The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-11-09
THF SOLDIER DEAD
ARE COMING HOME
ou ON ROW THEY LIE AT
yopoKEN PIER, WITH OLD
GLORY ABOUT THEM.
uONORED BY COUNTRY

Tho Port OF EmDaI kdIOh a. @NS"
York, Where the Heroic Dead Gath
a. and From Whence They Depart
On Their Last Journey.
NEW YORK, N. Y.-Stand at the
DIOR Of the great Hamburg-American
inc pier at Hoboken, to which the
Io,,;athan is made fast, and look east
mord down the pier Nothing of the
hnsv wharf crowded with outgoing
oossenpers and their friends is left
sbout the place. Even the lofty rafters
and the steel supporting beams are
hidden in the foliage of stars and
.tr;oes 1t is like the nave Of a vast
cathedral And along the sides, in row
o ICON row. where in cathedral would
bp clustered the tombs and monuments
81 famous dead, here are stretched as
far as eve can reach the collins OF our
soldier dead, come home at last.
There seems to be thousands OF
then, gathered there in formal rank
and file, Indeed, there are thousands.
And each coffin, raised a little from the
Aoor. is covered with a new American
fac as squarely placed as the service
hat of a good soldier is squarely set
upon his head. Between the rows OF
dead. in a stiffness strange and CRATE
mi in the busy, noisy, Indifferent city,
there walks sentinel, full armed, the
last earthly guardian of those who
have no longer need of guarding.
AS YOU stand there, looking down
the line of flags that stretch so tar
4 that your eye is lost among them, your
1 hat comes off by will beyond your
own. and you feel quick Tightening
4 at your throat and smarting IN your
eyes. There they are, those fellows you
left over there at Beaumont or at st.
Emelle or at Romagne, under the
warm French sun. The navy took you
B over and the navy'll bring you back,
4 the gobs on the transport used to
chant. No. The army brought these
\ back.
There is little, insistent purrr An
electric truck slides by with its burden
4 of a recruit for this army of the dead.
4 The coffin is very heavy in its wooden
box that covers and protects the metal
casket within-900 pounds each
4 weighs. But the men who handle it do
\ il as if they had known the chap in
side. Perhaps they did, for they, too,
are ex-service men, all of them. And
II ALWAYS they keep the huge box level,
as i some hidden jolt might disturb
eternal sleep. Four of them lay it gent
w on its trestles. The flag is stretched
to cover it. The electric truck purrs
\ off for a new burden. Silence falls
again The sentry resumes his slow
march, back and forth.
Fine Dignity of 1t All.
What is finest about it is that there
Is no tinse1, no Grape, no immortelles
Dust the essential things: the man who
died, the flag he died for-and the liv-
ng soldier, walking his post, symbo
bf the tradition and the purpose that
Ee, the living, taken from the hands
bf those who died over there, as it were
" flaming torch.
Every few days ship comes in with
g IS solemn dead, and Brig. Gen. John
Bradley, commanding officer OF the
port of embarkation, and his stat
neet the ship. On September q, o,20l
2 bodies had been received and had pass
b on TO their final resting place, II
american soil. Approximately there
Pre- $4,000 more to come. AS they ar
ye at the rate of about 1000 eact
peek it will be we'll into next yea
betore all of those whose return has
Y peen requested can have come home.
No formal honors are paid in Ho
poken-it is regarded merely as
point in transit But the bodies are
Eept IN the flag-hung chamber OF plel
under military guard, night and day
Phtll the family can be notified of the
arrlyal of the body and can give fna
rStructiOns as to its disposition: Be
ween 800 and 1000 bodies are thu:
emg kept constantly in Hoboken.
30 soon as the bodies arrive tele
grams are sent to the next of kin O
Sach deceased soldier and final in
rachonS requested. Frequently The
#mily have moved since-the origina
fqucst Tor the shipment of the body
as hled with the war department, anc
mas been found advisable to make
rian that the address first given /:
iH= III the address to which the body As
be sent before shipment is made
a number OF instances, after the
Gy had been exhumed in France
brought all the way to Hoboken
family of the dead soldier has al
Iga ITS plans, and requested that the
%TTyy be permitted to remain in France
MS, OF course, would involve a re-
Rment OF the remains to France anC
EgIeSS complications with the French
r.n1rltleS. When this happens Gen
aqIcy orders the remains sent tc
aS}nihgton, where burial takes place
Gle United States army cemetery
arlington, with full military hon