April 3, 1918 - Visit to Gen. Edwards, 26th Division, and to prisoner camp

Don Martin diary entry for Wednesday, April 3, 1918:

Went with [Edwin] James [New York Times] to Menil la Tour to see the 26^th Division which has come there to replace the 1^st. Watched an observation balloon crew operate. Went to Boucq where General [Clarence Ransom] Edwards [Commander, 26th Division] is quartered in a chateau about 800 years old.

Gen. Clarence Ransom Edwards in 1917

Gave a French interpreter named Maillot a ride back. Stopped for an hour on way back in a prison camp. Went all through it. Talked with prisoners who have been astonished at passing miles and miles of Americans. “Who will win the war?” I asked a young prisoner. “I am a German,” he said. Cabled couple stories to N.Y. and couple to Paris also to be relayed. Got no reply from Bennett regarding getting accredited. In evening at club sat for several hours with Ray Carroll [Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger], Floyd Gibbons [Chicago Tribune], Jeremy Cobb, Martin Green [New York Evening World], [Bairns father] and several officers.

Armies quiet in Picardy.

Weather pleasant – 1^st one in some time.

In the coming several months, there would be general recognition that the ‘big four’ American war correspondents were Ray Carroll of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, Floyd Gibbons of the Chicago Tribune, Martin Green of the New York Evening World and Don Martin of the New York Herald. April 3 might have been the first time the four of them were together.

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