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Martin A. Treptow Private, United States Army |
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Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address On January 20, 1981:
Each one of those markers (At Arlington National Cemetery) is
a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in
places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway
around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin
Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called
Vietnam.
Under one such marker lies a young man—Martin Treptow—who left
his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed
Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry
a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf
under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words:
"America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will
sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the
issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind
of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called
upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness
to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great
deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the
problems which now confront us.
And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are
Americans. God bless you, and thank you.
During the first World War, a young man - a barber in
peacetime - enlisted in the Iowa National Guard. Soon he found himself part
of the 168th Infantry of the 42nd Division, the Rainbow Division. Along with
the 168th Regiment, were the 165th, formerly the 69th New York; the 166th,
originally the 4th Ohio, and the 167th, the renumbered 4th Alabama.
Ironically, during the Civil War, the 69th New York and 4th Alabama had
fought each other at Bull Run and Fredericksburg. By virtue of its makeup,
with soldiers from all sections of the country, this division was dubbed the
Rainbow Division.
In July of 1918, the 42nd was committed to battle against the
Germans to reduce the Marne Salient. In spite of withering machine gun fire
and heavy artillery bombardment, the 168th Infantry took their objective.
As the battle drew to an end, a messenger was needed to
deliver an important word to one of the platoons. Private Martin A. Treptow,
barber turned warrior, grabbed the message and moved out under fire. As he
reached the platoon leader, Treptow was shot down by a hail of bullets.
Later, in policing up Treptow’s personnel effects, a diary was found in the
blood-stained blouse of this doughboy. Written in Treptow’s own hands were
the words entitled, My Pledge, words that serve as a memorial to the price he
paid. "America shall win the war. Therefore, I will work. I will save. I
will sacrifice. I will endure. I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as
if the whole issue of the struggle depended on my alone."
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-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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