THIS REGIMENT A REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL
We have mentioned the 8th Illinois especially because this regiment was gathered principally from Chicago and the West. Let it be understood, however, that it is simply a representative regiment of Negro soldiers. They deserve well of our country. They too crossed the seas and faced death with a smile. Why? Because their country called them. In the peaceful days of progress ahead we are sure they will ever remember the experiences of war and by acts and words continue to labor for the good of our country.
SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS 8th
Let us sum up in an easily remembered form the work of this regiment in France:
Suffered 50 per cent casualties; lost ninety-five men and one officer killed outright.
Lost only one prisoner to the Germans in all the months they fought.
Captured many German cannon and many German machine guns.
Participated in the final drive against the Germans on the French sector, advancing in the final stages of the war as far as thirty-five kilometers in one day.
Were the first Allied troops to enter the French fortress of Laon when it was wrested from the Germans after four years of war.
Won twenty-two American Distinguished Service Crosses and sixty-eight French War Crosses.