Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1918 — TO THOSE WHO DIED [ARTICLE]

TO THOSE WHO DIED

Connecticut Town Has Memorial for All Ume. Plot of Ground, Well Called "Tract of Glory,* Will Be Henceforth the Most Cherished Spot in Norfolk. ' ■' * ii Im* i .• In the little Connecticut town of Norfolk is a triangular piece of ground belonging to the people. For years it stood useless, almost abandoned, and to a certain extent unnoticed. Norfolk sent to France early in 1918 a score and a half of heryhoys to fight In the American armle/ Other boys followed. / A few months aft/r the first contingent marched away Norfolk began to. receive its share ■> of tidings from the front. Names/of boys known to every one in the/town were found fn the lists of tho/e “killed In action." Boys ;whose faces were .fright and shining and whose voices were strong and never to return. They were In the fields of France. / The return of these names to Norfolk instead of flesh and blood that went away gave Norfolk its inspira- ' lion. The little green triangle became a tract of glory. No more will it be looked upon as a waste, np more will the people of Norfolk call it worthless. For-some one thought of a way to make It rich, the most cherished spot in Norfolk.

On Flag day Tn the year that the way made heroes of these lads from Norfolk the people of that place dedicated the point of this triangle to the memory of those who were not to come back from France. At that time four of Norfolk’s boys were lying in France under little crosses of wood, and on this day four little crosses of wood similar to .those In France, with a name and a date on each, were driven into the ground at the point of the triangle. There they will stay until they are perhaps replaced by more enduring and Impressive marks of tribute. But the little crosses of wood are not all that the people of Norfolk placed In the village triangle in memory of the boys who will not come back. Something that will live and thrive and beautify the barren triangle was placed -there for each bdy, and it is named for him. For each hero a tree was planted, and it will always be known as bis tree, by his name; and long after the great-grandchildren of those who now live in Norfolk are dead and gone these trees will still stand and will be known through all the sunshine and storm of the ages by the names they received at the christening. .They will grow to be tall and mighty and spread their branches, over the cross that was won on the battle fields of France —the simple cross of honor that every -man wins when he gives up his life for his country. The thought is beautiful. That little triangle in Norfolk will have more trees and crosses; the boys who died in France will live and grow to an age far .beyond the years of the oldest of men?) How simple this way of commemorating the deeds and the spirit of the boys who go forth to the war never to come* home again! A little cross of wood for the present, a towering tree for the future, and the name of a hero preserved for an age to come. —George Barr McCutcheon.