The Marne River in France joins the Seine just outside of Paris. It comes in from the east and north. In the spring of 1918, the Germans pushed the French armies south to the Marne, less than fifty miles east of Paris. Things looked bad for the Allied armies. The Germans were making a last big drive to win the Great War. But a new force was in the field. The Americans had arrived. Our forces abroad were not yet large, and most of them had seen but little service. Would they hold? Could the Americans stop the Germans? Those were the questions the world was asking. At Chateau-Thierry our soldiers answered. This old village straddles the Marne, and by the end of May the Germans were there in force. The 7th Machine Gun Battalion of our Third Division was ordered to support the French at this point. They came almost up to

the firing line in motor cars; and on the afternoon of May 31, they opened fire on the Germans. They held up attack after attack. The Germans could not cross the river. And the world now knew that the Americans could fight. For a month these marines were in our near Chateau-Thierry. By that time the tide has everywhere turned. The Germans were retreating. Forward the Third Division went through the old town, driving the enemy ahead. Thus was Paris - and the world - saved. Chateau-Thierry will always be one of the places Americans will remember in the Great War. In after years tourists will visit the quaint old town to see where we struck our first sharp blow to "make the world safe for democracy."