people in America I send you greetings upon the occasion of your departure for active service. We are proud of you. You have realized that the greatest service you can render at this time to the cause of humanity and of our dear native land is to put on the uniform and fight German militarism with gun and grenade. We who give some of our time and money to the cause dear to us all admire you and look up to you as men who offer the highest service—your own lives.
We know that you will render a good account of yourselves in the difficult days ahead of you. Perhaps you will fight somewhere near Arras or in Champagne, where two years ago the first Bohemian volunteers covered with glory the white and red flag with the silver lion of Bohemia.
The Bohemian National Alliance sends you a flag of the country in which we were born. Our great Havlíček said: My colors are red and white, my ideal are bravery and purity. You will fight as men, not as German barbarians, and you will be bravest among the brave. The Bohemian company in the Canadian forces will be a worthy associate of Bohemian volunteers in the other Allied armies.
For humanity and civilization, and for liberation of Bohemia.
Fight the good fight and return victorious.”
Joseph Tvrzický, Bohemian secretary of the Alliance, addressed the volunteers in their own tongue, and had the whole assemblage, including those who did not understand Bohemian, wiping away tears.
General Sir Sam Hughes, who inspected the recruits, stated that of all the foreign volunteers in the armies of the Allies, Bohemians were first.
The Bohemian company entrained April 22, and their last message to the Bohemian National Alliance stated that they would carry the flag until they planted it on the Hradčany castle in Prague.
