Evening star., 1942-11-07

$ CdC. LIE u III =
}s boats screech
s''"''' down the ways.
Henry McLemore. Let the welding
torches hiss. Let the trains and
trucks, loaded with the war might
of America, rumble down the high
ways.
Let the machine guns spit, the
planes whine, the bombs explode
and the flag whip In the breeze.
Let the dead know, that on the
ground that covers them and IN
the air above them, all America Is
moving, marching, working, sweat
ing toward the defeat of the forces
OF evil.
If the dead who died to save
democracy in the last war are
listening, let them know that we
caught the torch and are carrying
on toward the goal for which they
gave their lives years ago. If the
dead of this war are istening-the
men of Bataan, Corregidor. Pearl
Harbor, Wake-let them know that
they, the "expendables." did not die
in vain, and that their comrades
will not have to suffer defeat and
death because of too little, too late"
For the millions of Americans who
are not bearing arms, let the 11th
hour Of the 18th day of the 1lth
month of the year 1912 be the
moment in which they pledge to
make the home front as unyielding
as our battle front.
Let that not be moment OF
silence and inactivity but a moment
in which they take the first step
| toward a blood bank, War bond
booth. an Office of Civilian Defense.
to offer their services in whatever
capacity their capabilities can best
be used.
Let that sacred stroke of II be
moment Of looking within, as well.
Let the man who has boarded even
as much as pound Of coffee ask
himself what sort of an American
he is Let the man who is chiseling
here on rubber, here on gasoline and
on the other things, ask himself
what he is doing to deserve the right
to breathe the free American air.
Let the little man, the middle
man, and the big man, use that mo-
ment on November II to answer all
the questions as to his own Amer
icanism. Let the man who COM
plains of the high taxes figure out
how much easier it is to fill out an
income tax blank than face a bay
onet.
Let the man who worries about
not being able to have more than
$25,000 year consider the plight Of
the Poles, the Greeks, the Dutch.
and all of the others who have felt
the grind of the Axis heel. ~
X X
Never in this country's history has
there been a time when 1t was so
necessary to have every mans
shoulder tosthe wheel. And what
better time to put that shoulder to
the wheel than on November IL?
Not by a moment of silence. No.
Not by routine stopping of the
days work. No. That was all right,
perhaps, in those years when we
sat smugly behind Maginot Line
of complacency. But no more.
On November II let us show the
world-our Allies as well as our
enemies-that the United States Is
so determined to carry this war
through to finish, so relentless in
its drive for the determination of
those powers who scorn man and
God alike, that it is not willing to
give up so much as one minute Of
its time.
The dead will understand. They
will not feel that they have been
forgotten. They will know that
they still live in the hearts of those
they died for, and whether their
graves be old or new, they will be
grateful for countrymen who ate
bound to seek out the foe. where
ever he may be. and make him pay
the price.
If every American makes this
Armistice Day the day he pledges to
give all to his country, 1t will be the
most glorious tribute ever paid by
country to its heroic dead.
Distributed by McNaught Syndicate, Inc)