Norwich bulletin., 1919-01-30
DANIELSON

There came to .Danielson Wednes-
day day that its citizens have long
| ingly waited for through many weary
months-the day that was to bring
back to this town members of the
brave outfit, as the army men like to
call them, that went away from here
July 2So 1917, as members of the old
Thirteenth company, c. A. c., a3tae-
wards the Thirty eighth company and
still later a part of B battery. seth
Coast Artillery.
Some of them came back Wednes-
day-not all-and they were given
sUch welcome as must have made
every one of them understand that
they seemed like blood relations of
every one else in Killingly.
Inc return of the boys was 100
per cent. joyful event-a fifty fifty oc-
casion for those who went away and
those who stayed at home-and
though the towns people had but
scant notice of thei- coming, they ga
| thered, hundreds strong, in the Main
street near the Attawaugan hotel to
lid heartfelt welcome home to boys
who have braVed death many, many
| times for. the everlasting honor Of
| their country.
A tumultous greeting awaited the
score OF men who piled off the north
bound trolley car due here at 2.10 p
~, and mothers, sisters, brothers.
| sWeetheSAs and friends fairly drag
Sed the veterans of the World-war off
the car in their anxiety TO kiss them
1nafond embrace or wiring their hands
with the grip that is significant of the
purest, deepest friendship.
Inc coming Of the boys was the
equivalent of lifting a ton weight off
hundreds of Killingly's citizens.
Though the boys have suffered much
ana braVed hell. as some of them mod
eStly put it. back here at home there
have been ten months of anxiety-a
daily fear of reading in the casualty
list OF the death of some of Killingly's
Own-and to have the battery return
without a single member of Daniel
sons company having made the SUI
preme sacrifice, though several of
them have been wounded, seemed no
less than the miracle that it truly is
to the relatives and friends who have
so earnestly prayed for their safe re-
turn. God truly has cherished them!
A yell of happiness rent the air on
Wednesday afternoon as the trolley
car bearing the boys swept around the
corner from Furnace into Main street
Lined up and down the street. and al
most choking the thoroughfare with
humanity, were hundreds of citizens
and hundreds more who were pupils
| III the graded schools or students al
. the nigh school. Guy Brothers Min
> strel band was drafted, and very will
! lcgly, to serenade the home coming
soldiers.
1t was worth much of the worry
and the anxiety that the war cost tc
witness the greeting that the heroes
received. Nothing just like it has
| been in oil ~,
OF the present generation. Every
Wearer of the khaki was subjected tt
the test of trying to shake hands with
anywhere from ten to a hundred OF his
| friends all at the same time and in,
cidentally to receive the caresses O.
a proud mother sister or sweethear
and to do it all gracefully A bar
: rage was easy compared to that little
! session, some of them said afterwards
1t was a difficult taSk-the drs 9.
ging aWaF of them from those wht
would pay them tomage-but it had t.
be done. for a committee of citizens
: had arranged a dinner for them al tn
Attawaugan hotel and Warden f. f
Cunneen was insistent that they b.
= fed, Notwithstanding the seemingl,
: unsympathetic taking away of then
: from their relatives and friends.
2 It afterwards developed that tn
| little dinner was a real idea. Slip
,. in the mastering out process at For
Schuyler had resulted in the soldie
n boys being left without anything a
: all to eat duEing Tuesday, except sue
n food as was given them By member
: Of other batteries who had not reach
9 ed the mastering out stage, and thei
s appetites had grown strong during
. Wednesday on the light feeds alon
= the way from New York home. A
!, | that, with all of The excitement of tn
+ | home coming, it was mighty hard 70
@ the soldiers to thoroughly enjoysa rea
) feast But they did Tn6'r best unde
: tie circumstances.
2 Eventually they were given back t
those who have first claims upon then
s hut in the meantime other boys of tn
G i battery began to arrive in town il
automobiles placed at their service
f and each group got a welcome equal t
those that had gone before
: All in all, the day was the happies
n one for many people that Killingly ha
# known in a long. long time. The chic
Fegret was that the company tha
: went out from here did not return a
d @ unit. But other days are comm
q and among them will be one dedi
If Gated to the official reception to Xii
llngly'S service men-a real day {
= celebration when the citizens of thi
and surrounding towns will demon
# strate that they are appreciative o
= in the fullest sense, the sacrifice the
the boys have made for their countr,
is which will honor them SO long as lii
shall last for any of them.
The story of the experiences of til
y, local battery ''over there" would fl
- book. The first chapters of it we1
- heard from the lips of the boys VIII
- lived it, when they arrived here Wee
: nesday. 1t wasn't the proper time /
% expect full story, for there were tc
. many other considerations. But all
the details will come later Let
suffice for today to say that D. Bal
lie terry, 18th artillery, is real fightin
II outfit that its guns were moved eve
: ahead of the French ISIS on II
Fismes front-an unusual thing to DE-
that its men died or suffered grievoI
wounds in defence of their country
honor-and that they were rated
is shock troops, than which there can |
- 10 higher organization designation
m the history of the war that is no7
Is happily, over.
80 The boys who had dinner at the A
~ tawaugan hotel Wednesday afternoc
IN were: Herbert Hopkins, Joseph
Heselton, Joseph Ferrigno, Micha
,a NIcShane, veteran of the Spani.
~ war; William Mayhem, John Maybe
"a Edgar R. Barber, Arthur Shepar
Walter w. Murphy, Ovid Jarvais,
H. D. Collins, E. NJ. Collins, William RI
Id bideau Lucien Lambert and Emil Me,
i. 1.ier.
There were others who arriv
ed home, including Sergeant Don5
II. Stone, but, though they had fac,
death a thousand times. they won
not face the reception that was avail
ing them, preferring, nodestly, to