New-York tribune., 1919-09-11
By Jack Binns

Row upon row Of ant-like creatures
we're moving in we'll spaced ranks tow
ard the narrow chasm that begins at
Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue.
lnterspersing these rows were the
khki-covered cowls of camions moving
with snail-like progress. Upon the
very edges of the uneven precipices
that form the artificial canyon thou
sands Of other ant-like creatures were
crowded in an attitude of fixed atten-
ton.
Such was the 1st Division parade,
as seen from the third dimension
To the New York Tribune airplane
fell the honor Of showering a vel
come from the skies upon the victor Of
all those hard fought battles that de-
cided the worlds greatest war. And
this was done with q graceful banking
turn far above the Flatiron Building
just as General Pershing, at the head
of the parade, crossed the intersection
of Broadway and Fifth Avenue.
The Compliment From the Air
1t had been our intention to pay an
aerial compliment to General Pershing
just as he passed the reviewing stand
at Eighty-fifth Street, but the heavy
mist which hung over Long Island de-
layed the departure from Mineola. Al
got away at twenty minutes after IL.
The low-lying clouds made the task
Of navigating the machine to the Fifty
ninth Street Bridge difficult, but with
the aid Of our intercom mmunicating tele-
phones we were able to split up the
watch on both sides of the machine.
Sweeping down the avenue at eighty
five miles an hour, the parade seemed
to US to stand in frozen immobiity.
Rapidly We shot past the reviewing
stand to the Plaza Above the vast
that of lightning and the noise we made
was that of thunder. The reverberating
roar of our engine was reechoed back
to us in a clear bass drone.
In the measured space of thirty sec
onds we covered the distance that sep
arates the Plaza from the Public Lii
brary, yet in that brief space there
appeared envisioned below a marvellous
spectacle.
AS Seen From the Air
Upon the roofs, hanging out from
windows and crowding the sidewalks
and side streets were hundreds of
thousands. In each of these short
seconds we saw in turn the crowds
line the avenue north of the Cathe-
dral We saw the privileged crowd
that sat in the stands around St. Pat
rick's Cathedral, a wonderful fringe to
a magnificent edifice. We saw them
clinging to every vantage point on all
the other buildings that turn the ave-
nue. into a gorge. We saw them on the
streets, but, above all, we saw those
serried drab ranks that smote terror
into the heart of the Hun marching in
slow but rhythmic tread.
We saw the Emma Toes" (motor
transports) that but short time ago
seen under similar circumstances
would have been the signal for giant
she'll. But now all was peace, and they
were moving slowly forward, taking
their part in the procession that marked
the victory that each had contributed
to achieve.
At Twenty-third Street we caught ur
with the head Of the procession. Gen
eral Pershing up his charger stooe
out plainly in the isolation of his po-
sition between the mounted platoons
of police and the members of his staff
Depew caught sight of the genera
at the same instant as /, and he quick
ly threw the machine into righ
bank and made a graceful turn. l.
was our courtesy Of respect to the
victor Of st. Mihiel and the Argonne