New-York tribune., 1919-05-01
1900 of Men Who Dropped
Their Picks aud Slaovels
for Rifles Are Given
Warn. Welcome in Parade
Colonel Marches ON Foot
Commander Later Bids
Goodby at a Dinner in
I the Pennsylvania Hotel

New York City fittIngly welcomed
and thanked the 1ith Engineers yester-
day.
Thirteen hundred of these men, who
fought and built in twenty-five months
of overseas service, marched between
cheering thousands along Fifth Ave-
nue from Ninety~sixtA to Thiryt-fourth
Street
The volume OF cheering swelled to a
steady roar as the deeds of the march
ers flashed into the minds OF the spec
tators. Wounds sustained when the
men tossed away their picks and
shovels and took up their rifles and
made their stand were presented in
the generous sprinkling Of golden
stripes oa right sleeves
Colonel on Foot
Colonel William Barclay Parsons
marched WITH his staff az the head Of
his command. He was accompanied by
Lieutenant Colonel Wilaiam T. Cheva-
lSer. Major Charles D. Drew led the
first battalioa and Major B. A Value
the second.
The reviewing stand on the west side
Of Fifth Avenue bore cheering bur
den Of relatives and friends The
stands had been thrown open to the
public The official reviewers were
opposite Eighty~second Street Gov
ernor and Mrs Smith, Mayor Hylan,
Deputy Police Commissioner Rodman
Wanamaker, Brigadier General F. V.
Abbott and Major General D. c. Shanks,
in charge of the port of embarkation at
Hoboken, were included in the review
ing party
Applause shook the stands when the
regimental standards swept by, each
shimmer'ing with the FIVE silver bands
denoting official citations by General
Pershing. .'Mique,7 the sole regimental
mascot, trotted along at the heels of
his colonel, proudly declsed in blanket
wound stripes.
AT Thirty-fourth Street the men
swung off the avenue and proceeded to
the Pennsylvania Hotel, where dinner
was served It was rendered by the
Military Engineering Society. Arms
were stacked in tho small ballroom, and
the men fled to the large ballroom on
the 1nezandnc floor.
g. Waldo Smith, chairman Of the din
ner and head OF the Military Engineer
ing Society, Introduced Colonel Par
sons. He told OF the pride Of the en-
gtneering profession in the deeds of
tf1 men Colonel Parsons declared
that two things in the regiments war
career had almost escaped the notice
OF the public
Held Germans Back
"a year ago last March, he said.
when the Germans began their great
offensive, Ainging masses OF men be-
tween the British and French line,
which bent and fell back, hut-thank
Godl-never broke, and when General
Pershing was told that two regiments
OF engineers we're needed at the very
front, there vas never any question
about the first regiment chosen-it
was the 11th- They thought for some
time before electing the second reri-
ment
.sghe other thing Is the rise Of the
enlisted men, Sixty-eight became com
Inissioned officers during the war
Colonel Parsons declared that sin
spite OF the things being done in
Paris, don't fool yourselves into think
ing that wars are thing of the past
and told the men to be prepared to
answer the coanuy's call at any time
In the future
The regiment Left for Camp Upton
after the dinner and will be demobil-
lied within three days