Croix de Guerre.

Meanwhile, he wrote interesting letters home. And his point of view
changed, even as does the point of view of all Americans who visit
Europe. From the attitude of an adventurous spirit anxious to see the
excitement, his letters showed a new belief that any one who goes to
France and is not able and willing to do more than his share--to give
everything in him toward helping the wounded and suffering--has no
business there.

And as time went on, still a new note crept into his letters; the
first admiration for France was strengthened and almost replaced by a
new feeling--a profound conviction that France and the French people
were fighting the fight of liberty against enormous odds. The new
spirit of France--the spirit of the "Marseillaise," strengthened by a
grim determination and absolute certainty of being right--pervades
every line he writes. So he gave up the ambulance service and enlisted
in the French flying corps along with an ever-increasing number of
other Americans.

The spirit which pervades them is something above the spirit of
adventure that draws many to war; it is the spirit of a man who has
found an inspiring duty toward the advancement of liberty and humanity
and is glad and proud to contribute what he can.

His last letters bring out a new point--the assurance of victory of a
just cause. "Of late," he writes, "things are much brighter and one
can feel a certain elation in the air. Victory, before, was a sort of
academic certainty; now, it is felt."