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THE BULLETIN OP THE CATHOLIC
AMERICAN CATHOLICS IN THE
GREAT WAR.
(Continued from page 4)
typical and significant of the whole.
The commander of the Twenty-seventh Division
is Gen. John F. O’Ryan, of New York City, of whom
the regulars, who do not take kindly to National
Guardsmen, say admiringly: “He is good enough
to be a regular.” He has proved his worth as a
disciplinarian, a trainer of troops for fighting and
a commander of troops in fighting. Another famous
commander is Gen. James W. McAndrews, now
chief of staff with General Perishing. Gen. Francis
J. Kernan, “the man who put the machine gun into
the army, is likewise an authority on military law.
Major-Gen. John E. McMahon was for some time in
charge of embarkation and helped to establish that
extradordinary record of sending troops across at
the rate of 10,000 a day. Gen Francis McIntyre
was chief military censor for many months.
Hugh Drum, son of Captain Drum, Irish by blood,
became chief of staff after General McAndrews was
transferred, and received the rank of Brigadier
General.
In the navy one of the most experienced and be
loved chaplians is Father Matthew C. Gleeson, who
is Fleet Chaplain of the magnificent American fleet
at anchor in the Hudson River. Rear Admirals
Griffin and McGowan of the navy are the highest
Catholic ranking officers in that branch of the serv
ice. The record of your famous Catholic Admiral
Benson is too well known for repetition.
From inspection of the casualty lists, from the
testimony of commanding officers, from the records
of chaplains and others one may conservatively es
timate that 40 per cent of the American forces were
composed of men with Irish blood as a part of their
physical make-up, and that between 35 and 40 per
cent of all the armed forces were Catholics.
There were many notably large enlistments from
certain families, among whom those of Catholic faith
were conspicuous. Mrs. Dineen, of New York City,
had six sons in the service, two of them chaplains,
and Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Hogan, of New Haven,
Conn., had five sons. Mrs. Brickley, of Boston, had
four sons in service, while ex-Mayor William P. Con
nery, of Lynn, Mass., had two,sons and three neph-
sons in the service. Similiar records could be pro
duced from many parts of the country.
One case which drew from President Wilson a
letter of appreciation was that of the sons of Mr.
and Mrs. James H. McShane, of Omaha, Neb. Five
sons enlisted in the army and the sixth was as
signed to conservation work when he applied for
service. President Wilson wrote the parents as fol
lows:
President Wilson’s Letter.
“May I not turn from the duties of the day for
a moment to express my admiration for the action
of your six sons in enlisting in the service of the
country? They are making, and through them you
are making, a very noble contribution to the fine
story of patriotism and loyalty which has always
run throngh the pages of American history.
Cordially and sincerely yours,
“Woodrow Wilson.”
Interviewed by a reporter concerning her four sons’
in the war she said:
“As a mother I am proud to have such boys, and
I feel they are going to be a credit to the country
LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 13
as they have been to me. We shall be grief-stricken
when they leave, but somehow I feel that they will
all come back to me. If not it will be God’s will.
I am doing my duty as an American mother, and I
know that my boys will perform theirs as Americans.”
On April 1, 1918, there were 262 John O’ Briens
in the United States service, of whom fifty were
married to Marys.
In service for the country in many other than
military lines were many hundreds of thousands of
American Catholics laboring with their fellow-
ountrymen for united efforts to win the war. John
D. Ryan rendered conspicuous and eminent service
by taking charge of aircraft production and so
systematizing, coordinating and directing the work
as to elicit praise from our own citizens and sol
diers and the commanders of the forces of the
Allies.
The Heroic Davitt.
It was a Catholic soldier who was first to die for
America in the Great War. Strangely, too, was it
that it was a Catholic who was the last to die..
Father William F. Davitt of Holyoke, Mass., lieu
tenant and chaplain, learned on the night of Nov
ember 10, that the armistice was to take effect on
the morning of November 11. He sought to reach
the front to witness and participate in the scenes.
He walked as far as he could; he procured a lift by
motor for some distance; he journeyed in the side
car of a motor cycle for some miles, then trudged
again. He reached the front in the morning and pro
curing a fine American flag he hoisted it to the top
of a flagpole shortly before the hostilities were to
cease. He released the halyards, giving a joyous
look at Old Glory, and as he did a shell struck him
and killed him. He was the last man to be killed
in the. war. Priest of God, celebrator of the Holy
Sacrifice, exemplar of patriotism, gentleman, Ameri
can officer, he died beneath the Stars and Stripes,
the flag of victory and freedom.
One of the fairest and ablest editorial writers in
Georgia is Hon. Thomas W. Loyless, of the Colum
bus Enquirer-Sun. He is the only man in either
Georgia or Alabama, so far as we have learned, who
correctly, stated the travesty on justice of the so-
called trial of Rev. Stephenson for killing Father
Coule in Birmingham.—Madison Madisonian.
Pope Benedict has presented 1,000,000 lire to the
joint International Commission of the Red Cross So
cieties, half of which is for the “Save the Children
Fund”, and the remainder for p.ussian relief.
Archbishop Hayes officiated at the consecration of
Rt. Rev. John J. Dunn, auxiliary Bishop of New
York, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral there October 28.
Two unnamed Catholic laymen in Pittsburgh are
paying for advertisements inserted in the daily
papers explaining misunderstood points about the
Catholic Church.
In his inaugural address, General Leonard Wood,
the new Governor of the Philippines, paid a high trib
ute to the Spanish missionaries in the islands, cred
iting them with imbuing the people with the Occi
dental spirit as well as Christianizing them. “There
must be no turning back in the Christian faith,” he
said.