The Daily Alaska empire., 1942-11-11

 SPEECH BY
 COL. RIEGLE
Here Is Complete Text of Officers Holiday Ad-
 dress This Afternoon

Lieut.. Col Roy w. Riegle, World War I veteran and Commander of the Juneau area, is to deliver the following address this afternoon on Armistice Day in the Twentieth Century Theater.
 The text, with colorfm and point ed sentences telling why we are observing this day, follows:
 "Twenty-four years ago this day I was convalescing in a hospital near the little village of Mesves, France. The day broke wet and chilly. The sun wasn't shining, the sky was overcast. But for the world, for the folks back home and for us in distant land, November II, 1918, was a very beautiful, a very happy day. It was a day filled with hope, with restored goodwill among mankind; a day filled with brotherly love and the satisfaction of a task nobly per- formed. The peoples of the world were looking forward eagerly to II o'clock in the morning of that day. For at that hour an Armistice was to be signed by the represen- tatives of the warning nations, an Armistice that meant the cessa- tion of hostilities; the end of .bloodshed and strife; and the re- turn of peace to a war-ridden world.
 Day For Celebration
 "Armistice Day is day of cele- bration of our victory in what was previously the greatest war in his tory. We helped to win that war We the people of the United States. We sent two million men across the deep and treacherous waters of the sea to fight Germany. We sent these men across an ocean infested with enemy submarines. While our loyal allies fought longer than we did, and sacrificed vastly more, it fell to our lot to throw the balance of power into t h t great war. The splendid American Army commanded by General John J. Pershing gained great victory and earned an immortal place in the annals of world history. There can never be any detractions from the achievements of the great bat ties at Cantigny, Belleau Woods, Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel, and in the Argonne. We celebrate those battles and those victories today.
 There is, of course, more to Armistice Day than a celebration of victory Why did the United States go to war in 1917? I think facts are very much worth remem- bering today. We went into the World War because Germany sank our ships and killed our citizens. We went into the World War be- cause we believed in the freedom of the seas, and because we believed the American Flag should be al- lowed to fly unmolested on any ocean in the world. We believed that when we fought the war Of 1872. We believed it even earlier when we sent Commodore Stephen Decatur to clean the pirates out of the Mediterranean Sea. We be- lieyed it in 1917 when we decided to put an end to German piracy by submarine, and we still believe it in 1922 when we are again at war with Germany. My friends, the time is here and now when we are again obliged to remember that the deck of ship flying the American Flag is the soul of the United States, exactly as much so as wheat field in Kansas or a pavement in Seattle. The time IS here and now when we must make the life of an American on such a ship forever as safe as the life of an American in Kansas or Se- attle, or else the United States will not be a first rate nation.
 Unknown Soldier
 "A few years ago I stood on g beautiful Virginia hillside over. looking both the Memorial to g great war President, Abraham Lin coin, and the capitol of our great nation. This sacred hillside is part