Winning a Cause: World War StoriesThompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
History
Winning a Cause: World War Stories
Thompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
Readers -- History; Readers -- World War, 1914-1918
Your heroism and the heroism of our comrades who died on the
battlefield will live in history forever, and will be emulated by the
young men of our country for generations to come.
To be able to say when this war is finished, "I belonged to the 2d
Division; I fought with it at the battle of Blanc Mont Ridge," will be
the highest honor that can come to any man.
JOHN A. LEJEUNE,
Major General, United States Marine Corps, Commanding.
Thus it is that the United States marines have fulfilled the glorious
traditions of their corps in this their latest duty as the "soldiers
who go to sea." Their sharpshooting--and in one regiment 93 per cent
of the men wear the medal of a marksman, a sharpshooter, or an expert
rifleman--has amazed soldiers of European armies, accustomed merely to
shooting in the general direction of the enemy. Under the fiercest
fire they have calmly adjusted their sights, aimed for their man, and
killed him, and in bayonet attacks their advance on machine-gun nests
has been irresistible.
In the official citation lists more than one American marine is
credited with taking an enemy machine gun single handed, bayoneting its
crew and then turning the gun against the foe. In one battle alone,
that of Belleau Wood, the citation lists bear the names of fully 500
United States marines who so distinguished themselves in battle as to
call forth the official commendation of their superior officers.
More than faithful in every emergency, accepting hardships with
admirable morale, proud of the honor of taking their place as shock
troops for the American legions, they have fulfilled every glorious
tradition of their corps, and they have given to the world a list of
heroes whose names will go down to all history.
WHEN THE TIDE TURNED
THE AMERICAN ATTACK AT CHATEAU-THIERRY AND BELLEAU WOOD IN THE FIRST
WEEK OF JUNE, 1918
BY OTTO H. KAHN
AN ADDRESS AT THE UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN MEETING OF THE BOSTON
ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, NOVEMBER 12, 1918
WHY THE TIDE WAS FATED TO TURN
These are soul-stirring days. To live through them is a glory and a
solemn joy. The words of the poet resound in our hearts: "God's in His
heaven, all's right with the world."
Events have shaped themselves in accordance with the eternal law. Once
again the fundamental lesson of all history is borne in upon the world,
that evil--though it may seem to triumph for a while--carries within it
the seed of its own dissolution. Once again it is revealed to us that
the God-inspired soul of man is unconquerable and that the power,
however formidable, which challenges it is doomed to go down in defeat.
A righteous cause will not only stand unshaken through trials and
discomfiture, but it will draw strength from the very setbacks which it
may suffer. A wrongful cause can only stand as long as it is buoyed up
by success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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