COLONEL OURY'S ADDRESS

"It seems fitting that this cabin, so intimately associated with our lives during that stressful preparation for the World War, should now stand on this ground, hallowed by the blood of our forefathers. It seems to me still more fitting that this memento of our service in the war should be a log cabin. Typifying in its simplicity our life during that period, as well as the life of the men who camped on these fields, whose steadfastness of purpose in that, the darkest hour of history, assured to posterity an heritage of liberty and independence, and made possible the Government of this great Republic.

"Speaking of the men in my organization, there was no thought among them of personal advancement, no thought of selfish gain on the part of indi viduals among the four thousand that composed it.

"I would like to think of this cabin typical of this spirit and sturdy service, placed in these surroundings to be an inspiration to those of us who live and to our children in the years to come, as we visit this sacred precinct, and read again the names of the men who paid the last great price to preserve ideals.

"In this dedication I would pay a tribute to Young America. Before the war it appeared to many that we were soft, that there was too much luxury, that we were drifting through inglorious ease to a state that would make us an easy prey to less luxurious nations. I know better now. Their splendid indom itable spirit under the trying conditions that existed has added an illustrious chapter to our lives and gives us new hopes for the future."

- COLONEL, WM. H. OURY, U. S. A.,

Commander 314th Infantry, from June, 1918, to Demobilization, May 31, 1919 At Dedication of Cabin, September 30, 1922

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