Winning a Cause Part 30

It was not that she might be exposed once again to aggression that she submitted to such sacrifices. Nor was it in order that criminals should go unpunished, that they might lift their heads again to make ready for new crimes, that, under your strong leaders.h.i.+p, America armed herself and crossed the ocean.

Faithful to the memory of Lafayette and Rochambeau, she came to the aid of France, because France herself was faithful to her traditions. Our common ideal has triumphed. Together we have defended the vital principles of free nations. Now we must build together such a peace as will forbid the deliberate and hypocritical renewing of an organism aiming at conquest and oppression.

Peace must make amends for the misery and sadness of yesterday, and it must be a guarantee against the dangers of tomorrow. The a.s.sociation which has been formed for the purpose of war, between the United States and the Allies, and which contains the seed of the permanent inst.i.tutions of which you have spoken so eloquently, will find from this day forward a clear and profitable employment in the concerted search for equitable decisions and in the mutual support which we need if we are to make our rights prevail.

Whatever safeguards we may erect for the future, no one, alas, can a.s.sert that we shall forever spare to mankind the horrors of new wars.

Five years ago the progress of science and the state of civilization might have permitted the hope that no Government, however autocratic, would have succeeded in hurling armed nations upon Belgium and Serbia.

Without lending ourselves to the illusion that posterity will be forevermore safe from these collective follies, we must introduce into the peace we are going to build all the conditions of justice and all the safeguards of civilization that we can embody in it.

To such a vast and magnificent task, Mr. President, you have chosen to come and apply yourself in concert with France. France offers you her thanks. She knows the friends.h.i.+p of America. She knows your rect.i.tude and elevation of spirit. It is in the fullest confidence that she is ready to work with you.

President Wilson replied:--

_Mr. President_: I am deeply indebted to you for your gracious greeting. It is very delightful to find myself in France and to feel the quick contact of sympathy and unaffected friends.h.i.+p between the representatives of the United States and the representatives of France.

You have been very generous in what you were pleased to say about myself, but I feel that what I have said and what I have tried to do has been said and done only in an attempt to speak the thought of the people of the United States truly, and to carry that thought out in action.

From the first, the thought of the people of the United States turned toward something more than the mere winning of this war. It turned to the establishment of eternal principles of right and justice. It realized that merely to win the war was not enough; that it must be won in such a way and the question raised by it settled in such a way as to insure the future peace of the world and lay the foundations for the freedom and happiness of its many peoples and nations.

Never before has war worn so terrible a visage or exhibited more grossly the debasing influence of illicit ambitions. I am sure that I shall look upon the ruin wrought by the armies of the Central Empires with the same repulsion and deep indignation that they stir in the hearts of the men of France and Belgium, and I appreciate, as you do, sir, the necessity of such action in the final settlement of the issues of the war as will not only rebuke such acts of terror and spoliation, but make men everywhere aware that they cannot be ventured upon without the certainty of just punishment.

I know with what ardor and enthusiasm the soldiers and sailors of the United States have given the best that was in them to this war of redemption. They have expressed the true spirit of America. They believe their ideals to be acceptable to free peoples everywhere, and are rejoiced to have played the part they have played in giving reality to those ideals in cooperation with the armies of the Allies. We are proud of the part they have played, and we are happy that they should have been a.s.sociated with such comrades in a common cause.

It is with peculiar feeling, Mr. President, that I find myself in France joining with you in rejoicing over the victory that has been won. The ties that bind France and the United States are peculiarly close. I do not know in what other comrades.h.i.+p we could have fought with more zest or enthusiasm. It will daily be a matter of pleasure with me to be brought into consultation with the statesmen of France and her Allies in concerting the measures by which we may secure permanence for these happy relations of friends.h.i.+p and cooperation, and secure for the world at large such safety and freedom in its life as can be secured only by the constant a.s.sociation and cooperation of friends.

I greet you not only with deep personal respect, but as the representative of the great people of France, and beg to bring you the greetings of another great people to whom the fortunes of France are of profound and lasting interest.

This meeting of the American and the French presidents at a banquet in the French capital is a remarkable incident in the history of the world. The statement of the likelihood of such a meeting would have been ridiculed before the war.

[Ill.u.s.tration: President Wilson driving from the railroad station in Paris with President Poincare of France to the home of Prince Murat, a descendant of Marshal Murat, Napoleon's great cavalry leader.]

As we read the speeches, however, and grasp their full meaning, we understand that the most remarkable fact about the historic meeting is that the leaders of two great republics met with minds and hearts set upon justice. They were determined that the weak who had suffered unimaginable wrong should not fail to secure justice because they were weak and they were equally of a mind that the high and mighty who were responsible for these wrongs should not escape justice because they were high and mighty.

Many times in the history of the world, meetings of the great have been remembered because of the show of Might, on every hand. The meeting of President Wilson and President Poincare in Paris on December 14, 1918, will never be forgotten because it was the greatest demonstration the world has ever seen of the power of Right.

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,-- Yet that scaffold sways the future, And, behind the dim unknown, Standeth G.o.d within the shadow, Keeping watch above His own.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

SERGEANT YORK OF TENNESSEE

People will always differ as to what was the most remarkable exploit of the World War. Major General George B. Duncan, one of the American commanders who helped to drive the Germans out of the Argonne forest, has said that Corporal Alvin C. York, a tall, red-headed, raw-boned mountaineer from Tennessee distinguished himself above all men in the achievement of the greatest individual deed in the World War.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sergeant York wearing the French Croix de Guerre and the Congressional Medal of Honor.]

Because of his brave acts, Corporal York was made Sergeant York, was given the Croix de Guerre with a palm, and the Congressional Medal of Honor. His own state has made him a colonel for life on the Governor's Staff.

Before the officers of York's division, the 82d, Major General C. P.

Summerall, a soldier not given to over-praise or exaggeration, commended him in these words:

"Corporal York, your division commander has reported to me your exceedingly gallant conduct during the operations of your division in the Meuse-Argonne battle. I desire to express to you my pleasure and commendation for the courage, skill, and gallantry which you displayed on that occasion. It is an honor to command such soldiers as you.

Your conduct reflects great credit not only upon the American army, but also upon the American people. Your deeds will be recorded in the history of this great war, and they will live as an inspiration not only to your comrades, but also to the generations that will come after us. I wish to commend you publicly and in the presence of the officers of your division."

Corporal York was about thirty years of age, six feet tall, and weighed a little over two hundred pounds. He would not be called handsome, although he was really a fine looking man, with keen gray eyes that could become hard and penetrating when he was greatly moved. He was a gentle man with a soft, quiet voice and a Southern drawl. He was very religious and was the Second Elder in the Church of Christ and Christian Union when he was called to the service of his country.

The church to which he belonged did not believe in war. Like the Quakers, its members were "conscientious objectors." It was supposed that Alvin C. York would ask exemption as a "conscientious objector"; but he did not, although his friends begged him to do so. He reported for duty at Camp Gordon, Georgia, on November 14, 1917.

He was often troubled however with the feeling that to kill men, even in a righteous war to ensure liberty to all the world, was contrary to his religion and the teachings of the Bible. He finally came to realize that in this belief he was wrong, and that it was his duty, and the duty of every brave man, to meet armed oppression by arms, and when no other way was left, to kill those who would by force take away the life and liberty of others.

He was an expert pistol and rifle shot, as are almost all Tennessee and Kentucky mountaineers. In a shooting match with a major of his division, York is said to have hit with his automatic pistol at every shot a penny match-box over one hundred feet distant. His coolness and courage in the face of danger and his skill with the pistol and rifle enabled him to do the impossible--or at any rate, what every one would have declared impossible, before Alvin C. York accomplished it.

All through the Argonne forest, from Verdun almost to Sedan, the Americans were obliged to advance between hills, and often over hills covered with dense tangles of shrubs, vines, and trees, among which the Germans had hidden machine-gun nests.

Corporal York, on the morning of October 8, 1918, with his battalion was attempting to get behind the machine-gun nests on a hillside and to destroy them. The hill was then only known by number; it is now called York Hill.

They were to climb the hill and come down over the crest, as in this way they would get behind the German machine-guns. Sergeant Bernard Early with sixteen men was ordered to undertake the task. Corporal York was one of the men. At the start they were observed and were caught by German fire from three directions. Six of the small company were killed and three wounded, leaving Corporal York with seven privates to advance up the hillside.

They succeeded in reaching the crest of the hill, although machine-gun bullets were constantly whipping about them, usually however over their heads in the branches. They came upon an old trench and followed it over the brow of the hill, when suddenly they saw two Germans ahead of them. They fired on the Germans; one ran and escaped, the other surrendered. Going on, they soon discovered a couple of dozen Germans gathered about a small hut beside a stream which ran through the valley below. The Americans opened fire. The Germans dropped their guns, threw up their hands, and yelled, "Kamerad! Kamerad!" This meant they had surrendered. Among them was the major in command.

Some of York's seven men were a.s.signed to guard the prisoners and had a.s.sembled them, when a hail of machine-gun bullets came from the hillside directly in front of them and across the brook. Every one, Germans included, fell flat on the ground. The Americans had indeed come over the hilltop down behind the German machine-guns, but the gunners had now turned them squarely around and were sending a rain of bullets upon the Americans. They avoided firing upon their German comrades and thus the American privates guarding them were comparatively safe. Corporal York was on the hill above the prisoners and it was difficult for the gunners to hit him without killing or injuring some of their own men. A well-aimed rifle or pistol shot might have done it, however.

He had fallen into a path and was somewhat protected by the rise on the side toward the German guns. From here, lying flat upon his face, he coolly aimed his rifle and picked off German after German, after every shot calling upon those left to come down and surrender.

His comrades could not a.s.sist him, for those who were not with the German prisoners were so situated that to show themselves meant instant death.

Seeing York must be taken at any cost, a German lieutenant and seven men sprang up from behind one of the machine-guns, only about one hundred feet distant, and charged upon the red-headed American who was fighting a whole company. The officer who ordered the Germans to charge knew of course that some of them would be killed, but he was sure the remaining ones would capture or kill the American; but York, the man from Tennessee, who was not sure at one time that it was right to fight, did not lose his coolness, his courage, or his skill with the automatic pistol, and a German lieutenant and seven German privates fell before his unerring aim.

Then the German commander offered to surrender, and Corporal York and his seven American privates escorted one hundred and thirty-two German prisoners back to the American lines. About forty of these were added to the original number by the capture of another German machine-gun nest on the way back.

Corporal York showed the extreme modesty which is characteristic of very brave men, in not mentioning his exploit when he reached his own battalion headquarters. The prisoners had been delivered at another, and it was only by accident that York's superior officers learned of it later.

When Sergeant York returned to America, he was received with great pride by the Tennessee Society of New York City, and was granted his first wish to talk over the long-distance telephone with his old mother in Tennessee. He was taken to see the New York Stock Exchange where business was suspended for half an hour while the members cheered him.

Thousands of persons on the streets recognized him and crowded around the automobile in which he rode so that the police had to clear a path for the car.

At the banquet given in his honor at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, generals, admirals, noted bankers, and members of Congress united in his praise. During the dinner, Sergeant York was unanimously elected an honorary life-member of the Tennessee Society.

From New York, he went to Was.h.i.+ngton, where he was similarly received because of these and other acts of heroism which distinguish him as one of the great soldiers of the World War. After being honorably discharged, he returned to the Tennessee Mountains to marry the girl who had been waiting for him to return from the war. The wedding which took place in a humble mountain home was attended by thousands of people from all over the state. The Governor of Tennessee, a former judge of the district, performed the ceremony, after which York and his bride were his guests at the Executive Mansion in Nashville, where a public reception was given in his honor.

Through these tributes to Sergeant York the people of the United States attempted to show their true appreciation and admiration of the courage and fort.i.tude of the non-commissioned officer.