“‘Little of this sounds uplifting, and smacks of calloused sensibilities. But the business that brought these men to France is not a refined one. It is kill or be killed, perhaps both, and the duty of each man in the American army is to kill as many of the enemy as may be, before he, in turn, is killed. “‘I will not deny that my nerves are tense with horror at what I have seen, and with pride at what our boys have done, even while my soul is sick with this closer view of the red monster, War.’” The Marine brigade was cited by the French army for its work in the capture of Bouresches and Belleau Wood and the regimental colors have the Croix de Guerre with the palm; but, let it be recorded as evidence of what the Marines were that there were 518 individual citations for conspicuous valor and extraordinary heroism in action, including officers and privates. “FORWARD, LANCERS!” And Captain Grenfell’s Cavalry Troops Lived Over “the Charge of the Light Brigade” The first officer in the British Army to win the Victoria Cross in the great war was Captain Francis O. Grenfell. He gained the coveted reward on August 24, 1914, almost at the commencement of the British fighting in Belgium, it was at the time of the great battle at Mons and the perhaps more momentous retreat that followed. The gallant little English army was struggling desperately to escape from the superior force of Germans, who gave it no rest. The cavalry was ordered to charge the enemy—to delay, head off and harass him as much as possible. Foremost among the Lancers—mounted soldiers carrying lances—who were always to the front in this dangerous and difficult undertaking, was Captain Grenfell of the 9th. The German guns caused terrible execution. The German infantry came on in dense columns—like peas thrown out of a sack, as one soldier described it. They pressed hard on the whole of the main body of the army but especially dangerous was the position of the 5th Division. To relieve this section the 9th Lancers were ordered to charge. “Although all knew they might be going to certain death,” as the story is told by G. A. Leask, “not one of the gallant men faltered. They sang and shouted like schoolboys as their horses thundered over the ground. They treated the charge in the spirit of sport. These dashing cavalrymen, as they rode straight at the German guns, presented one of the finest sights of the whole war. There has been little opportunity to engage in cavalry charges since. Grenfell rode at the head of his men, encouraging them by his coolness. One who took part in the charge has said that he was the life and soul of the squadron, shouting the loudest, always in the front, setting an example to his comrades by his fearless riding.