Following is the address delivered by President Wallace B. Fleming at the memorial service for our fallen heroes in World War I.
- Hon. Roy E. Parrish, whose home was at Clarksburg and who graduated at Wesleyan in the class of 1908, fell in action on the Western Front on July 22, 1918.
- Mr. Dorsey O. Warner, of West Union, who attended Wesleyan in 1912, fell in action in France on August 1, 1918.
- Mr. Aubrey Carl Smith, of Lost Creek, who graduated in 1917, fell as a victim of Spanish influenze at Camp Meade, Md. on October 7,1918.
No words of praise can either add luster to their glorious deeds or fittingly express the affection and honor in which they are held at Wesleyan.
President Wallace B. Fleming
December 18, 1918
While Wesleyan bows her head in sorrow at the realization of the greatness of her loss in the falling of her sons, she thinks with solomn pride of the splendor of their lives and their triumph in death.
These men were knights of a holy warfare. Men were slow to see the war in its spiritual significance. We thought of it at first as a question of honor or territory or trade advantage. We knew that Germany had been teaching her people the absurd doctrine of the super-man, but it was so absurd that we could not believe that any one was expected to take it seriously. We knew that Germany was building up the greatest military machine that the world had ever seen, but we were unwilling to believe that it was intended for fighting; we thought it was meant to afford show and gratify the vanity of royalty. We did not know that German propaganda and intrigue reached to the ends of the earth. We did not know that the German government supplied money for blowing up factories. We were horrified at the atrocities perpetrated in Belgium. We could not believe the facts about rape, arson, plunder and murder that shocked the world. We could not understand a nation that considered its own treaties but scraps of paper. We were horrified at the introduction of fiendish weapons of warfare — poison gas, liquid fire, submarines sinking unarmed vessels, zeppelins bombing unfortified cities. But it slowly dawned upon us that this was all a part of the heresy that might makes right and that anything under heaven is right if it promotes the interest of Germany.
In contrast with this blackness appeared the spirit of the free people of the world. Humanity will never forget the answer of Greece to the temptations set before her by Germany at the beginning of the war. Germany said “Join us; make war against your ally, Servia. We will win and we will see that you get a nice slice of Servian territory. Stand by Servia and you will have not only Bulgaria but Germany against you.” Venizelos replied “You will allow me to translate your offer into my own words. What you do is this: You ask me to dishonor my signature, to dishonor my country, and to violate its obligations toward Servia, and as a remuneration you offer me a part of the corpse of that which I am expected to kill. My country is too little to commit so great an infamy.”
The world will never forget that when Germany launched her brutal war of conquest, her old ally Italy refused to be a party to such madness, but withdrew and took her place on the side of liberty and justice.
Men will never forget how Belgium answered when offered the alternative of allowing the German armies to pass through their land or being crushed by the gigantic military juggernaut. And brave little Belgium brought a deluge of woe upon her own people by holding up the horde of Huns for a few days; but those few days gave France her chance and the blood of Belgium saved the world.
Men will never forget how old England entered the war because the treaties of the Anglo-Saxon are not scraps of paper. Nor will they ever forget how England fought on to victory though more than half a million of her sons had fallen in death, nor how her navy guarded the seas.
Men will never forget France. We thought them frivolous. We though them brilliant but not sturdy. We were amazed at their spirit. Such sacrifice! Such bravery! Such patriotism! France the guardian of liberty! In future ages whenever tyrannies threaten liberty the spirit of France will flame anew and men will cry “Ils ne asseron pas” — they shall not pass.
All of this finally stood out in clear contrast to the spirit of the Hun. We saw that fundamentally this was a warfare of liberty, justice, truth, against perfidy, tyranny, cruelty; that the free people of Europe were fighting for the weak against the agressions of the strong; that it was a holy war.
And yet it was their war. For a hundred years and more we had refused to become involved in European affairs. This was a national policy from the founding of our country. We were slow to adjust ourselves to the new world situation. It was not easy for us to set aside our past national policy. Even the sinking of the Lusitania did not open our eyes to the whole situation, but they finally were opened. America saw her national duty. She took her place in the holy war. Her sons went in as crusaders. The Kaiser commanded his soldiers, “Spare neither women nor children, take no captives, make yourselves more terrible than the Huns under Attila.” When the American soldiers arrived in France, General Pershing addressed them as follows: “You are now in France, to expel an enemy that has invaded this beautiful land. Your first duty is to fight against this foe, and protect our ally. You are here also to lift a shield above the poor and weak. You will be kind, therefore, to the aged and the invalid. You will be courteous to all women, and never have so much as an evil thought in your mind. You will be very tender and gentle with little children. You will do well, therefore, to forswear the use of all liquors. You will do your duty like brave men. Fear God. Honor your country. Defend liberty. God have you in his keeping.”
Our soldiers therefore fought as crusaders in a holy war, and today we honor our knights who are glorified. Then let it be remembered that few men in life or death have achieved what these men accomplished.
Remember the German plan of last winter and spring. The Italian armies had been rolled back. Roumania had been crushed. Russia had collapsed. It was now possible to bring vast armies from the eastern front for concentrated warfare in France. During the winter vast preparation was made. Success seemed so certain that there was no secrecy as to the object. The crushing blow to be delivered was boastfully called the Kaiser’s battle. The dates were announced on which the German high command expected to make a triumhant entry into Paris.
The big drive began last March, and swept forth with mighty power. The armies of the English were driven backward, backward, backward, although they fought with their usual high heroism. The attacks became so crushing that Field Marshal Haig announced that his men were fighting with their backs to the wall. The lunges of the German army against the French were equally successful. It is true that the later drives did not display the full force of the initial conflict, but with every concentrated effort following the necessary lull for preparation, the Germans made substantial gains. Their armies had advanced until at Chateau Thierry their position formed an arrow-head aimed at Paris, the heart of France. They were near enough to bring the city within range of their monster cannon and one more successful drive would have enabled them to bring up vast numbers of heavy artillery capable of bombarding that city.
It was an hour of great darkness for the free people of the world. It is true that America was sending her soldiers across the seas in unpreceented numbers, but her soldiers were inexperienced in twentieth century warfare. Europe had not yet full knowledge as to their quality. And it seemed yet a question as to whether they could be ready in time to save the situation. The fate of civilization was hanging in the balance. Then out of the darkness flamed the sword of America.
The Huns had renewed their attack at Chateau Thierry. The French battle lines were wavering. But at that critical hour the Yankee boys came pouring in. Many of them had been without rest or sleep for 24 hours, and some for as much as 48 hours, but they rushed forth into the battle with terrifying yells and fixed bayonets. French soldiers withdrawing before machine gunfire met them and said “Turn back! You cannot advance this way. Just ahead are Germans with machine guns.” But the Yankee boys replied, “They are the people we are looking for” — and the world saw something new in human daring. These soldiers rushed the machine gun nests, bayonetted the gunners and turned the guns against the enemy. Of course they paid a fearful price in blood poured out, but they took a still heavier toll from the enemy; and they electrified the armies of Britain and France. These armies that were exercising caution because of uncertainty regarding the American forces supporting them, now moved forward with resistless valor, and the hordes of Huns were turned back. High tide had been reached. Never again would the German armies succeed in making a gain. They were pressed steadily back to final defeat and doom.
That was precious blood shed by Leonidas and the Spartan heroes at the pass of Thermopylae, for it saved Europe from being over-run by Asiatic hordes and gave liberty her birthright.
That was precious blood shed by the heroes under Charles Martel, who at Tours in 732 A.D. turned back the armies of the Saracens, for it was that blood that gave Europe its privilege of developing under the Cross instead of the crescent.
That was precious blood shed by English sailors under Lord Effingham in 1588 A.D., when he crushed the “Invincible Armada” of Philip II of Spain, for that blood saved religious liberty in the world and left England Protestant.
That was precious blood shed at Bunker Hill, for it gave birth to the spirit of America.
That was precious blood shed at Gettysburg, for it gave us an undivided flag and nation.
But never since the Savior shed his blood on the Cross did blood poured out accomplish more than that shed by our Yankee boys at Chateau Thierry; that blood rolled back the black tides that were threatening to engulf the world. It sealed the fact that government of the people by the people and for the people should not perish from the earth. It established truth and justice and liberty and mercy among men.
And in a warfare where blood counted supremely in its blessing for the world it is a matter of solemn pride that Wesleyan men were not wanting.
These fought in a Holy War. These fell when blood counted supremely. If we honor the as they would wish, we will honor them by carrying forward their work.
One, who a short time later fell and now sleeps in Flanders, was so eager that the cause for which his comrades might not fall that he wrote:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Doubtless our heroes whose stars have turned from blue to gold have not forgotten us and are not far away now, and doubtless they too are eager that all that was purchased by the shedding of blood may be preserved. They seem to speak to us and I have, therefore, sought to voice your answer in these words:
Departed ones who seem so nigh,
Your valor calls us from the sky.
Though mortal flesh to wounds must yield,
And forms must sleep in Flanders field,
Your souls with God will never die
Destruction’s dreaded work is done
Your courage crushed the haughty Hun —
Dispelled forever from the light
The thought of power ruling right;
And ye are heroes, every one.
We take the torch from hands that fall,
We dedicate to God our all,
Resolved to emulate the life
Of you who fought in glory’s strife
‘Gainst darkness and the fears that thrall
Shall Wesleyan break faith with you?
Shall actions prove our vows untrue?
Shall we from men your light with-hold
Through love of self or sordid gold?
Then were we as the Huns who slew.
Your memory now that causes tears
To fill our eyes, in future years
Will challenge men, inspire call forth
The nobler self, the real worth,
And give men triumph over fears,
At Wesleyan.
Transcribed from The Pharos, 1919-01-20, by Paula McGrew 2019-06-09