Harold Bacon Ware
Pi

Word of Brother Ware’s death was received on November 21 by his father, Dr. Horace B. Ware, of Scranton, Pa., and came from his captain, Robert Williams, also of Scranton. Since the receipt of the cable message the father and mother of Brother Ware have received from many of our Brother’s comrades and through many sources information as to the standing of the young man in the company, his devotion to duty, his manliness and his courage.

Tonight I called at the Ware home and his father and mother took delight, even in their sorrow, in recalling the zeal the young Brother had in his Fraternity life. His mother, Mrs. Ware, wears Brother Ware’s Fraternity pin which was found on his clothes near Calais, France.

Brother Ware was an undergraduate at Lehigh when the war broke out. He enlisted for service March 25, 1918, was in training at Miami, Fla., until June. He sailed for France on August 1, 1918. During his service in France, the young man, to provide smokes and good things for his fellows in the headquarters company, managed successfully a canteen for the company, doing this in addition to his military duties.

The following letter, signed by nine of Brother Ware’s comrades, gives some idea of their feeling towards him:

France, November 13, 1918.

My Dear Mrs. Ware:

There is little that I can offer in the way of condolence, but we who have worked and lived with your son want you to know that we think of you, his mother, and his family at this time.

As a man among men, we know him as ‘Ware,’ and his going leaves an empty place in the outfit that cannot be filled. When life seemed pretty hard ‘over here’ and there was no tobacco or chocolate— and tobacco and chocolate mean more than food to the soldiers in the field—it was Ware who spent his time, energy and money in getting these comforts for us. Upon his own initiative he ran a canteen for the men, with little or no reward other than knowing that he was helping to keep up the spirits of the men thousands of miles away from home.

This has been a tremendous war, and millions of men have been given to win victory for liberty. Until you have seen France and stricken Belgium and the French and Belgian people you can never realize what the words “for liberty” mean, but we know that the whole world must forever pay homage to the man who made the great sacrifice for liberty. If you can come to know what the victory means, then it must be some recompense to know that your son was one of the heroic men who made possible that victory.

It was not hard for the men to undergo the hardships of war, because they stand side by side with other brave men, but to those at home, particularly the mothers, is left the greatest burden. It is the noble mothers of America, England, France, Belgium and Italy who have given noble sons that the credit is due. With our expression of sympathy we want to pay our respects to you as one of the noble mothers of this war.

Ware was a good soldier and a man worthy of the uniform of the United States Marines. No greater tribute can be paid him.

We offer our very sincere respect and sympathy to the family of Ware, a man who gave his all and gave it cheerfully for the greatest cause that men have ever given for.

Sincerely,

(Signed by Charles S. Schloss, private; Lawrence M. McCauley, private; David