skews13
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- Mar 18, 2017
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In the spring of the final year of the First World War the Kaiser Wilhelm’s army was making a final push to end the conflict before American troops could arrive in France in great numbers. British and French troops were retreating in disarray. Paris itself was threatened. A war born of ultra-nationalist impulses was seemingly ending badly for the Western democracies.
But while the German offensive seemed unstoppable, a brigade of United States Marines had different ideas. Marching directly into the German strong point at a private hunting preserve just 60 miles from Paris, these Marines made headlong charges into withering gunfire across exposed wheat fields and engaging in hand to hand combat in thickly forested woods often filled with poisoned gas. The battle was brutal, savage, and full of extreme suffering. Still, the Marines persevered; not only stopping the German advance but also perhaps turning Allied retreat into advance and ultimately, on this day 100 years ago, victory.
The Marines of the Belleau Wood paid a horrific price in casualties. Besides the thousands of wounded soldiers, 1,800 young Americans lost their lives in an effort to stop aggression. As in all wars, the survivors paid a price often dealing with what we now know as post traumatic stress disorder. Theirs’ was a sacrifice that was both honorable and unselfish. As Americans we should be thankful for their sacrifice; they deserve to be remembered.
Fast-forward 100 years later. Today many of the leaders of descendants of the participant nations of the First World War have gathered in France to remember the century-mark of what used to be called Armistice Day, now known in the United States as Veterans Day. As part of the proceedings, a ceremony was held yesterday at the American Cemetery at Aisne Marne, located not far from where many of the Marines killed at Belleau Wood are buried. Present day leaders of the combatants of the First World War made it a point to visit the cemeteries of their nation’s dead who were buried near the battlefields close to or even located at the battlefields in which they fell. One leader, however, did not: President Donald Trump.
Trump Dishonors the Marine Corps Dead of Belleau Wood Wood
But while the German offensive seemed unstoppable, a brigade of United States Marines had different ideas. Marching directly into the German strong point at a private hunting preserve just 60 miles from Paris, these Marines made headlong charges into withering gunfire across exposed wheat fields and engaging in hand to hand combat in thickly forested woods often filled with poisoned gas. The battle was brutal, savage, and full of extreme suffering. Still, the Marines persevered; not only stopping the German advance but also perhaps turning Allied retreat into advance and ultimately, on this day 100 years ago, victory.
The Marines of the Belleau Wood paid a horrific price in casualties. Besides the thousands of wounded soldiers, 1,800 young Americans lost their lives in an effort to stop aggression. As in all wars, the survivors paid a price often dealing with what we now know as post traumatic stress disorder. Theirs’ was a sacrifice that was both honorable and unselfish. As Americans we should be thankful for their sacrifice; they deserve to be remembered.
Fast-forward 100 years later. Today many of the leaders of descendants of the participant nations of the First World War have gathered in France to remember the century-mark of what used to be called Armistice Day, now known in the United States as Veterans Day. As part of the proceedings, a ceremony was held yesterday at the American Cemetery at Aisne Marne, located not far from where many of the Marines killed at Belleau Wood are buried. Present day leaders of the combatants of the First World War made it a point to visit the cemeteries of their nation’s dead who were buried near the battlefields close to or even located at the battlefields in which they fell. One leader, however, did not: President Donald Trump.
Trump Dishonors the Marine Corps Dead of Belleau Wood Wood