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155 coMINg hoMe aNd the War’s legacy While the soldiers of the old 7th Texas and their comrades in the 142d Infantry and the 36th Division reflected on their experiences and tried to put into words what they had seen and felt, the press and other observers quickly picked up on the division’s exploits. For example, Gen. Stanislas Naulin, commander of the French XXI Corps, under whom the 36th Division served for a time, wrote to General Smith while the regiment was still at the front. Naulin wrote that Smith’s “young soldiers … rivaling, in push and tenacity with the older and valiant regiments of General Lejeune, accomplished their mission fully. All can be proud of the work done.” Naulin also expressed “appreciation, gratitude, and best wishes for future successes. The past is an assurance of the future.” This was followed shortly after the armistice by the governors of Texas and Oklahoma, who sent telegrams to General Smith. Governor Hobby wrote that “all Texas is proud of her brave sons and rejoices over their wonderful achievements.” From his perspective, the soldiers of the old 7th Texas had carved their own place in Texas military history.1 The press soon published Naulin’s remarks and quite a few newspapers picked up the story. In fact, accounts of the division’s actions began appearing even before it had made its successful assault against Forest Farm. Of course, much of this praise found outlets in Texas, where newspapers across the state quickly picked up on the division’s activities, and even the New York Times carried the story of the division under the title “Texans heroic in first battle.”2 The Wichita Daily Times printed the Associated Press story that focused on the exploits of both the 2d and 36th Divisions and considered their contributions 8 156 TheY CALLeD TheM SOLDIeR BOYS to the fighting in the Champagne region as “the most glorious contribution of American military history in this war.” While overstating the importance of the role of those two divisions, it is clear that the communities back in Texas began to perceive the division’s actions as a monumental effort to be written into the lore of Texas and U.S. military history. The Associated Press report also specifically praised the 36th as it was “new to fighting and without ever having heard shell fire before, the division withstood the most bitter German counterattacks without flinching,” a theme which only served to add luster to the division’s actions in the minds of many Texans. Other Texas papers soon echoed the Associated Press article. The Dallas Morning News wrote the division’s exploits were being celebrated across Texas because “Texans and Oklahomans knew all the time that the 36th Division would at once begin the winning of the war when they got into action.” In Quanah, the Tribune-Chief headline blared: “Panhandle Kids Swept Prussian Veterans before them.”3 All such articles, although not completely accurate, served to shape the way that Texans perceived “their soldier boys” as they prepared to return home. This magnification of the division, while understandable, and propagated to a certain extent by the soldiers themselves, resulted in some of the soldiers referring to themselves as that “famous outfit of Texas Rangers and Oklahoma ranchers and oil men” whose “smartness and snap” in saluting made them “famous all through the AEF.” One soldier of the 133rd Machine Gun Battalion cited praise from the Marines that they fought with at Saint Etienne. As that soldier put it, although the Marines fought on “five different fronts … we had the men with the ‘guts.’ Nothing can stop them, and when the Marines give it to a bunch of National Guardsmen, you may rest assured that they are the real thing.”4 Later, when General Smith returned to the United States, Fort Worth officials held a dinner in his honor, and he too contributed to the magnified view of the division when he spoke of his soldiers’ “fighting character.” Smith considered the division’s officers “too brave” and the soldiers too “eager to follow their leaders, regardless of the danger.” Smith also highlighted his own longstanding “interest in Texas” because his grandfather was a cousin of Sam Houston. General Smith remarked on the “marvelous physique of the Texans and Oklahomans” and was impressed by “the spirit of the men.” Replacements received by the division looked like “weaklings” compared to the Texans and Oklahomans. According to General Smith, “the world...

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