The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-01-11
U. S. S. Marlborough,
December 18th, 1918.

December 18th, 1918.
NY Dearest Homefolks
have just returned from proba-
bly, the greatest spectacle, the most
wonderful exhibition and the larg-
est fete that | shall ever behold. It
is one of the times in my life which
has been crowded with events to real
ly and candidly say, that ] do not
have sufficient grasp Of the English
language to describe it.
Very few service people realized
before the events the greatness of
the occasion but "doped" out that
lit was a chance Of lifetime, and it
was. went to Brest from L'Orient
to see the arrival of the fleet. !
stood upon the hill of the ancient
Chateau, and there on a gloomy day,
the huge shapes of our most formi-
Edable dreadnaughts doomed up in
line ahead, the Pennsylvania leading.
They fianked the George Washington.
Ny heart certainly swelled with true
American pride, as | gazed upon the
most powerful feet ever in the har-
Dor of Brest, escourting our Presi-
dent to a foreign, yet a welcome
shore, to a people who desired with
all the fullness of their hearts to see
the embodiment of our Nation; to
gaze upon the man Of whom they
had read so much and heard of so
often. There were also escourting,
Men of War of all the Allied Coun-
tries and fifteen mine sweepers, with
fifty destroyers. The town was dec
crate d with great banners amid palms
ard the road to the station was lined
with the people of Brittany in their
quaint, varigated costumes-each
country has a different costume.
They wear quaint little lace caps and
wooden shoes, and the most striking
thing was that they all had little
American flags worked in their hair,
and many carried them in their
hands. Along the road banners in
English were displayed, with the
words, France welcomes the Great
American" "The Father of Modern
Democracy" "The Champion Of a
Free People" "The Liberator of the
World" General Pershing and AID
miral Simms, with Miss Margaret
Wilson, rode down just before Wilson
landed, to meet him.
Suddenly the whole battleship feet
started firing their Twenty-one guns,
the Presidential salute, simultaneous
ly, and the President with his suite
left his ship on specially prepared
barge. He made a short speech when
he first touched French soil, and rode
off in a carriage, seated upon an
American flag, The people went
mad; they were deeply touched, some
of them, many Of them cried and
shouted. He FASTENED to his train
which waited at the station and left
for Paris. / could scarcely reach
Imy train, which followed his shortly
for the crowd. Of course, / had
made all reservations. it also was 3
Especial train. Then little episode
occurred. Some newspaper mer
were not allowed to make it. / over
heard their conversation and fell
IsoTy for them, since many of then
had come from San Francisco, Chic
ago, New York, etc, to get to Paris
to see the welcome. The Provost
Marshal at the station being par
Iticular friend Of mine in Frisco, lei
them by as a courtesy to me. They
had no compartment so they shared
mine, and until | had boarded the
train | had never realized that ] haC
aided the staff correspondents to tn,
greatest American and English Dai
lies. They could not be too kind tx
me. A young lady friend of min,
met me in Paris with a limousine
/ was compelled to take "Dejeunei
avec elle," at the Continental Hotel
/ afterwards lunched and dined will
my correspondents, secured tickets tt
the Hotel De Vile for the next day