The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-12
ADDRESSES
LOCAL GATHERING
CONTINUED From Page One)

WITH WOllO COllOllIOllo do my otN
he said, this Armistice Day is oul
July 4, Memorial Day, and every
other national holiday rolled into
one, and SURPRISES all save Christ
mas day.
He recalled that when World Wa
l broke out in Europe, the United
States had no idea of sending mer
to Europe to fight that war, "bu,
when the Allied cause lay in the bal
ance which hung heavily on the
German side, in the month OF May
$50, 900 troops were sent overseas
and from then on an average OF
I25O, 900 to 100000 men were sent
over every month until on the first
Armistice Day we had 2,04S,O0 men
on the European continent and .
coo, 900 men in cantonments in the
United States.
An Achievement
"That was an achievement un-
heard of. When America entered
the war, we were grossly unprepar-
ed but the people made it possible
for us to go from unpreparedness
to the most powerfully prepared
people in the world
He described the feelings of the
members of the AEF on the first
Armistice Day, of their feelings on
being sent overseas, and of their
feelings in battle.
Vividly he painted the picture OF
the battle in which the Hindenburg
line was broken, a line of concrete
embellishments, machine gun nests,
a line which had been impenetrable.
And then on Sept. 20, 1918, the S0th
division, made up of men from
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Tennessee, the 27th division of New
York and the 46th British division
in a battle in which there were
more than 600 cannon, 1858 machine
guns, and two regiments of lnfan-
try, between the hours of 5:04 a. m.
and II a. m. pierced and passed that
impenetrable position, taking the
Allied cause across territory that
had not been crossed before.
when the sun set that night"
he said, there were many dead but
the living held on with a keen
watch while there seemed to be- a
peace that passed all understanding
for those men who were the seed of
the United States put there to put
a human cause above life, put there
to learn to die, if need be, for their
country"
The ancients, he said, made demi-
gods of their war heroes, putting
them above the mass but not so far
above they could not act as an eX-
ample. And to Americans, he said,
every soul that winged its way
from the battlefields ought to be
something of a demi-god to u.s."
Likewise he paid tribute to those
who died in cantonments, on ship
board and in camps, who, he said,
also put on the full armour of
patriotism but were destined to die
before they could reach the battle
fields.
Greater Tribute
Greater tribute he paid to HE
manned, crippled and blind of World
War l. Truly" he said, these men
are wards of every service man and
Of the nation" He praised the Amer
lean Legion for the work it has done
in getting aid and assistance for
these men from the federal govern
ment.
He scorned the idea he said is
held by some "insidious people" that
the disabled veterans were selfish,
telling the stroy of a man who, when
introduced to an audience as a man
who had lost a leg in the war, dis
allowed the introduction by saying,
When we joined up with Uncle
Sam at the beginning of the war
gave all we had. We didn't lose
anything, because anything we
brought back was Just that much
clear profit"
"Since 1885," he said, the world
has been out of joint. When var on
Germany was first declared by Eng
land and France no one felt that we
could become involved but in the IA
months which have followed and
particularly since March, the whole
plan of world defense has fallen"
"If war comes" he said, r want
it to be fought out before it reaches
orr Gh0rac on1 for tho{ ~oo.o- ~
should have a navy equal to all the
others in the world put together"
Equally Important
But equally as important as an
adequate navy and army, he said,
is a united nation with a unified
national patriotism. If we have that
there is no reason to be afraid.
Without it, with all the mechanical
devices we might have, we would
still be a lost nation.
There must be no fifth column
and no sabotage" he said. "There
must be n common cause and that
cause must be total national defense.
need to spread the seeds of
patriotism, to SOW them in all the
OF this continent. A revitaliz-
alton of the patriotism of 1918 is
the only hope of successful total de-
fense and our only hope to keep
America out of war.
1T Is necessary" he said, that
be bathed anew in that spirit of
patriotism, that we set aglow and
light the affairs from which we can
get true unity.
America" he said, will eventual.
~ lead the way to some higher place
OF civilization, where justice and
truth Will prevail. Those millions