tomb in Airing
ton Cemetery to emphasize Americas
longing for peace in today's dis
turbed world. 1t brought, too, a warn
ing to the world from Assistant Secre-
tary Of War Louis c. Johnson that
the United States is ready for war
II it is forced upon her.
President Roosevelt brought the first
wreath Of the day to the white
shrine in honor Of Americas gallant
dead. He said nothing to the silent
thousands who stood on the hillside
below the tomb, but he waited quietly
at attention while cannons doomed 81
salutes and while Sergt. Frank
Witchey, Sd Cavalry, from Fort Myer,
blew a poignant taps on the bugle
which he has played at the same
tomb every Armistice Day since No
vember IL, 1921, when the Unknown
Hero was enshrined in his sarcophagus.
Doherty Also Speaks.
When taps was done-it was taps
as well for Sergt. Witchey's career as
the foremost Army bugler, for he re-
tires next May, after 80 years in the
service-the President returned to
Washington, and the crowd filed into
the amphitheater to hear Mr.. john
son and Daniel ]. Doherty, national
commander of the American Legion.
Before the speech-making began,
however, patriotic societies laid their
wreaths at the tomb beside the white
crysanthemums of the President. The
crowd which watched the ceremony,
which began with the arrival of Mr..
Roosevelt at IL am, the hour the
Arn1istice was signed, included young
patriots and SCARED and limping vet
Grams of the World War and the par
ents and relatives Of many who died.
who can say" Mr.. johnson asked
the crowd, Gin the midst of the inter-
national chaos of the present that we
may never be called upon to defend
ourselves?"
Notifies Future Aggressors.
"If such moment comes, my COM
rades, let us now serve notice upon
any future aggressors that they will
find our Army and Navy ready and
our civilian population modified to
make good the efforts of the men
at the front"
Comdr. Doherty, more insistent on
the need for peace, said:
while the appropriate spirit of
Armistice Day is one of Joy, as we
look in retrospect, our feelings are
tempered by thoughts of the tragic
cost of war"
But the Right Rev. James E. Free
man, Bishop of Washington, expressed
his dismay at the belligerent course
of international relations when he
spoke later in the afternoon at WASH
ington Cathedral in the Bethlehem
Chapel, dedicated to the memory of
Woodrow Wilson, the war President.
zone tragedy follows another"
Bishop Freeman said, land while we
sit in the quiet of this holy and re-
vered place, wars rage with undated
force and violence in various parts Of
the Old World. We, of this peace
loving land, stand appalled, as we
witness the tragic failure Of the lessons
which. the World War sought to
enforce"
Wilson's Memory Honored.
Bishop Freeman addressed gather
ing of members Of organizations come
to lay wreaths at the tomb of Presi-
dent Wilson-the District Woodrow
Wilson Armistice Day Committee, the
Veterans Of Foreign Wars, the Amer
lean Legion, Woodrow Wilson High
School and Woodrow Wilson Founda-
ton Of New York.
An hour later the Disabled Ameri-
can Veterans, National Capital Chap
ter No. 2, met in the Cathedral and
heard an Ar1nistice Day address from
Oscar L. Chapman, Assistant Secre-
tary of the Interior.
Meanwhile, at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier, Daniel j. Callahan
placed wreath in the name of the
100000 members Of the Knights of
Columbus, Of which he il supreme
treasurer, and John M. Miller Of Balti-