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1918, thus winning "the decisive episode of the decisive battle
of the war." The 30th Division won more Congressional Medals of
Honor for supreme heroism than any other Division, among these is
Robert Lester Blackwell of Hurdles Mills, N.C., who gave his life
in the effort to carry a message to save his comrades.

178 North Carolinians won the Distinguished Service Cross.
The 81st Division has the proud record of never falling in any
task it was called on to do in the war. It had a shorter battle
experience than the 30th Division, but enough to win for it the
highest commendation from Pershing.

The first American to volunteer in the war, the first to bring
down the German plane, and the originator of the phrase "Lafayette
we are here"was a North Carolina boy, Kiffin Yates Rockwell, who
volunteered for France August 3, 1914 and gave his life September
1916. Besides Rockwell two other North Carolinians, James R.
McConnell, and James Baugham, gave their lives for France in the
Lafayette Escadrille, the largest number of aviators for France
given by any state in the Union.

The highest honored woman in the world is Madelon Battle Hancock
of North Carolina (formerly Madelon Battle) who served through the
entire war as a nurse in Belgium. Brilliant as her record on the
field of battles was, North Carolina equalled this record by patriotic
services at home. In all of the financial drives she overwhelmingly
oversubscribed her quota. In Red Cross work she had over two million
citizens, whose work runs high into the millions of articles furn-
ished and who gave over two million dollars in money. Of the 800
Red Cross members who served in canteen work, not one of them ever
failed to answer and calls made on them, and of the 126 chapters of

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