The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-06-28
UTMOST SECRECY HIDES
START OE EXPEDITION
Fleet Gray Painted Slips Silently Away At Night Bear
ing Many Regiments Of Seasoned Soldiers
and Destroyers Escort Transports On Voyage to
French Port.

fThe following was written at the
time OF the departure OF the first
contingent of American troops for
France. and has been held under
voluntary censorship until the war
department at Washington last night
gave permission for its publication)
An Atlantic Port, June.-In the
cold, before-dawn sea drizzle they
sailed Transports bearing Pershing's
force Of American soldiers silently
slipped from their docks and disap-
peaFed seward.
At tn mouth of the channel the
great feet OF battIeships and destroy
| era waited in the darkness to convoy
France.
Aboard. crammed in every corner.
under matches. in close-hung ham,
Knocks. above decks. were the SOL
diers. comprising many regiments.
Reports show that the units came
from every quarter OF the United
States All are sunhurned. seasoned
regulars, picked men-not a single
rookie In the ranks-and a majority
| OF them veterans of Mexican CAM
paigns.
Men clung to rails and riggings like
a swarm of khaki-clad fies. Sailors
and marines took the gangways on
the run in the urgent business of cast
ing of.
Field guns lay in the holds; aero
planes were packed on upper decks.
automobiles and motor trucks formed
another item.
No signs betrayed the departure OF
the feet to sinister watchers.
Ghostly tugs and nying-dutchman
cutters loaded with spectral guards
appeared from nowhere and as in
explicably vanished. Red flare lights
made the waters about the piers a
were. seen for but a passing moment.
One by one they fell in line while
tugs cir>ed about vessels. But sin
gle long green lamp on the masthead
of each ship betrayed her presence:
fog tinted war paint blended hull with
river and night sky. Here signal
light flashed internationally: there a
across the sumner waters from a
crowded deck. plaintive farewell toI
the home land.
The last transport-her name care
fully painted .out and her lines care
fully disguised by false rigging-joinedI
the procession. For moment her
outlines were clear against the pail
Of light and smoke that hung above
the piers as over the mouth OF some
titan furnace. Then she became an
indistinct mass in the shadows of
the stream.
Propellers thrashed with rhythmic
low as the vessel headed into the open
sea to brave the peril Of the U-boats.
The foremost OF the fleet. forgetful OF
her stealthy role. suddenly raised her
voice in a great hoarse, throaty roar.
The brazen note died AWAY last
farewell to the sleeping city behind.
No hlo n Mod the
ships were lost to view. The sound
reached back to the forsaken piers
where a vast crowd Of stevedores and
commissary troops were seeking the
nearest corners and were soon in deep
sleep after a thirty-hour fatigue of
final preparation.
Drowsy officers. bedraggled and
sweaty with toll. staggered into wait
ing automobiles and were whiried
away.
II was in the first days Of June that
troop trains began to discharge at this
port great swarms of men In khaki
Who they were or where they were
bound none was permitted to learn.
Tents sprang up over night and small
camps spread into great tent cities.
Iess fortunate regiments spent more
than a week in cars and railroad
yards.
The men were Still on tTaVel ratlone
hard bread. canned beef. salmon
Jam and coffee-for little cooking
could be done aboard the trains.
Relief soon came from the Red
Cross. which sent rcfreshment parties
but for the most part the men were
uncoinplaining. too excited with the
prospect OF active service to DO de-
pressed. no matter how great the
hardship.
But finally to each cars occupants
would come the orders for which all
waited-an event generally welcomed
by cheer which could be heard for
| miles The order to move generally
came 1T night. on sess than twenty
minutes notice. Men were hustled
aboard the cars. the roll called. the
doore scaled, there was the bump o.
EthA &MGinu mi tn aloW roll ~ tho
~ esk se5s anA - lsess wefe'