The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon. (Canon City, Colo.) 1911-192?, 1919-09-25
THE PERSHING PARAD!
By Max Hardy

divisions which served under him.
Then came the First division. First
the commanding general and mis- star,
followed by the band and then the
full equipment and wore his helmet.
This was the First Machine Gun Bat
TALON, which was followed by a signal
battalion and the First Infantry bri-
gade. led by Brig. Gen. Frank Parker.
Gen. Parker's wife is a niece of Mrs.
T. NJ. Harding
Following the two infantry bri-
gades was the field artiI cry This
was the interesting part of the parade
to me. l have seen many pa
rades Of soldiers before, out never had
chance to see the artillery or other
special equipment.
There were all types of guns from
the small one-pounders and trench
mortars to the heavy French 75s and
our 115-mil.imster cannon. While a
few guns were drawn by mules. most
of these units had been motorized be-
fore the end of the fighting. and these
guns were drawn by tractors in the
parade. One of the interesting fea-
lures was the comparative small num-
Der of horse or mule-drawn wagons or
guns Nearly all of the supply and
ammunition trains have been motor
lied and there is a very small place
left Tor the animals.
In this outfit was the gun that nred
the Hrst shot of the American troops
in France. and Sergt Arch. who is Of
ficial1y credited with firing that shot.
Following the Field Artillery was
the Ammunition train and the supply
trains- This section was all motor
ized.3 For the most part ii was made
up q the huge hooded trucks. but
herei and there was a small detach-
ment of gasoline trucks. In a division
thera are $500 vehicles. and the ma
torfty OF these are mo-or trucks. Sew
eral Of these trucks had their mascot
little dog. displayed on the hood of
the machine. Each one of these that
saw was barking back,at the people
who were cheering him. seeming to
enjoy II as much as did Gen Pershing.
To make the who t-ling as inter
esting as possible TO the oniookers,
everything in these sections of the pa
radefwas labeled. When anythine
unusual appeared. it was preceded by
signs telling what it was and for what
It was used.
You will remember the tank that
was exhibited in Canon City last win
ter. There were 2s of these little
whippet tanks that counted AL
though the crowd was about out from
shouting. the tanks brought more than
their share of applause. One of them
got stalled in the street. and VIII n the
parade was over. such crowd col
lected around il that all traffic was
held up and person on foot could
hardly get by.
The last section of the line was
composed of the special equipment
In this we saw carpenter shops. mo-
tor repair shops and machine shops of
many kinds all mounted on huge mo-
tor trucks. There was complete
steam laundry in several sections
The parts Were mounted on trailers
and were pulled by large steam trac-
tor There were pontoons and pile
drivers and all other equipment for
the construction of bridges Every
thing was carried on trucks or pulled
by tractors.
This was the end of the grand re-
view. And these $4,000 men and all
this equipment that took more than
three hours 10 pass. was only a very
small part of the whole of our forces,
less than l per cent OF our fghting
machine.
II was not the greatest review ever
held. Ffty-four years ago Gen. Sher.
man reviewed the Northern Army in
their last great parade. which marked
the end of the Civil War. Two hun.
dred thousand men took part in this
parade and il took two days for he
whole number to pass the reviewing
stand. But the significance of this
last celebration is the same. II
marked the successful closing of the
greatest of wars and the return of our
triumphant armies to their homes. The
cheers that Gen. Pershing and the
First division received In front OF the
White House yesterday typ.nes the
welcome of the people Of the United
States to the boys who have finished
the job: and everyone who was there
caught the spirit OF the occasion and
made II a real homecoming day. II
was an affair that ! shall rememebr
all my life.
English Railroad