NEWBERRY — Colonel Rose Marie Favors, U.S. Marine Corps. (retired) and Newberry resident, honored the men and women who died on foreign soil or later died of their injuries during the Memorial Day Ceremony on May 30.
“They are the reason we are here. Those men and women who never again spent a Sunday afternoon in the park; who never again enjoyed peace and quiet and safety. This is about remembering them,” Favors said. “We stand here, in Memorial Park, before the statue of a ‘Doughboy’ — a nickname for infantry soldiers during World War I, the meaning of which is lost to history and legend. I wonder how many people who pass by and, if they even notice the statue, have no idea why it’s here or what it represents? And if they don’t know what it’s about, they cannot remember, they won’t remember. Generations will forget, then the lives, the service and sacrifice of those men and women will have been in vain.”
Favors talked of World War I, the war that she said was to “end all wars.” She talked about trench warfare, and the men who risked their lives.
“They endured unimaginable misery in the mud and muck of those trenches. The stench, the rats, dysentery, privation. For days, weeks, months, interminable misery. In the trenches where muddy boots and damp socks disabled soldiers when skin peeled off the soles of their feet. Imagine, day in, day out, wearing rough, ill-fitting leather boots. Standing, walking, marching, hiking…running to the enemy, running for your life,” she said.
Favors discussed the mustard gas, and the only protection soldiers had was a small, crude mask.
“As much as I might get annoyed at the inconvenience of wearing a mask these days — imagine what it must have been like to live and fight wearing one of those gas masks. Imagine being grateful to have a mask, or fearful that you might lose yours or that yours might fail to work,” she said.
Favors then noted some examples of the untold acts of bravery and sacrifice in World Word I.
“Gunnery Sergeant Stockham, a Marine, received the Medal of Honor posthumously for giving his own gas mask to a wounded Marine, knowing full and well that the effects of the gas would be fatal to himself. Yet, he continued to assist the evacuation of the wounded until he also collapsed from the effects of gas, dying a few days later.”
“Remember the African-American soldiers from Newberry County who fought alongside French soldiers because the American Expeditionary Forces had not fully integrated. Among them was Private Terrance Moon who died thousands of miles from here, from Newberry, on foreign soil.”
“Remember Corporal Freddie Stowers, U.S. Army, the 371st Infantry Regiment, an African-American man from Sandy Springs, South Carolina. He took command of a battered platoon when the officers and senior enlisted soldiers were killed. Against astounding odds, he crawled toward a German machine gun nest and shouted for his men to follow. The platoon successfully reached the first German trench line and reduced the machine guns by enfilade fire. During the assault, he was struck by an enemy machine gun, but kept going until he was struck a second time. He collapsed from loss of blood, but ordered his men not to be discouraged and to keep going and take out the German guns. For all that, he was bestowed the Medal of Honor posthumously.”
“Remember the Navy ships and civilian cargo ships, the sailors and merchant seamen, transporting troops and supplies across the perilous waters of the open Atlantic.”
“Remember the gallantry of the Army Air Corps, the death-defying dogfights high over the countryside of Europe, flying top cover in airplanes made of paper and wood — little more than kites. Remember Eddie Rickenbacker, a brash brave racecar driver who became America’s first and most famous flying ace of World War I,”
“Remember the Army and Navy nurses who went to fight, on the front lines, to aid the wounded, sick and dying. Remember the chaplains, the war correspondents.”
In the Marines, every recruit, every office candidate, learns about World War I and legendary Marines who have become part of their DNA, Favors said.
“We learn about battles and engagements. We learn so that we will remember the debt we owe them, and so that we might live up to the standard they set,” she said. “We remember so that they will not have died in vain. So that we might be worthy successors of their lives and legacy.”