I never knew him. His name was James Patrick Grady, and he died almost fifty years ago, around this time of year.
He was in Company C, Fifth Field Signal Battalion, and ended the war with the rank of corporal. I have his helmet, his Victory Medal, the photo, another panoramic photograph of the devastated French countryside, and the Third Division's History from 1917 to 1919. There is a photograph of my grandfather stringing wire on page 286. Hand-written on the inside front cover is a short note, unsigned. The impression is that it was written on all copies of the History. It says, "The blue [on our emblem] is for our comrades who paid their all for America and the three white stripes are for the three major offensives that the Division took part in. The first was the Battle of the Marne. The second one is for the St. Mihiel offensive. The third is the one that can't many a lad's remember, is the Meuse-Argonne. We will never forget it." The handwriting is hard to read in some parts, but I've copied it as best as I can.
Does anybody remember World War I? The Third Division earned the nickname "Rock of the Marne" for their steadfastness in the Second Battle of the Marne, holding their ground while the French units on the flanks retreated, and repelling the Germans until the French regrouped. One of it's regiments was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm by the French for this action.
The Third Division spent 99 days on the front lines. Over two-thousand of them died there, and about ten-thousand were wounded. That's almost half of their twenty-seven thousand men. Imagine if our units in Iraq and Afghanistan lost men at that rate.
He was in Company C, Fifth Field Signal Battalion, and ended the war with the rank of corporal. I have his helmet, his Victory Medal, the photo, another panoramic photograph of the devastated French countryside, and the Third Division's History from 1917 to 1919. There is a photograph of my grandfather stringing wire on page 286. Hand-written on the inside front cover is a short note, unsigned. The impression is that it was written on all copies of the History. It says, "The blue [on our emblem] is for our comrades who paid their all for America and the three white stripes are for the three major offensives that the Division took part in. The first was the Battle of the Marne. The second one is for the St. Mihiel offensive. The third is the one that can't many a lad's remember, is the Meuse-Argonne. We will never forget it." The handwriting is hard to read in some parts, but I've copied it as best as I can.
Does anybody remember World War I? The Third Division earned the nickname "Rock of the Marne" for their steadfastness in the Second Battle of the Marne, holding their ground while the French units on the flanks retreated, and repelling the Germans until the French regrouped. One of it's regiments was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm by the French for this action.
The Third Division spent 99 days on the front lines. Over two-thousand of them died there, and about ten-thousand were wounded. That's almost half of their twenty-seven thousand men. Imagine if our units in Iraq and Afghanistan lost men at that rate.
The United States is a spoiled nation. The prosperity that has seemed a given since our victory in World War II was built upon the work of generations before, who didn't get the GI Bill, or television, or fast food, or cell phones, or any of the conveniences we don't even think twice about. We have been given it all, except any sense of responsibility for it.
But maybe that can change. President Obama does feel the responsibility for it, as we've heard him talk about his grandfather's participation in Patton's Third Army in World War II. And we saw that last night. His speech can be summed up by a few words, "It's our problem, we can solve it, so let's get to it."
Or as his favorite comic book hero knows so very well, "with great power comes great responsibility."
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