The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-11
Greatest Parade Ever
Witnessed in City of
Big Events.
OVATION EXTEND
ED u. SIS BIO VS.
Millions Welcome First
Soldiers to Go Over,
First to Fight and Last
to Return Home.

New York. Sept. 1o.--The First d.
vision. first to sail for France. first
TO fight and last of the American ex-
peditionary force to come Il m g.
marched down Fifth avenue today. led
by General Pershing. 1t was New
York's first sight of division in full
battle array and the dash and preci-
ssnn with which the various units
moved down the broad crowd lined
Tag bedeckcd avenue was an effective
illustration OF what the arrival Of
Americas iegions' meant to the allies
in 1917.
Many parades have passed along the
famous avenue. but today's was the
most imposing spectacle of all. First
of all, there was Pershing. the ideal
American soldier, the Centaurlike
cavalrymen, the man whose iron will
kept the American forces together and
forced the war to a speedy conclusion;
then there was the worid-famo0s COM
posite regiment. "Pershings pets" $500
strong, marching sixteen abreast. bay
onets aslant In perfect step and per-
feet alignment, a perfect war machine
They marched past the reviewing stand
to the fitting tune, over There" and
drew more cheers along the line than
any other unit Of the division
Then there was the hrst engineers,
IHe men VINO Threw Qo~ their
and shovels and picked up guns to help
the British repel German counter
attack at Cambria.
z Those fellows are not much on
marching" said one spectator. but
they're right there when II comes to
a. fight" and the crowd seemed to
think so, too, and treated the wavering
line to gorgeous applause
The sixteenth infantry. the organi-
Ca ha Grr
American troops On the battle line,
we're there too--those that were left
Wound stripes were many among them
and long service stripes all Voc few.
They. like the composite regiment
marched with perfect alignment and
formed a perfect picture of hghting
unit.
Next in line was the Eighteenth in
fantry the officers and colors deco
rated with the green and rec fourag-
gere OF the croix de guerre. This reg
inent was preceded by a banner pro-
claiming the fact that 1t had stormed
and captured Chaueau Buzaney. near
Scissors.
One OF thesrgyea.est demonstrations
greeted the Twenty eighth infantry.
the regiment which storrned and took
Cantigny on May Is, is17. and held the
position in the face of repeated strong
counter attacks by the Germans This
regiment, like ths Eighteenth, dis
played the fouraggere and was greeted
with volleys OF applause along the six
mile line of march.
Fired First shot.
OF the artillery regiments the Sixth
field artillery. the men who fred the
first shot OF the war on October 20
lsiT, got the greatest applause And
the French 70 from which the shot was
fred was there. guarded by the man
who AIRED it.
The wounded men from the various
hospitals who came down the avenue
In a long line Of automobile got their
share of the applause and showed keen
appreciation Of the great spectacle of
which they were part
The depressing effect of the dull
leaden sky was relieved by the flashes
of color contributed by nags, pennants
red. white and blue streamers. hou-
auets and the gay hues of womens
dresses and hats, The crowd was In
holiday humor and whenever the
khaki-clad lines came to a halt there
were showers of candies. fruit and
cigarettes. Every now and then some
feminine spectator.
with poor control, would make a wild
throw, but usually the soldier boys
showed that they were good feeders.
The parade started promptly at 10
o'clock and the head of the line
reached Washington Arch at 1l:4o.
having started from 10th street, but