[Illustration:  Two noted partisans of the allies in the great world war:  Mrs. J.H.H.  SENGSTACKE, and her famous son, Robert SENGSTACKE Abbott, editor and publisher of the Chicago defender.  It was Mrs. SENGSTACKE who, when the defender had reached the one hundred thousand mark of its circulation, started the press that ran off the edition, flaming with cheer an inspiration for “Our boys” In the trenches “Over there.”]

[Illustration:  Reunited and happy.  Lieut.  Colonel Otis B. Duncan of 8th Illinois (370th infantry), who came out of the war the ranking negro in the American expeditionary forces; his father and mother.]

[Illustration:  Miss Vivian Harsh, member Chicago chapter of canteen workers, passing out smokes to returned soldiers of 8th Illinois (370th infantry).]

[Illustration:  Officers of 8th Illinois (370th infantry).  Decorated by French for gallantry in action.  Left to right.  Lieut.  Thomas A. Painter, Capt.  Stewart Alexander, lieut.  Frank Robinson.]

For the valor shown both were cited for the Distinguished Service Cross.  Lieutenant Campbell’s superiors also took the view that in that particular instance the life of a brave soldier was of more importance than the dispatch of a message, for as a result, he was recommended for a captaincy.

Another single detail taken from the same Company I: 

John Baker, having volunteered, was taking a message through heavy shell fire to another part of the line.  A shell struck his hand, tearing away part of it, but the Negro unfalteringly went through with the message.

He was asked why he did not seek aid for his wounds before completing the journey.  His reply was: 

     “I thought that the message might contain information that would
     save lives.”

Has anything more heroic and unselfish than that ever been recorded?  Nature may have, in the opinions of some, been unkind to that man when she gave him a dark skin, but he bore within it a soul, than which there are none whiter; reflecting the spirit of his Creator, that should prove a beacon light to all men on earth, and which will shine forever as a “gem of purest ray serene” in the Unmeasurable and great Beyond.