In the moment of laying aside the uniform there surged through the heart of every member of Battery D emotions too deep for words.

The rainy days and mud of France were at last a thing of the past. Yes, truly a thing of the past to those staunch comrades who survived not the ordeal to return home.

Those who survived and returned home, have had an invaluable experience. With memories of those experiences there will always linger the thoughts and associations of departed comrades.

As battery members they all toiled together in France for a common cause. All shared the common thought of seeing the war period through bravely, then to return home, bigger, better and stronger as a soldier-citizen.

The comrades of Battery D whose lives were cut short by the Grim Reaper when they were at the height of their development as trained soldiers, all cherished thoughts of getting back home. They gave expression to such thoughts in their letters home.

Joseph A. Loughran, in a letter written to his parents just before he was stricken with the illness to which he succumbed, wrote these words: "Save a couple of chairs for my wife and myself at the Xmas dinner table, for God willing we will surely be there."

In another portion of the same letter Private Loughran wrote: "Oh, boy, won't it be great to get back home again after going through all the trials that I had. If any one told me a few years ago that I could go through what I have and still be as healthy as I am, I would not believe them. I am as healthy as an ox and weigh 180 pounds."

Thus it is that thoughts of departed comrades stir emotions too deep for words; emotions that flood the heart with memorials that will live on as silent tributes to the worth of those who gave up their lives while in the service of their country.