The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-09-20
CAPITAL CHEERS
FIRST DIVISION
Washington Showers All Its
Pent-Up Patriotism on Vet
erans Of Regular Outfit.
LED BY GENERfL FERsHlaG
Former Commanders Take Part in
Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue
Tanks, Guns and Mechanical
War Equipment Shown.

Washington, Sept. 1S-Tears and,I
cheers greeted the returned First diyl-
sion. led by General Pershing} when
they marched down PENNSYLVANIA ave
nue. over the American Way of Victory
laid out more than 90 years ago.
1t was Washington's first great pa
rade of the war and the crowds show
cred all their pent-up patriotism on
these sun-bronzed veterans, the first
to go to France, More than half
million people saw the parade.
1t was conceived and carried out as
the nation's tribute not alone to the
veteran fighting men who marched, Dut
to the whole great army the natloh
created to make certain the utter de-
feat of Germany.
March in Mass Formation.
Marching in mass formation anf
equipped with all the guns, gas throw
ers and other death-dealing devices
of the front line service, the First dl
vision, fresh home from France. movet
along the broad avenue, living tid
of fighting manhood that tiiled IN
street from curb to curb.
Above each solid block Of infantr}
rose the grim line Of bayonets tn
blue steel gintng DULY as 1t caugh'
the light. Farther back came ioni
lines of field guns, French '75's,' te
which French officers have said Franc'
owes her salvation aid, after all tht
trains and wagons had rumbled by
came a battalion of tanks, streaked
ana yellowed with paint to concea'
them from enemy eyes, hut now clhnk.
ing behind the troops in noisy response
10 the cheers that greeted them.
fes.hin nd Licking
There WAS nothing lacking to make
The parade an epitOme of the who'll
vast army American skill and in
lonfitable will had created to beat th'
nemy at his own game. There Were
Guns of all the types used in France
hat could be moved through the
treets Machine guns, big '.nd little
ristled among the riflemen; squat
aortars to hurl bombs from the
renches; high mounted rifles which
eered skyward as though still in
earch of enemy flyers.
Some of the guns We're horse-drawn
some trundled behind painting motor,
trucks or tractors The show was com
plete as the ingenuity of the war de
pertinent could make it. cross section
of the American expeditionary forces
Up the avenue at the head of the di-
vision rode Maj. Gen. Edward +. Nc
Glachin, commanding, and with him
rode two former commanders of the di-
vision the first to go and the last of the
divisions to come home. They were
Mai. Gen. William L. Sibert, who took
il to France, and Lieut. Gen. Robert l.
Bulard, who took it into action anc
surrendered command only to take Q
higher post.
The Sixteenth infantry, veterans OF
the bitter fighting at Cantigny, where
| France learned in what fashion Amer
/, lea could and would fight and breathe(
again after months of strain, led the
| way.
f, Parade Lasts Five Hours.
At various points in the divisiona
+! line and before the wallowing tanks
| hammered and clattered in an uproar
| Ing conclusion to the five-hour spec
| tacle, all manner Of additional units
! not part of the division itself, were In
| serted
So far as the First division itself il
| concerned, the official record of its ac
tivities during the war, recently pub
lished by the war department, speaks
| for itself.
| It stood 93 days in active sectors o
the front and 123 in quiet parts of th'
line; it fought its way forward owe
81 kilometers of sharply contested
grounds; it captured 1853 German off
J GERS and 6,304 men; 1t captured ais,
| 119 German guns, 81 trench mortar
and Alb machine guns. 1t lists AL
officers and men killed or died o
wounds and had 17,201 men wounde,
or gassed in the days it spent at tn
front and lost only 152 of its own per
sonnel as prisoners to the, enemy
Its requirements were greater thai
its original strength, 30,206 and 1856 o
its members won distinguished servic
crosses for conspicuous gallantry II
action.
Alleged Woman Bandit Held.
Akron, Ohio.-Detectives thrilled q
woman confessed having pefpetfat
| ed a score Of highway robberies i
| Akron recently. Betty Reese, 22 year
old, smiled as she poured forth to tn
| plain-clothes men tale of crimina
exploits.