The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-28
7 TRANSPORTS IN
WITH 15,1S6 men
Col. William Barclay Parsons
Arrives With Part of
18th Engineers.
SILENT ON SMITHS OFFER
expects to Take Up Question
Of Rapid Transit Commits
siOnership Later.

seven transports from French ports
brourht In yesterday 1876 military
passengers. including Col. William Bar
clay Parsons OF the Eleventh Engineers.
VINO came on the French liner Chicago
with 10 officers and s66 mon Of his regi-
ment distinguished for stemming the
tide at Cambria. Three shipioads Of
wslcomers greeted the Eleventh down
the bay and escorted them to the pier
at West Forty-fourth street Col. Par
sons said about the offer to him by
GOV Smith OF the single headed post Of
Rapid Transit Commissioner:
L cannot talk about that Just now. I
have been away from New York two
years and 1 prefer not to discuss the
subject until later"
The Colonel said he had known that
Gov. Smith intended to make him head
Of the reorganized commission.
The doushboys aboard the Chicago
are not prohibitionists, II the big banner
they held up at the bow of the liner as
she warped in expressed their senti-
ments. In tall letters the banner pro-
claimed: I'VE Want Beer" They got
wine on the Chicago. the same mild sort
That they have been permitted to drink
In France. One OF the greeting craft
was the tug Henry Gillen, flying an
Irish flag, swapping homeward bound
pennant and two banners inscribed
welcome Home. Eleventh Engineers
and Private Lester J. Gillen." Private
Gillen was joshed by his brother SOL
uers who had no relatives owning tug
boats hereabout.
Col. Parsons is the fourth commander
OF the Eleventh Engineers. He said that
he could not 20 into the story Of their
valor. which he truly remarked had been
frequently printed here and elsewhere in
America He was notified Just before the
departure Of the Chicago from bordeaux
that they were authorized to wear FIVE
silver bands on their collars In COM
memoration Of the Ave first class en-
gaEements in which they had taken part {:
Cambria. Gouzeaucourt. st. Mihiel, the
Argonne and the Toul sector.
Youngest Private. II, Home.
The Colonel said his men were sim
ply great, and that it was the proudest
moment In his career to return with
them as their commander. Seven men
received decorations, including Capt
pushed through heavy she'll FIRE on two
occasions and brought back wounded
men to safety. He won the British
Military Medal and the Distinguished
Service Cross, and was promoted from
a sergeant to his present rank
The youngest private In the hospital
outfit which -oames~by the Chicago ie
Frank Saulier OF San Jose. Cal. aged IL
He served as Interpreter at Base Hos
pital .. When his father. Henri Saulier
sailed for France to fight for her In 1871.
the boy went along. sailing on the same
ship that brought him home. He was
cent to school to perfect his French and
enlisted In the American Army as a ma
tive American.
Tho Orizaba and Siboney, which sailed
from Bordeaux on April IS. arrived
about the same hour yesterday. docking
in Hoboken. The airman officially cred
tied with bringing down the last Ger
man plane OF the war arrived by the
Orizaba He is Lieut. Mortimer NJ. Law
renee of the l04th Aero Squadron, and
his own machine with two others thai
were several miles over the German
lines. were taking pictures for map
ping the territory. Sixteen German
planes attacked them, and they headed
for home and got there undamaged. The
luckiess Boche fier who few above the
Lieutenants machine, hoping TO bring 1t
down, was hit by a machine gun bullet
fred by him and went crashing to earth.
Major James A. Mellinger, telephone
engineer. who went to France with the
4oTth Telegram Battalion. returned by
the Siboney. He said the happiest per-
sons in France we're the 800 New York
telephone girls who went abroad with
him. They run the exchanges in Bor-
deaux, Paris. ST. Nazaire. Brest and
Chaumont.
The Major says the girls are just
crazy about France, are treated almost
regaily and not one of them that he saw
lust before he left wanted to come home.
even II they are not allowed to go any
place except In pairs and always chap
eroned by matron. The MAJOR SAID
the French people would have far bet
ter telephone system than they had be
fore II they worked II as the Americans
were doing.
Most of the troops arriving by the
steamship Santa Clara belong TO the
Fifteenth Engineers, nearly all recruited
in Pittsburg and made up mostly OF
high school students and college men.
4 delegation of home towners went
down the bay and hailed the boys with
the wells Of their particular student
other side in July. 1917, and went to
work building piers and constructing
500 miles OF railway and 200 war huts.
Their heaviest job was putting up cold
storage plant with q capacity for 5000
tons OF meat.
The Cape May returned with the
Twelfth Engineers. recruited at st. Louis
and locked at the Bush Terminal
Brooklyn. They served with the British
about a year. building and running light
railways When the British retreated In
July, 1918, some OF the engineers. who
were on duty at many places on the
front, got lost. but later returned to their
command, which finally went with the
Seventy-seven Division. Their losses
were small.
The Fifty-eighth Coast Artillery. orig
inally the old Eighth. came home by the
santa Barbara. landing IN Brooklyn, un'
der command OF Col. w. T. Carpenter OF
the Regulars. They reached France or
May 10 last year. and after intensive
training were put on the Metz-Toul soc
tor. They intended to shell Metz In the
latter part OF October. but found thai
their eight inch guns would not carry tc
that objective.