New-York tribune., 1919-01-25
Continued from page

welcome channel, and they were still
side by side when they were off Pier
at Hoboken.
An army band on the pier played
Home, Sweet Home" and there was
silence on the two vessels and q throb
IN the chests of those who filled the
pier. Then another song-"Hail. Hail.
the Gangs All Here, ,"-and there was
bedlam everywhere, great that there
was trouble in docking the boats.
First, the Louisiana was nosed into
the pier as far back as she could go.
almost within hand shaking distance of
bevy Of pretty girls who filled the
upper tier of the pier.
"Ill kiss the first man who comes
ashore!" screamed one of the girls to
q group of the Brooklyn men.
There was q roar from the crowd.
Gee real American grill" one of
them shouted. Gee, wait'll | get back
to Flatbush; you can betcha life the
old telephone wires will be busy"
All the Girls Volunteer
Soon all the girls volunteered, but
they were safe, for the men had no
alternative in the matter, and as soon
as they went down the gangplank and
answered present" to rollcall they
were on their way back down the river
and to Long Island City.
Far back of the piers in River Street,
Hoboken, waiting throngs expecting to
see their boys march through the
streets stood for hours, nervous,
anxious. Time after time, gray-haired
women sought to pass the armed
guard who kept them from rushing
on to the pier and into the arms of
their beloved. They begged, they
spoke with tears, they pleaded, but
there were orders to halt them and
the heavy-set guards, put there because
they were strong, almost wept them
selves as they stopped scores, even
hundreds, of these loving, anxious
mothers.
Scatter to See Loved Ones
When the crowds finally learned
from reporters that the Brooklyn men
were being taken to Long Island City
on special boats, they scattered every
where for the glimpse they had waited
for throughout the blustery day.
Commanding the men was Colonel
Robert K. Craven, and second in COM
mand was Major Edward r. Harris, of
1851 Seventy Street, Bay
Ridge, an army officer for seventeen
years snd always with the old 18th.
Strangely enough, he is the sole sur
viving field officer in the regiment the
rest having been transferred to other
units. When he is not at war or with
his regiment he writes for the
magazines.
1t was Major Harris who went
through the offensives ON the Meuse-
Argonne front and at st. Mihiel, with
the 9th Division, and it was the same
Brooklyn officer with his regiment of
fighting Brooklyn boys who relieved
the fght-worn 87th Division at Hill No.
2Ss, the last position taken by the
Brooklyn men before the armistice was
signed, when the Germans threw in all
their forces to save the vital point
which was doomed to fall.
'Those days were perhaps the hard
est of the war for our men," said
Major Harris "They tramped miles,
night and day, in rainy weather. But
they never complained. In fact, they
were jolly. always jolly, willing to en-
dure anything.
Boys Always Plucky
"Day after day they went without
yynt
planned. All Of our movements were at
night, and pretty nearly all the time
under whitening shellhre but our
boys were plucky. They don't make
them any better than those boys from
Brooklyn" And Major Harris looked
and smiled as a straight line of his
men, all of them beaming, ran down the
gangplank.
The 59th Regiment band, noted for
its concerts, which went over with the
regiment, never played a piece until it
got aboard the ships on the way home.
There were greater tasks for 1t to do.
The musicians were called upon to do
all kinds Of emergency service, and
during the months of fighting they
drove ammunition trucks and ambu-
lances, carried dispatches and served
as telegraph linemen. But on the way
back they took their instruments in
hand again and there were nightly
concerts on the boat
Because of storms the two battle
ships took an extreme southerly course.
They passed by the Azores, and at one
time they were only fifty miles off Ber-
muda- 1t was during these nights of
calm that the Brooklyn boys enjoyed
open air moving picture shows, band
concerts and boxing matches on deck
and then slept in hammocks in the
open, even though it was January.
The pleasure boat Highlander, the
biggest of the welcome boats to 90
down. the bay, alone carried 1900
trends and relatives of men Of the
osth- Leading them and the Brooklyn