| Show when doughboys Dough boys ended germany germanas Germ anys s dream of power by THOMAS I 1 J DICKSON president first division society of washington chaplain general of the military order of the world war from the kansas city star some t twelve w elve miles from verdun there Is a hogback mountain about a thousand yards long once there was waa it a little village named on the summit it probably was lust t a hameau of straw thatched chaum leres and hardly had reached the dignity of a village like the nest of an eagle rested high above the tha surrounding country it was wag an eagles nest for or there an eagle defended her brood in the epic cycle of world changement from monarchies to io republics vanished nia asa drop of dew in the of ome the mountain stands forever the sentinel of verdun mountain Is the rendezvous of ill the e unknown soldier in this chambered temple of silence dauntless valor sleeps sleeps in a winding sheet afrose leaves of oak leaves of laurel leaves no bard can slog sing hla his lay no poem tells th the estory story of hla his triumph perhaps this is just as w well ell I 1 let et his story rest in the chancery of heaven laven known to god alone unto that day when lie he shall muster those who wha fell in holy ca cause ise subject fo for r a H hugo ugo mountain baffles description our language must be recast if victor hugo could write page after page about an old iron cannon that r rolled 0 dietl from side to side of a ship if h he e could change iron into flesh and endow it with all the faculties of life what would he have said had he stood on mountain and seen human flesh turn to steel and warm blood to acid had he stood on this mountain for centuries while wave after wave broke at hla his feet yes tidal waves of flesh and blood ti that t for hundreds of years have broken on this gibraltar I 1 if the mountain fc fell verdun would mill fall I 1 the sentinel of verdun was faithful unto the fullness ot 0 time then fell before he fie touched the ground lie was caught in the arms of the americans america ns the world changed from monarchies monar ell les to republics who did it search your who were these americans Amerl cans from every banquet of information the inquiring soul of man returns hungry and unsatisfied and here Is a n story that should be on the lips or of every child that loves to gaze on stars they were men with an anc ancestry estt I 1 As of old there were giants in those days V forty orty years ago there were two distinct peoples on this earth one tribe was of that region staked by attila it was nas preparing to conquer and dominate the world meeting seemingly impossible thousands Thou sanda alida of roller miles away awai across a great ocean mountains rivers plains barriers reared by nature another strain wes wai preparing for the responsibilities bili ties of citizenship it would seem in all human probability that the earth was large enough for tribe arfi and strain to live and move inove and have their being apart and forever they would meet when the poles of north and south bouth met the greed for ever has been dominant in the heart of man caesar hannibal alexander attila gen alz khan omar tamerlane louis XIV RIV and napoleon con I 1 more battles have been fought near the river luver rhine than any place ou on earth and on a piece of ground not much larger than texas terns in the franco prussian war var more than fifty years ago the prussians easily captured parts parla they rolled their henvy heavy guns up and down the champs elysea they rn marched arched be genth he be are arc de reared by napoleon in honor of his victories everywhere Ivery where the thought was dominant a thought that afterward burst forth in song it was deutschland Deutsch land uber alle ailean in their daydream of empire they saw the time coming when pilgrims from remotest shore and caravans from Sa haras burning winds sands would take their costliest cost liest tributes and reverently lay them at the he feet of mighty germania two places not captured in that war there were two places the prussians did not capture belfort and verdun A great lion carved in stone is s the emblem of belfort in the eloquence of silence appreciation finds voice by painting verdun in letters of gold when the world war broke tho the germans remembered the sentry who had halted them on the march to greater empire the finest army the broad empire of the central powers could muster was thrown against verdun sacrificed I 1 another army another sacrifice 1 days of effort passed to weeks anu unu and weeks to months and months to years an irresistible force met ar ac lira im movable object human effort locked in an embrace that knew no breaking in this seeming eternity the sentinel 0 of f verdun walked his bis post in despairs r darkest hour he called all Is well I 1 all Is well ill I 1 mountain stood as the most indomitable redoubt tn in the most tremendous line of defense ever built by man llin the hindenburg nin denburg line other places were strong over other places tho the tide of battle ebbed and flowed flow d ve verdun r dun Is where human effort froze thus far and no farther they shall not pass where the eaula eagle struck A s short it 0 rt distance from mountain Is the town of montfa acon ucon rightly nightly named mountain eagle mountain line after line of defense was back of D f mountain the s telling stel tel lung the volker stelling stel lung the krimhilde Krim helde stelling stel lung all formidable the argonne forest with the screened gun nests look at a map of the region of vau van quota mountain you wonder why tho the germans did not pincer oft off the salient and easily capture verdun he be on the ground when the firing ceased it Is a wonder there Is an american soldier er alive to tell the tale the massive fassl v 0 works that turned the fair face of nature into the side of a battleship I 1 day of destiny september 20 1018 the knoll knell of empire wits was struck I 1 the poles of north and south did meet an irresistible force ground to lust dust an immovable object forty years of preparation to dominate the earth came to naught forty years of preparation for the t he of citizenship ma makes kes this date fore forever er glorious september 20 will be placed on the calendar of nil all of earth on this date i a division of american national guards men went forward to take mountain and anything else that stood in its way in a few hours the mountain fell terrific shock 1 their lines wavered the guardsmen guardsman guards men rallied again forward I 1 volker stelling stel lung taken I 1 town after town res restored fored to france 1 on the field of valor the mis bourt tiger and the kansas jayhawker Jay bawker are mounted to highest posts of equal honor with the sentinel of verdun their souls go marching on |
