New-York tribune., 1919-01-25
Fighting Thirteenth, Home,
Is Greeted by Thousands

committee of welcome was Colonel
Clarence w. Smith of the 18th Coast
Artillery, New York Guard. head Of
the Over Here Association, the organ
ization of welcome.
Mrs. Maude Frey, OF 500 Eighth Ave
nue., Brooklyn, was one Of the 1900
In her arms was her fourteen weeks old
| daughter, Doris. Somewhere on one OF
| the two troopships was the baby g
father Private Frederick Frey, Battery
| b, who had never seen his daughter
His wife waved the babys little pink
! blanket wildly, but whether he saw she
could rot tell, for all OF the men in
uniform were waving, and they were
SO far away that faces We're hardly dis
/ cernible.
Another on the boat was Mrs.
Laura Lehrer, of Stamford, Conn. She
wore gold star in mourning band
on her arm for her son Frank, who
was attached to Battery f of the Sixth
Field Artillery, who was the first Con-
necticut boy to be killed in the war.
She tried to be brave and waved her
tiny welcome flag, but it was too much
and she was overcome by emotion and
collapsed Her mission was to welcome
home her nephew, a sergeant in Bat
terry F of the old 18th. On the High
lander, too, was ''The Mother of Bat
terry F, Mrs. j. W. Johnson, of Forest
Ellis, l.. l. Her son. Corporal George
had white cardboard placard which
read: "Dont Forget to Visit Forest
Hills"
Mrs. Johnson's title was given her
by the mothers of other boys in Bat
terry f, because she wrote letters to
them all, wishing them luck and send
ing them cheer, and when the battery
was in training at Fort Hamilton be-
Tore it sailed for France the men were
always welcome at the Johnson home.
Wireless Messages Exchanged
Long before the battleships hove in
sight Colonel Smith let the men know
that Brooklyn was out to meet and
greet them. He sent a wireless mes
sage of welcome to Major Harris and
from then on there was an exchange
OF messages until the Homecoming men
and the welcome party were in sight
of each other.
The wireless greetings were not the
only means of communication, how
ever, for a young bride originated the
novel idea of wigwagging message
to her husband.
Just before Corporal William j.
Joyce, of 1920 SiXty-fourth Street,
Brooklyn, went away he taught his
bride of three months the semaphore
system. So after Mrs. Joyce had sig
nailed her presence on the High lander
with white Tam o. Shanter she was
rewarded by the words Hello, Mug
gins" signalled by a soldier on the
Louisiana with white handkerchief.
But all of the messages transferred
between the ships were not ones Of joy.
Private John W. Gillespie, of Battery
B, received one from Colonel Smith ad-
vising him TO get pass at once upon
reaching Hoboken and hasten to the
bedside of his dying father, at 157 Cor
nell Street. A similar message was
sent to Private Leo j. Kelly, of SYRIA
cuse whose mother is critically ILL
Borough President Edward Riegel-
mann of Brooklyn and other city off,
cials were among the welcoming
throngs.
Among the original officers of the
18th Regiment to return on the two
John II. Tice, Harry A. Davenport and
James E. Smith, all of Brooklyn.
Men Close to Front Line
Lieutenant F. H. Mcclure, of Long
Island City, said that when the old 18th
was in the Argonne Forest the regi-
ment went SO close to the front line
that the men were prepared to fight
for their guns with side arms in the
face of a counter attack.
Corporal James B. Harrison. of the
supply company, whose home is at
1921 Herkimer Street, Brooklyn, was
from his commander to another unit
Daniel F. Murphy, of 1912 Twelfth
Avenue, Brooklyn; Edwin Staniland, of
l39 Somers Street, Brooklyn; Corporal
Raymond Z. Canamare, of Cedarhurst,
L. l., all members of Battery B, and all
friends before the war, were together
on the Louisiana.
eve went through two offensives," :"
said Murphy. "but the hardest fighting
we saw was at Hill 288, where we were
fighting when the armistice was signed.
We spent most of our time on the
Argonne and st. Mihiel fronts.
The Germans threw in everything they
had when we were at Hill 288, and
| time, but we fought it out and we had
the best of them all the time"
Corporal Babe" Blackton, son Of
J.. Stuart Blackton, motion picture pro-
ducer, returned. So did Private Abel
Kiviat, of Stapleton, Staten Island,
track athlete and holder of the world 8
indoor one-mile record. Private w. j.
| Langdon, of 538 Herkimer Street,
Brooklyn, brought two trained mice
home with him. Private Lawrence
Gaffney, of Brooklyn, bicycle rider,
came back with records for defeating
British, Irish and French athletes in
speed contests at Limoges, France.
officers on the two ships said that
both the 1st and I'd battalions had re-
ceived two citations each and the regi-
ment as whole had received two
army corps citations.
The regiment lost only three men
killed in action.
Besides the members of the coast
artillery regiment who came on the
battleships there were eleven casual
officers and three Y. NJ. c. A. secrc-
taries.
There were two deaths on the Louis
lana on the way over, Private Michael
Angelo Machic, Of Utica, N. Y, and
Private John Robinson, of Salt Lake
! City. Both were in Battery A.