Show Memorial pa l a aI ar I r rte lAI I ft lA lAr r 4 u i iu O i TL T TI I r rT r Ir 1 I I I V 1 U t 7 By ELMO SCOTT T WATSON E ENLISTED In a Pennsyl Pennsylvania vania vanla regiment In June and marched to the siege of at Boston He lie fol- fol followell followed fol followed lowed lowell Montgomery to Quebec Que Que- Quebec Quebec bec and starved stane and froze frozeLL LL amId the snows snow of ot Canada P Wearing the Continental A Burr Buff and Blue mue he lIe fought V ln under er Washington ton at Tren Tren- Trenton Tren- Tren Trenton Trenton ton and at Princeton and andIn andin andIn In the summer of ot 1777 he went with Dan Danl Morgan to repel nes ne's invasion of at New York At Saratoga tire the bayonet thrust of at ata ofa ofa a grena grenadier ler struck him down What It if the historians of ot the future were to call this conflict whose chose bose din was now sounding faintly in his Iris ears one of at the fifteen decisive e battles ot of the world lIe He was conscious only of ot the torture of thirst as his lIfe life- lifeblood life blood bloo blood J ebbed swiftly away until death finally stilled his cry of ot Water 1 Wa Wa- Water Water ter ter I A great grent monument stands Js on the tho spot which once witnessed the pomp and circumstance of ot the war war the surrender of at a British army But nearby the smooth green gleen sod gives gl no sign that the soil solI beneath holds the dust of at a young backwoodsman one of ot the many who died In defense of at American liberty Who was tie lie Just an Unknown Sol Sol- Soldier Sol Soldier dier of the Revolution TIe l Before the Ink on his enlistment papers In the First Infantry was as scarcely dry another boy who had never before been beyond the con con- confines confines fines of ot the strewn rock acres of at the little New England farm where here he was born was on his lils way to the western frontier there to serve in a lonely outpost called Fort Dearborn n It wag as though he be were vere on another ln et so far tar as communication with the tho world he had known was con con- concerned concerned But somehow he be managed to live through the cold desolate win win- winters winters tens and md the tile hot hot fever breeding sum sum- summers summers mers amid the swamps along the Chi Chi- Chicago Chicago cago cato river With WILh the summer of 1812 1512 came tile the news of war with Great Britain and more alarming still sUlI the threat of ot an IndIan outbreak Then orders orders to evacuate Fort Dearborn One hot August da day the retreat be- be besan jean bc-jean tan san From out of ot the sandhills along Lake Michigan swooped the he fierce A short short desperate rate light and the Fort Dearborn massacre was history That night there was wasa wasa wasa a hellish orgy In the Indian camp and the pitying stars looked down upon n a writhing figure at the lie stake stale What It if this was one of tho lie nets acts In the mighty drama called the Winning ot of ottile tile the West What It if the future was to see sec one of the lie worlds world's greatest clUes rise on these sand sandy shores Could that Hint lint knowledge have hate been rec rec- recompense recompense recompense for tie the fiery ngoD agony of at this New ew England Ingland lad above whose un- un unmarked un unmarked marked grave grove the tho hurrying hurring feet teet ot of Chicago's millions today beat an nn end end- endless endless endless less requiem Who was lie he An n Un- Un Unknown Un Unknown known Soldier of ot the War of ot 18 I Though some of his neighbors de- de denounced de denounced It as an unholy war Into President Polk folk was leading the nation a c certain Middle Western farm boy Loy was one ono of ot the first to respond when the President on Ma May 13 13 10 called callea for volunteers to drive I the Mexicans back across the Rio Hlo Grande And so he lie was among among n those who landed with Old Fuss and Feathers Scott at Vera Cruz and started toward the tho City of at Mexico To his parents back In Ohio came cheerful letters from the boy telling telling- telling telling-o of the rapid succession of at victories won by the American army and as- as assuring assuring as assuring suring them that the war was as almost over o and that ho he would soon be home Ills His last letter was written the nIght before Scotts Scott's soldiers stormed Chapultepec Cha- Cha Chapultepec Cha The boys boy's parents awaited I his return In vain Today In the en- en enI en environs I of ot the City of at Mexico there Is a little cemetery In which stands I In n a small granite shaft bearing these words To the memory of ot the Amer Amer- Amer- Amer American American ican soldiers who perished In this valley In 1817 is whose bones collected by the country's orders are here bur bur- bur burled led led And so tills this Unknown Sol Sol- Soldier Sol Soldier dier of the Mexican war ar sleeps among the In alien soil soli Fort rort SWIller Sumter had been fired upon In the upper Shenandoah valley alley of at Virginia a father was bidding good good- goodbye goodbye goodbye bye to his lus two sons Pray God you two never meet In battle batlle he said And An one rode rolle north to wear the tile Fed Fed- Federal elal eral Blue under General Patterson and the other rode south to become a member of ot Gen GeD Thomas J Jack Jack- The Dead I o c Blow out you bugles bugle over the th c rich c 1 Theres There's none ot of these so 80 o lonely and nd poor ot of old Dut But dying has made mad us ui richer r I c gifts eitts than gold coho eol l c These laid the world away poured out out the red S Sweet wine ot of youth gays gave up ut i the th years year ears to be i c of or Of 0 work and jO joy and that th t un- un uny y hoped serene That men call ore nee age and those s who would have hwe been V Their sons they cave gave their I s e V Immortality y y y y low Blow bugles busies blow They brought X Xe e us tor for our dearth y Holiness lacked so long lone an Love and Pain o como y Honor has como come back bark as ns akins a king kinc S to earth s And paid his subjects with a 11 i irya royal wage y 4 And Nobleness walks s In our ways again ft And we wo have hav come Into our s 's s heritage y Rupert Brooke y sons son's Stonewall Brigade Whether or not riot his lib prayer was answered the father never knew lie Bo never saw either again Perhaps In somo some Valhalla two warrior r spirits reminisce of Chancellorsville and Antietam of ot Manassas and Malvern Hili but there thc Is no bitterness In their theil tones as is they Uley call each other Yank Tank and Johnny neb Reb The crumbling dust of ot the bodies which once housed these spirits relt rests under Q a great monument of rough-hewn rough gran gran- granite granite ite Ito and polished marble In Arlington cemetery near Washington D C On this monument is an Inscription which reads Beneath this stone repose the bones of at 2111 unknown soldiers gath gath- gath gathered gathered erld ered after Ilie he war from from the tile fields of at Bull ull Run TIun and the route to the Rappa hannock Their remains could not be Identified but their names and deaths are recorded In the archives of ot their country and Its grateful citizens honor them as of ot their their noble army of at martyrs Ia May they rest In peace It was the lie spring of at A Colorado Col- Col Colorado Col Colorado orado miner coming oft ocr the night shift joined a group of ot his fellowS gathered about one who read In a aDemer Denver er paper pa er the headlines War With Spain A month later he ha was wason wason wason on an army transport that steamed through the Golden Gate Into Inlo the broad brond Pacific The next year he was wali wa one of at a detachment which set out through the Philippine Jungle In pur pur- pursuit pur- pur pursuit pursuit suit of ot a n party of Moro raiders There was a deathlike hush as they pushed on through the steaming heat ot of the Jungle A moment later Inter Its stillness was shattered by the sounds of at men engaged In furious hand to com com- combat combat combat bat bayonet against bolo a swarm ot of little brown men clawing at nt a group ot of swearing wearing struggling desperately desperately clad clad khaki figures and bearing them down to earth by sheer force of at num num- numbers numbers bers A few months later back to In Intile tile the Colorado mining town a ban bane played Therell Be a Hot Time In Inthe inthe Inthe the Old Town Tonight for the tile troop of our boys was home from tram th the wars But out In the province ot of Sulu a n rusted Jorgensen Krag and a webbed cartridge e belt beIt already nearly hIdden by the lush jungle VE vegetation marked the last resting place of at one who dl didn't come home home-an home an Unknown Soldier of WOO S 99 November 11 l 1022 In Arlington cemetery a 11 great throng stood with bared heads as a bugler blew v Taps over a new white marble tomb In which had been placed the body Llody ot of ota ofa ofa a dead warrior Of Ot him It lla has been written Once he trod our streets streets- streets perhaps the very pavements which we dally travel It never entered his hea head that he would become become- a symbol of at sacrifice and his tomb a shrine ot of pilgrimage It if an any one had foretold as much to him how bow he would have laughed 1 It If anyone were to reveal to us who he really was that was that he lie had been a cashier In a 11 New York bank or a n taxi driver In would Chicago Chicago would o-would he still retain his Ills power so deeply to move us Who Vho was he this Un Unknown known n Soldier whom we have ex- ex exalted exalted ex exalted alted out of ot humanity Into saint saint- sainthood sainthood sainthood hood That question of Identity can never be answered But of him hima this tills cnn can Je be said since that lint day seven years ears n ago o Memorial day has had a new meaning On this tills day his tomb is a before which in spirit all Americans how referent i rc crent heads hedd For 1001 Forbus thus bus th they y honor lionor not only the Un- Un Unknown Unknown Un Unknown known Soldier of ot the World war but the Unknown Soldiers of at nil alt of ot our wars tire Revolution He the War of 1912 the Mexican war the Civil war the Spanish American war tsar We can can- cannot cannot cannot not decorate their grates gra In accord accord- accordance accordance ance anco willi the Memorial day dolY custom for tor their last resting places un- un unmarked un unmarked marked are scattered fur far and wide over oyer the tho face of ot tire the globe Some ot of them fell before Indian bullet and lance on the tho lie wind-swept wind plains ot of the Ule Great West Some of ot them died lu in China In the Philippi Philippines lies In Mex Mex- Mexico Mexico ico Some of at them went West on the battlefields of France and Bel- Bel BelgIum glum Bel-glum gIum So In la nil alien en soil they keep their lonely bivouac of at the the dead and nud Idle we cannot pay them the same honors on Memorial day that we do dothe dothe dothe the others rs who gave their lives Ilves for their country we can offer up to them our tribute of at gratitude by remember remember- rememberIng remembering remembering ing on that day what they dui dij dJ j even though we do not know who they were |