Sheperd, Jr. It is with mixed emotion that I return today to this historic landmark, to join with all of you in paying tribute to the Marines who fought so successfully in the crucial battle that made the name Belleau Wood famous the world over. I am deeply saddened by the memory of those brave Marines with whom I served, and who made the supreme sacrifice here in this very Wood for the cause of freedom.
Names and faces of many of my friends remain clear in my mind. I would like to feel that they are with us in spirit today as we dedicate this Memorial which will stand as a lasting reminder to their sacred memory.
It is a source of gratification, however, that the Memorial we are about to dedicate -- standing on French soil so near to the heart of a great nation -- will constitute one more symbol of the close and friendly relationship which the people of the United States and France have always shared and cherished. On 14 June , when the first elements of the 4th Marine Brigade set sail for France to assist the heroic French Armies in stemming the tide against an enemy threatening to overrun this nation, the American people felt we were repaying part of a long standing debt we owed to France.
It was my privilege to have been a member of this first contingent of American troops to land at St. Nazaire and I recall the warm reception given us by our French Allies. I also vividly recall almost a year later the desperate situation that existed immediately prior to the commitment of the 4th Marine Brigade into this sector on the 1st of June On May 26 th , the third great German offensive of that year broke through the defenses of the Chemin Des Dames and caused a general withdrawal of Allied troops along the entire Aisne Front.
Within a few days Soissons and Chateau Thierry had fallen and the Germans were about to cross the Marne and march on toward Paris. The advance of the German Armies was marked by the bodies of fallen French soldiers.
