“Salute America!”
Exercises were held on Memorial Day at Menil-la-Tour when the World War was raging in France. Two regimental bands took up their positions in opposite corners of the cemetery. The commanding general placed a flag on each of the eighty-one graves. He and the soldiers then saluted the large flag, while battle was still being waged about a mile away.
The general then faced the west, and pointed in that direction as he addressed the soldiers. He said: “Out there are Washington and the President, and all the people of the United States, who are looking to you.... Over there are the mothers who bade you good-bye with tears and sent you forth, and are waiting at home and praying for you, trusting in you. Out there are the fathers and the sisters and the sweethearts you have left behind, all depending on you to do your best. Now,” said he in a clear ringing voice, “turn and salute America!” All turned and saluted toward the west, while the flags fluttered on the breeze and the band played softly,
“My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.”
A distinction with a difference was clearly evidenced when Britishers sang a German’s hymn,