New-York tribune., 1918-12-25
Liner France
Brings 3 ;3>,;;5'4l
Soldiers Home
Wounded Troops Murmur
of "Nlisn,anagcmeni" and
"Mix-Up" Over Landing
Delaved Hours in Rain
New York, Pennsylvania
and Illinois Fighters Met
hv Few as Boat Docks

drsb shin gloomy within and
,sthcut steamed up the harbor yester-
s,v with sick and wounded Americans
,,Om overseas. She was the France,
amer crack flyer of the French Line
.,s now tropship aud auxiliary
.-r,ser. Every Granny that could hold
cot hsrbored q wounded Americans.
Something was wrong somewhere.
The sick and wounded crawled around
,srourh dark alleys cursing the
rea.her, the delay in getting ashore,
md everything generally. Even those
ebo escaped bullets ana disease
-nmblad over the "mismanagement"
hat held them for hours on the
threshold Of home,
"This is certainly hell of Christ
mas Eve erunted one youth as he
sssed 3 stiff and bandaged leg into a
tot and rolled over on his side.
No one cared to say what the "mix
~ or the 'mismanagement" was that
5sld them for fully four hours aboard
he ship after she had reached her
pier, but the crouch was everywhere.
Despite the request of the Navy De
vartment that boat captains tone down
me volume Of siren and whistle sa-
lutes in the harbor, the France got a
rociferous welcome from river and bay
,raft
Bothered Little by Rain
The rain didn't bother the soldiers
much. The United States looked so
rood to about thousand of them that
hey climbed the masts and the funnel
lsdders and thronged every bit of avail
;be deck space to get a glimpse of
america again. The rain fell in tor
nnts all the way from Quarantine, but
the drenched figures in khaki stuck
vhere they were until the France made
fast in dock.
As the liner warped in, the soldiers
tbeered to Red Cross canteen women,
group Of longshoremen and q few
Isporters. There were few others to
reet them.
One soldier waved his hands and
shouted. "Who won the war?" Then
gth the precision of a college yell
came the answer from a thousand
,hroats. "The Y. NJ. C. Al
This was followed by calls from the
soldiers for three cheers for the Sal
yaton Army. The response was ter
rife. The Red Cross and the <. of c.
got q similar response. There were
boo 70 rthe Y. NJ. c.. A
3.54l Soldiers Aboard
The France brought over $50 officers
and S.191 men. They were made up
argey of men of the 28th Pennsyl-
vania division, with some troops from
Illinois and the Seventy seventh, New
York
Conspicuous among the wounded was
Lieutenant Earl ". Porter, of the
French Escadrille, whose home is in
Omaha, and whose jaw and anatomy
generally has puzzled the French and
American surgeons.
he got the Distinguished Service
Cross for "a trihing thing" as he de-
crbed it, while flying over the German
ines at Lassigny, on August 9. This
"trifing" thing, however, was regarded
as one of the most spectacular and
1azardous enterprises of the Mont
older drive.
This is his modest narrative of the
eat that won for him g citation from
General Gouraud and brought the Dis
'lngushed Service Cross:
MY mate and | were ordered to do
sone straf bombing over the German
ines at Lassigny," he said, "and we
aid il. We had flown low for. about
forty kilometres within German terri
tory, when we sighted column of
marching troops. We soon got close
over them and let them have all the
bombs we had.
Four Teeth Knocked Out
lust as the OBJ was finished and we
ascsnded, something hit me in the
hroat just above the adams apple.
ielt sharp pain all around my back,
md four teeth feel out of my mouth.
The bullet had come from a Fokker
hat, with four others, had come out
% get US. There were four on our tail
and one above us. 1t was this fellow
above who had shot me in the jaw
Well, got him and sent him down in
Hames. Then I got one Of the four on
my tail and sent him spinning down
ne other three flew back to their base