The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-05-03
A Great Celebration
All: Sumter County Turned Out
To Welcome Home the Re-
turned Soldiers

dia. most enthusiastic and most
unanimous The crowd that filed
! Sumter Monday from early morning
until late evening and thronged the
streets along the line Of parade. and
attended the exercises al the Fair
Grounds, was the largest and at the
same time the most Representative
eatherin" Of The white ci,D:fltss,iip ot
Sumter county that the WRITER has
ever seen in this city at one time.
| There have been larger crowds here
! but never so many white people. 1t
was a testimonial Of honor and respect
| for the mon who gave their service
and dedicated their lives to the cause
OF their country that the returned SOL
dier could not have failed to feel deep
ly and to appreciate.
The programme arranged by the
committees in charge Of the celebra-
ton was carried out with clock-like
precision and it was the general COM
ment that the affair was one Of the
best managed and most successfully
executed that Sumter has ever staged.
! The parade was formed at the foot
of Main street and moved promptly
Fat | o'clock. the hour appointed The
line was headed by the military band
from Camp Jackson. then came the
several detachments III the following
order: Sumter Light Infantry Re-
serves. Naval detachment. Sumter
High School Battalion. Army men Of
the various branches Of the service
and then the Tank
hTe parade moved up Main street,
which was elaborately decorated with
a multitude of flags Of the allied ma
tions that united to put the Hun out
of business. and then through Warren
Washington and Liberty to the Fair
| Grounds.
AT the Fair Grounds, where a crowd
Of four to five thousand filled the
grand stand massed in front Of it, the
exercises were opened with the invo-
cation by Rev. G. c. Brown. Mr.. Da-
Wis d. Noise who acted as master of
ceremonies introduced Mayor L. D.
Jennings who made brief address
Of welcome in which he expressed the
feeling that impellcd the people of
Sumter county to unite in this man
ner to place on record a public teSti-
monial of the respect and love they
felt for our boys, and their thanks
giving for the safe return of those
whom we welcome home with glad
ness.
Sergeant Larkin of the 9th Divis-
ion (New York National Guards
which division was trained at Camp
Wadsworth. Spartanburg, and with
the Goth Division. had the dearly
bought honor Of breaking the Hin
denburg line. next made brief ad-
dress telling of his experiences in
France. He lost a leg in this drive.
Then followed Private Ceiner. of the
Der of the 167 Alabama Regiment.
and saw hard fighting on several
fronts in France. He was in the
great St MihieI drive and it was
there on the sixth day Of the drive
that he lost one OF his legs. In the
fight that he was wounded, he was the
only one of his machine gun detach
ment that came out alive
Dr. j. a. Rice was next introduced
to make the chief, address Of the day,
and wonderfully we'll and: most elo
quently and impressively did he per
form the task assigned him. Those
who did not hear DR.. Rice yesterday
missed one of the most notable ad-
dresses delivered in Sumter within o
decade If it is possible to obtain the
address in manuscript it will be print
cd in full in the Immediate future.
Private LaBlanc, Of the 9th Divis-
ion, made the closing address. and
his talk was devoted to the Victo~T
loan and the duty ttlat the people
og.-e the government to put this finan-
ciai drive over the top and lh@:"b! en-
ahl.. i!.o government 10 discharge a}l
It's Obligations especially a'iiGation>
it owes to the soldiers who lost in
the service the ability to resume the
occupations that they followed before
entering the service. Private LaBlanc
lost an arm in the drive to break
the IIindenblurg line. adm he and his
tso companions have been under
treatment in the Walter Reid Hospital
at Washington They volunteered to
90 OUT on IEC HlCtOGN iotl IceIIl PStie,I
and to carr q message to the people.
At their request they were assigned to
South Carolina. for in this state they
received their training for overseas
service and on that account they feel
a peculiar attachment to South Caro-
lima.
At the conclusion Of this part of
the programme, Mayor Jennings was
introduced and Immediately told the
crowd what he was UP again for.
He called for subscriptions to the
Victory Loan. telling the crowd that
Sumter was in duty bound to make
up its quota. The subscriptions came
in rapidly and in q short time S22O,-
coo had been pledged. But the dim
ncr houl. approached and the bond
drive bad ia he suspended.
The feature OF the daE for many. It
not 4 majority of the crowd was the
great countrywide basket picnic din
rer on the school square. There was
food for a multitude and all who ..l'nc