The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1919-01-15
Returning YANks
A H0MES|Ck LOT
Never Want to Look Statue o,
Liberty IN the Face
Again.
ARE WILD TO GET ASHORE

sWhen ! Get the United states Under
Ny z Get I'm Going to Stay There"
Said One Aomesiels Sol
der.
New YOrk.--To% understand the 1eel.
lngs of the Americans boys released
from tie war and pouring back into
the United States as fast as AaMmere
IAN bring them from Europe, one mus
have known the pangs Of acute home
sickness.
They IRE downright homesicl:.
You read it in the hungry eyes tina.
peer from the troopships when the gov
eminent enu cutter with it, little
handful of Americans in tivilia.
clothes runs alongside. From every
inch of space along the gunwale, from;
yardarms and rigging, from the top
most pile of life RATS to the bottom.
most portfolio, + yearning faces.
They know the coming of the cutter
is q sign of deliverance after the trans.
port Mt the threshold of home has been
detained at overnight quarantine OH
Fort Hamilton. Now they will I've able
to go OF up the bay.
Faint "Ee-yow" Grows to Will Yell.
At first a faint "ee-yow!" comes
from one or two threats, and then rip.
pies along the deck, increasing in vol.
M and sh~rillness till it becomes {.
wild whoop, nverberating across the
bay. A month agolt would have served
for a battle cry. Today It is a shout
of boyish delight, Of greeting for. the
little cutter load Of civilians-tlle frsl
group of Americans the soldiers have
seen in months.
Some where in that shout there is q
plafntive note, and you get its mean
ing if you are n of those first civil
ians who board the transports as the
group on the United States cutter I'm
migrant do, scrambling up a ladder
while the boats are under way, for
the troopships lose no time in starting
their wheels at the signal from the
customs officers.
Does it feel good to get back ?" you
ask the first boy who grabs your hand
on deck.
"Goo1?" he repeats felvently
"Gosh! Nothing ever felt so good in
the world. You can tell 'em all when
l get tie United States under my feet
it's going to stay there. Some bird
said Wien he got back from the war he
never wanted to look the statue q
liberty in the face again. That's me
In a little bit she's going to see me
coming home for the last time"
1t vas Tom O'Donnell of Chicago
who made that long speech. ILe wa;
one of the third constitutional coln
pany aerial service, who came home
on the British boat Orca, and he ant
more than 10000 other "Yanks" re
turned from Europe this week and ar,
now at Camp Mills. L. l., waiting t.
be mustered out.
AS these troopships come through
the Narrows into the upper bay til,
sun is rising like a huge red ball abQv'
the roofs of Brooklyn, silhouetting it
spires and towering buildings and CLINT
ing across the ripping bay. Through
an Avenue of bristling masts the trans
port bears it's soldier cargo on t0war,
the North river till Fort Hamilton ha
been blurred into the morning mis-
and the masonry giants Of lowe
Broadway stand out against the north
ern sky.
"Giad Pm an American"
And the Homecoming soldiers, off
GERS and men alike, lean against tn
rail and drink in the beauty Of it a
as If they never could get enough. A
old-time bark swings at anchor clos
by, her four masts and square riggin
In picturesque contrast to the Graz,
quilt camouflage of half a dozen oceal
barges moored near her. Ferries loa,
ed with New Workers. going to wor
scurry by, while their passengers way
hapdkerchiefs and cheer the HON,
! ward-bound soldiers.
An officer of the aviation corps
these first troops to come back al
nearly all. of the air service-takes
long, deep breath.
"The most wonderful roadstead /
the world. It's glorious. I'm glad II
an American" he said.
"You said something, BROTHER" sal
t a private who was leaning over tt
. rail at his elbow. And the officer We
l too intent in his survey to note tn,
q subordinate had addressed him Wifi