Show ten years ap ago at the arr front nt A decade ago second division troops of 0 the A E r 14 F left a french rest camp for tile the belleau wood battlefront to help resist a german offensive the former doughboys dough boys sod and leather necks in that world war outfit held their annual reunion festivities at st louls last june led by crl col hanford anford II SIc Alc Nider of the second division association so a half dozen generals or so colonels and majors and several thousand top kicks second booles corporals and privates were present or accounted for when the operation got under way much can be obliterated from memory in ten jears but it Is doubtful if any of the second division will have hare forgotten that daybreak alaj break a decade ago when the long convoy chugged out of the rest area near chaumont en lexin vesin with themselves aboard few but the officers who had seen the orders knew whither they were headed vague reports of the german success at chernin des dames daines had ken been beard but the off leers and men did not comprehend the gravity or of the situation for the second time in four years the german high command comman coinman man was throwing its gray clad troops toward paris and all the allied strength had been unable to stop them the second division started out in a gay fashion the men cheered sang and yelled then the convoy came closer to the front they passed a long line of refugees and the singing and cheering stopped the spec spectacle of those thousands of terrified people fleeing desperately from their homes gave the men their first profound understanding der of the horrors of war inferno of war at meaux the confusion was terrific the city was clicked choked with refugees wounded men troops and trains of every description north of meaux the troops were de bussed tile the ninth infantry started immediately on a forced march maran to the ilde and the other regiments bllou acied for the night german bombing planes made frequent visits over the camp and there was little sleep at daybreak june 1 the infantry and ri arine regiments marched toward montreuil aux I ions reaching post tlona items in the lie rear of the line fine through 11 vaux Bore selles or and belleau woods that night with nothing but a thin line of heroic french soldiers be tween them and the enemy road to paris blocked june I 1 the infantry began to block the paris highway and the next day all the infantry of the dhillon was in line with will the ninth on the right and the marine brigade in the center tire third infantry one battalion of marines slid and the fifth machine gun glin hat tallon lind had been thrown along tile the 11 line ne through Vel verlilly lilly and coulombe coulombs Coulom bs to rp re unison he be vean two french corps aich were resisting the germans at tills this point scattered french units still were holding tile the line they had been engaged for six days with little food and no rest the nights of june 34 3 4 they were rell relieved eved and passed through the american lines june 4 the second division was holding a 13 12 h kilometer front with no reserves between it and the marne it had crushed one enemy attack near Veu llly the first of a series of small but difficult advances began june 0 from then until june 25 the fighting particularly ticul arly on the front of the marine brigade was most desperate division after division was thrown into the line by tile alie german command in an effort to shatter iatter sl the american lines between vaux laux and torchy the marines ground their way slowly but steadily through the cois bols de belleau and june 2 in a final brilliant dash killed hilled or captured the last germans in the re glon ion in recognition of 0 the marines heroic work the french changed the name of tile the woods to cols bois de la brigade marine morale unshaken in the meantime the third brigade had been holding its part of the line morale unshaken by the constant anu unu and terrific shelling to which it was ejected this outfit like the jarw S had no other cover than the steil oi fox holes dug in the early barf of june and no food except monkey meat and the one cooked meal a day which came up at midnight by y july 1 the brigade had bad captured vaur baur and the cots bois de la roche koche july 9 0 the division was relieved by the twenty sixth taking up a reserve position along the line montreuil st i A hot corner in the woods aulde it had been in the line 10 40 days in that time ten german divisions had been faced from which well ni had been captured laso prisoners not only had the second stopped the german drive on paris in that sector but it had advanced to an average depth of two kilometers on a front of eight kilometers the losses totaled 01 31 but the second division had demonstrated to the world that the amerlean american soldier had arrived |