a part of the victorious
American Army, have written a story of valor and sacrifice that will
live in the brightest annals of the war. With heroism that nothing could
daunt, the Marine Corps played a vital role in stemming the German rush
on Paris, and in later days aided in the beginning of the great
offensive, the freeing of Rheims, and participated in the hard fighting
in Champagne, which had as its object the throwing back of the Prussian
armies in the vicinity of Cambrai and St. Quentin.

With only 8,000 men engaged in the fiercest battles, the Marine Corps
casualties numbered 69 officers and 1,531 enlisted men dead and 78
officers and 2,435 enlisted men wounded seriously enough to be
officially reported by cablegram, to which number should be added not a
few whose wounds did not incapacitate them for further fighting.
However, with a casualty list that numbers nearly half the original
8,000 men who entered battle, the official reports account for only 57
United States marines who have been captured by the enemy. This includes
those who were wounded far in advance of their lines and who fell into
the hands of Germans while unable to resist.

Memorial Day shall henceforth have a greater, deeper significance for
America, for it was on that day, May 30, 1918, that our country really
received its first call to battle--the battle in which American troops
had the honor of stopping the German drive on Paris, throwing back the
Prussian hordes in attack after attack, and beginning the retreat which
lasted until imperial Germany was beaten to its knees and its emissaries
appealing for an armistice under the flag of truce. And to the United
States marines, fighting side by side with equally brave and equally
courageous men in the American Army, to that faithful sea and land force
of the navy, fell the honor of taking over the lines where the blow of
the Prussian would strike the hardest, the line that was nearest Paris
and where, should a breach occur, all would be lost.

The world knows to-day that the United States marines held that line;
that they blocked the advance that was rolling on toward Paris at a rate
of six or seven miles a day; that they met the attack in American
fashion and with American heroism; that marines and soldiers of the
American Army threw back the crack guard divisions of Germany, broke
their advance, and then, attacking, drove them back in the beginning of
a retreat that was not to end until the "c