The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-09-18
FIRST DIVISION IN
GRAND REVIEW MAKES
WASHINGTON THRILL
VICTORIOUS VETERANS FROM
FRANCE MARCH ALONG PEN>r,
JANA youo1s!A

SNLVANIA AN"-o,e,A
n,,oos lV''l'
q Amid roar
..e General Pershing led the
rirst division of the American expe.
dictionary forces up PENNSYLVANIA av.
enue today to receive the nations
homage. 1t was the last grand re-
view of the wartime armies. the vic
tory parade, the last chance for the
hundreds of thousands of men, wo.
men and children jammed along the
route to voice appreciation of the labor
and daring of that army, and they
made the most of it.
The procession reached its climax
as the man who captained all the fight
ing forces Of the nation in the great
struggle passed through the Victory
arch toward the reviewing stand, where
Vice President Marshall stood repre-
senting President Wilson to receive
the generals salute. Behind him the
| picked thousands of the composite
regiment Pershings OWN formed a
great wall of blUnzed faces as they
swung into line on rank, the First
division swinging along with veteran
strides through the great archway
From the general himself to the last
man of the tank battalion that brought
up the rear of the marching column
this perfected fighting machine. a shock
division Of the American army in the
war was groomed to regular army per.
fection.
Complete TO the Last Buckle
Men, horses, guns and machines to
the last buckle and the final touch of
paint, We're completely equipped and
spotless for inspection. There was no
need Of war-worn gear to tell of their
deeds, the gleam of gold chevrons on
every arm, the ribbons of decorations
for valor on their COlorS and breasts.
the marks that spoke of wounds receiv.
ed that We're sprinkled through the
whole command, and. above all, the
proud knowledge in the hearts Of the
thousands that cheered them, made that
unnecessary.
Marching i'm mass formation and
equipped with all the guns. gas throw
ers and countless other death.dealing
devices Of front line service, the First
division, fresh home from France mov-
ed along the broad avenue, living tide
of sunburned fighting manhood that
filled the street from curb to curb. In
their khaki and olive drab uniforms
the men swung by as resistlessly as
the spring floods of the Mississippi
Above each solid block of infantry. rose
the grim lire of bayonets, the blued
steel glinting duly as it caught the
light. Farther back came the long
, lines of field guns, French "75's" To
which French officers have said France
owes her salvation and. after all the
trains and wagons had rumbed by
came "A battalion Of tanks, streaked
and yellowed with paint to conceal
them from enemy 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 cpitome of the whole
, vast army American skill and indom
, table will had created to meet and beat
the enemy at his own game. There
We're guns of all the types used in
. France that could be moved through
the streets. Machine guns, big anc
? little, bristed among the riflemen
squat mortars to hurl bombs from the
| trenches; high mounted rifles whicl
. peered skyward as though still il
, search of enemy flyers. Some of tn,
, guns We're horse-drawn some trundlet
5 behind painting motor trucks or trac
tors. The show was as complete as
the ingenuity of the war department
, could make it, a cross section of the
| American EXpeditionary Forces
: But it was to the lines of khakiclad
: brown.faced men themselves that frs
interest Of the throngng crowds al
f along the wide avenue turned. Tn,
4 home coming of this first unit of Am
. erican man power to cross the sub
5 marinenfested seas was in marked
= contrast to its silent, mysterious, unre
f ported departure, and the men anC
women along the way seemed to fee
the Significance of the spectacle They
recalled the days when the nation wait
ed i'm wordless anxiety to hear that thes
g same smiling, free-stridng boys ha,
, come safely to a French harbor thos'
=, other days when the first word filtere,
q back that the boys mad begun to prove
, their courage in action and the slov
+ coming lists that carried the name
:, Of the men who sleep forever in France
# IlOnOrs TO the "75's"
n To one regiment of long, trim "7js
:, an unusual honor was accorded. Tn,
e Sixth Field Artillery was placed be
tween the two infantry brigades nstea,
of marching with the rest of the artil
lery brigade behind the infantry, 70
it was C battery of the Sixth whicl
|, fired the first shot at the Germans oil
- Oct. 90, 1917. A standard told tn
onlookers that at last they saw TN
very guns whose thunder had carrie
10 that first message of defeat into tn
enemy ranks.
Throughout the long line, marker
were frequent telling what strange i'm
il plements of war over which they float
/ ed were used for. Among the watcher
II were thousands upon thousands o
e government clerks who have dealt fo
months with endless streams of paper
talking of bombs and guns and MOI
tars, of motor machine shops, pontoo
4 bridges machine guns, gas throwerS
flame projectors and all the other con
II plicated war equipment of the troops
n Never before have these workers Il
n home seen all these tools of warfar
= in thpir own Unrlikp setting hoWpvpl