The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-09-10
FIRST DIVISION
VICTORY PARADE
General Pershing at Head Of
Procession Through Streets
of New York
City.
TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND
People from Every State In Union
Mingle With Citizens Of Me-
tropoIis to Greet Cru
saders.
TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND
by Frank ]. Taylor. United Press
Staff CORRESPONDENT.

by Frank ]. Taylor. United Press
Staff Correspondent
NEW YORK, Sept. 10.-The FArst
division, first in France and first in
battle, today was first in the hearts
of its countrymen-
Over ground hallowed by the blood
OF their forefathers, who gave their
lives for American liberty, these $4,000
young crusaders, whose brothers suve
their lives for world liberty, tramped
through long lines of massed humanity
to the accompaniment of reSoundlng
cheers At their head rode Pershihs,
New York had opened its arms to it's
| own divisions-the Twepty-seyenth
and Seventy-seventh-b todays cere-
mony took on national reception &C
corded the First Intermingled with
the hundreds Of thousands Of New
| Workers were representatives OF every
state in the union, who had come here
to see the First and Pershing.
The parade was scheduled to leave
10th street at ten o'clock A few min
utes before that hour, Pershing and
his staff rode up to the starting point.
There the division. in full equi pment.
was bivouaced with its artillery and
kindred engines of war-turning the
prosaic avenue and park into a strik-
| ing replica Of city Of wartime
France.
At the stroke of the hour, Black
Jack" Pershing gave a sharp COM
mand, the shapeless mass Of olive drab
| began to assume form and the o1vi-
sion, with the general and his staff at
their head, began to move down the
avenue with machine like precision.
This was a signal that galvanized the
crowds into action and shout went
| up that drowned the strains of a
quick step which the division band
had struck up.
| Grim and erect, Pershing gazed
fixedly ahead as he rode. seemingly
| unconscious of the personal tributes
showered upon him. His mount
| heightened by the noise, became I'M
ruly, but the general refined 1t into
quiet submission.
Behind the general rode two non
commissions, one bearing the STARS
and Stripes" the other Pershing's four
starred pennant
Then came his staff, followed by the
famous Composite regiment repre-
senting practically every unit in The
A. e. F., which participated in the
London and Paris victory parades."
More than one thousand wounded
men of the First, borne in automobiles,
were next in line. They were show
cred with flowers, cigarettes and can
dies.
There followed rank after rank of
infantry, artillery and machine gun
ners, supply and hospital trains, and
all other sections of the division.
A heavy mist lowering low over the
earth cast grimness over the NOV.
ing battalions that the gay decorations
and the enthusiasm of the crowds
could not dispel.,
The doughboys, their backs bent
under sixty pound packs, with bayo-
nets fixed and shrapnel helmets
pulled forward at a business-like angle,
plodded along at the semi-shuffling
gait that had been acquired by long
months of hiking in the mud and ruck
of France. 1t was not so snowy as a
parade ground step, but it had reals.
tic air that gripped the crowds as
nothing else could.
Near Forty-second street, several
hundred wounded of other divisions.
, still under treatment in military hos
pitfalls, were grouped.
At the end of each hour, the divt-
sion halted for ten minute rest.
These periods were the occasion for
impromptu receptions to the soldiers
by the admiring throngs. The parade,
it was estimated would require six
hours in passing.
When Pershing reaching Forty-sec.
ond street, hundreds of wounded sol
diers on benches and wheel chairs
there struggled to their feet and salut,
ed their commander in chief. Manned
and crippled as they were, they were
still imbued with the spirit that had
conquered the flower of the Prussian
army. Many legless among them were
lifted fro mtheir seats by marines
to give the salute. 1t was a spectacle
that brought tears to the eyes OF
many.
But the time Pershing had reached
tho 'Victory Arch practically all the
men in line were wearing flowers flung