It's a much over-used word these days, iconic, but it's hard to avoid it when when looking at a picture of William O. Darby, Colonel, U.S. Army, astride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle as he rides off to lead his men into action. They may have started their war as boys, but you can be sure they were men before it was over. And the right word is lead them, not command them. For the colonel never ordered his troops into battle. He led them, as befits any commander.
If the colonel needed any words at all, they would have been Follow Me, but it remains doubtful he needed many. For his men would have followed him anywhere. And they just about did--clear across Italy and much of North Africa. The man was a one-man advance guard, beachhead and War Department all by himself.
A country can never have enough such heroes or enough occasions on which to celebrate their valor. As the people of Fort Smith, Ark., well know, for they're just concluded another observance of the colonel's exploits. May there be many more to come, for not just one generation needs its heroes, and legends don't die. They are only continued.
Editorial on 05/07/2016