OCR Text |
Show I RIFLE FIRE OF THE AMERICANS. Our troops in France arc reflecting glory on this nation. A Chicago writer writ-er has been privileged to see a French woman's letter, written to an American Ameri-can relative, in which this praise of our soldiers Is given by a French of- ficer: "I have seen them on the defensive, on the offensive and in cbuntcr-attack, and I remain stupefied with joy at the contemplation of their coolness, their bravery, their tenacity and their military education. They arc born warriors, and withal they excel ns shots any to be found in the Euro-pean Euro-pean armies." A Chicago paper, commenting on this, said: "There was no intention on the part of this officer of flattering the American Ameri-can fighting men. The German high command knows perfectly well that the praise is deserved. All Americans aro aware that initiative, perseverance, persever-ance, ingenuity, fearlessness and self-respect self-respect aro national characteristics. They are characteristics that make profound lovers of peacc act like 'born warriors In the field when war is forced Upon them. Tho French officer's praise of the marksmanship of American soldiers is especially worthy of note. Recently Recent-ly an American major general on active ac-tive duty ,who has seen a good deal of service, declared in conversation that the unremitting drill in rifle shooting to which all American soldiers aro subjected would have an appreciable effect in the fighting until tho end of tho war. 'They shoot to kill whenever they shoot,' snid this general. "Americans arc in France to perform per-form a grim task, to do a thorough and clean job. They would rathor develop de-velop continents, win empires by labor la-bor and industry, build canals and railroads: but since Germany compelled com-pelled them to go to war to preserve tho nation's liberties and the rights of mankind they will apply the characteristic charac-teristic national energy, determination and tenacity to the task of giving Gor-many Gor-many the sound drubbing it needs and merits." on |