On July 15, 1918, 23 divisions of the German First and Third armies launched what was to become the last major German offensive of World War One along the Western Front.  Attached to the French Fourth Army who prepared to receive the brunt of the German assault were American forces of the 42nd Division.  The 42nd had arrived in Europe some eight months previously as one of the first divisions to reach France (part of the American Expeditionary Force [AEF] under command of General John Joseph “Blackjack” Pershing”).  As the German infantry and supporting tanks slammed into the miles of French and American trenches, one member of the 42nd, Sergeant Alfred Joyce Kilmer, must have surveyed the mud and metal about him, committed his soul to God, and prayed for a return to the trees and natural world he enjoyed and eulogized so well in his poetic verse.