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Infantry Officer
Lieut La Rue (from Los Angeles, California)

"Lafayette, here we are" said General Pershing (see in Wikipedia) in front of the mossy tomb in the Picpus cemetery (see in Wikipedia). And in those four words, the marvellous adventure was summed up, the new crusade, the fidelity to the oath taken so many years ago. They came from everywhere, always more numerous, always stronger and burning with the same faith. They came from enchanting coasts of California, from the Great Lakes sleeping under their forest belt, from monstrous towns, from the desolate prairies of the Far West. If the support of their infinite inexhaustible mass has been decisive, all those who saw them at work could not forget their tireless good humour, the spirit that they brought in the most unpleasant moments and their bravery, their young and crazy bravery that has cut them down in thousands. We will forget neither Lorraine, nor Champagne, nor Montfaucon; we will look piously at the cemeteries, which, from Saint Mihiel to Chateau-Thierry demonstrate the heroism of the American divisions. Those who had fought next to them knew that if politics sometimes separates from ideals, the memories of war remain, of the common danger and the common victory.