In their devotion, their valor, and in the loyal fulfillment of their
obligations, the officers and men of the American Expeditionary Forces
have left a heritage of which those who follow may ever be proud.
John J. Pershing
They were mortal, but they were unconquerable.
Willa Cather
If this world must become embroiled in a tremendous “war to end wars,”I am glad that I, too, may play a part in it.
Alta May Andrews
Never before have men crossed the seas to a foreign land
To fight for a cause which they did not pretend was peculiarly their own,
But knew was the cause of humanity and of mankind.
President Woodrow Wilson
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night and when the clock counts.
They say, We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say, We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.
They say, We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say, Our deaths are not ours: they are yours: they will mean what you make them.
They say, Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say: it is you who must say this.
They say, We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.
Archibald MacLeish,
The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak
