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"THIS IS MY BELOVED SON |
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| A father rejoices in the accomplishments of his
children. We who were the 90th in World War I were in much the
same position after the re-birth of the 90th at Camp Barkeley in
1942. Anxiously we watched as you were assembled, your training begun. Just
as any anxious father, we wished for some way we could be of help. The 90th Division Association has been in existence since 1919. A committee from this association, working with a committee appointed by Major General Henry Terrell Jr, Division Commander, planned the ceremony in which we attached our old battle streamers to the colors of the organizations in the "New 90th". We were trying to pass on to you something we had built in the mud, sweat, and blood of another war. We tried to convey to you the realization that the division so newly yours was a proud unit which in the hard way had earned its spurs and the right to hold its head high in any company. The 90th was to be proud of you ; we wanted you to know you could be proud of the 90th ; proud because it had never lost a foot of ground ; had never failed to take an objective ; proud because it had proved it could "take it" from the best the Kaiser's Germany could throw at us. And we saw him and raised him one. A father wants his son to fare better than did the father. We started from scratch, with not pattern set for us to follow ; no record for us to try to better. We wanted you to take up where we left off and go on from there. Through our symbolic will and testament we tried to bequeath to you the wealth we had accumulated ; wealth in victories, in reputation, in honor, in the best traditions of the service. We felt that you could not realize all these things that summer day as you sat in the broiling sun and the wind blew sand around you. And you listened to an older man brag about an older division, and you watched older men tie their old battle streamers to your new colors. But time passed, and the recruits who so recently had been civilians were transformed into soldiers. Later these soldiers, through contact with the enemy, were transformed into combat infantrymen. By this time, we believe, the heritage of the reborn 90th, the spirit, the traditions, the proud name which we had tried to convey to you that hot day at Camp Barkeley were finally realized, were made yours. You had come of age. You spoke the soldier's language. You could meet a soldier, an old soldier, on common ground. |
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