Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.