Secret Agents: "Men who live valiantly and die nobly have a strength and a courage from the eternal Father."

Texas dust swirled fitfully about the small group of temporary buildings comprising Provisional Headquarters of the Third Army, covering the Eighth Corps Area along the southern frontier of the United States. Within the large, frame building which had only been completed an hour or so before dusk, a dozen executive officers sat at a long table. A gray-haired, haggard-featured man in uniform presided. His shoulder straps bore four silver stars--the insignia of a commanding general. Outside, constant streams of infantry and artillery plodded by, the enlisted men---entirely unaware that they were marching to almost certain death. The officers at that table in Provisional Headquarters, however, knew it only too well.... They talked in low, grim tones. There was a strange expression in the eyes of all of them--the look of brave men who know Death waits for them, yet who cannot understand its nature. Most men are willing to fight for a righteous cause against a known force. But it takes brave men indeed to face death in a horrible, unknown manner....