The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1919-09-17
FIRST DIVISION
PARADE STREETS
OF WASHINGTON
CONTINUED from First Page)

(CO0GlnucQ from t1fSC fagel i
/
swung by as resistlessly as the spring I
+ Gods of the Mississippi. Above each $
solid block of infantry, rose the grim I
line of b~ayonets, the blue steel CLINT ,
ing duly as it caught the light. Far |
Their back came the long lines of field !
guns. French ''75's" to which French
officers have said France yves her
salvation and, after all the trains and
wagons had rumbled by, came a bat
talon of tanks, streaked and yellowed
with paint to conceal them from en-
envy eyes, but now growing and
clanking their way behind the troops
in noisy response to the cheers that
greeted them.
There was nothing lacking to make
the parade an epitome of the whole
vast army American skill and indom-
liable will had created to meet and
beat the enemy at his own game.
There were guns of all the types used
in France that could be moved thro-
ugh the streets. Machine guns, big
and little, bristled among the rifle
men,; squat mortars to hurl bombs
from the trenches; high mounted ri
files which peered skyward as though
still in search of enemy flyers. Some
trundled behind painting motor trucks
or tractors. The show was as COM
plete as the ingenuity of the Wal De-
partment could make it, a cross sec
ton of the American Expeditionary
Forces.
But it was to the lines of khaki,
clad, brown faced men themselves
that first interest of the thronging
crowds all along the wide avenue
turned. The home coming of this first
unit of American man power to cross
the submarine-infested seas was in
marked contrast to its silent, myster-
GUS, unreported departure, and the
men and women along the way SEEM.
ed to feel the significance of the
spectacle. They recalled the days
anxiety to near that these same smil-
ing, free-striding boys had come
safely to a French harbor, those other
days had begun to prove their o
in action and the S ow coming
lists that carried the names of the
men who sleep forever in France.
To one regiment of long, trim
"75's" an unusual honor was accord
ed. The Sixth Field Artillery was
placed between the two infantry bri-
gades instead of marching with the
rest of the artillery brigade behind
the infantry, for it vas C battery Of
the Sixth which fired the first shot
at the Germans on Oct. %, 1917. A
standard told the onlookers that at
last they saw the very guns whose
, thunder had carried that first mes
sage of defeat into the enemy ranks
Throughout the long line markers
were frequent telling what the
l strange implements of war over
which they floated were used for.
Among the watchers were thousands
upon thousands of government clerks
who have dealt for months with end
less streams of papers talking of
bombs and mortars, of motor machine
shops, pontoon bridges, machine
guns, gas throwers, flame projectors
and all the other complicated war
equipment of the troops. Never be-
fore have these workers at home seen
all these tools of warfare in their
own warlike setting, however, and
the parade was an education for
them.
Up the avenue at the head of the
division rode Major Edward F. Nc
Glachlin, commanding, and with him
rode two former commanders of the
division the first to go and the last of
the divisions to come home. They
were Major General William L.. ST.
bert, who took it to France, and Lieu
tenant General Robert L. Billiard,
who took it into action and surren-
iered command only to take a higher
post. Marching ahead of the forma-
tions, also came a host of officers
and men who saw their first service
with the First Division in France, la
ter to go to other units as i~nstruc-
tors.
Then came the First Infantry Bri-
gade, marching in the French mass
formation; twenty-four men abreast
across the avenue, led by the 3rd
Machine Gun Battalion with it's mo-
torized guns. The infantry marched
in column of tours, four companies
abreast and with officers and file
closers ahead, leaving the men to
form a solid block of bayonets for
each battalion. The 10th Infantry,
veterans of the bitter fighting at
Cantigny where France learned in
what fashion America could and
would fight and breathed free again
after months of strain, led the way.
After its three battalion blocks had
passed came the 18th Infantry in SIM
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