CHAPTER XXVII. The secretaries were either specialists in their lines or were trained until they became such. Some idea of their tasks and problems, and of the tact and ability they had to use in meeting them, may be gained by a contemplation of the classes with which they had to deal. The selective draft assembled the most remarkable army the world has ever seen. Men of all grades from the most illiterate to the highly trained university graduate messed together and drilled side by side daily. There were men who had grown up under the best of influences and others whose environment had been 370TH or vicious, all thrown together in a common cause, wearing the same uniform and obeying the same orders. The social diversions brought out some splendid talent. A great feature was the singing. It was essential that the secretary should be a leader in this and possessed of a good voice. These were not difficult to find, as the race is naturally musical and most of them sing well. Noted singers were sent to sing for the boys, but it is said that frequently the plan of the entertainment was reversed, as they requested the privilege of listening to the boys sing. A wonderful work was done by "Y" secretaries among the illiterates. Its fruits are already apparent and will continue to multiply. They found men who hardly knew their right hand from their left. Others who could not write their names are said to have wept with joy when taught to master the simple accomplishment. Many a poor illiterate was given the rudiments of an education and started on the way to higher attainments. Headquarters of the overseas work was at Paris, France, and was in charge of E.C. Carter, formerly Senior Student secretary in America, and when war was declared, held the position of National Secretary of India. Much of the credit for the splendid performance of the "Y" workers abroad belonged to him and to his able aid, Dr. John Hope, president of Morehouse college, Atlanta, Ga. The latter went over in August, 1918, as a special overseer of the Negro Y.M.C.A. Three distinguished Negro women were sent over as "Y" hostesses, with a secretarial rating, during the war. Their work was so successful that twenty additional women to serve in the same capacities were sent over after the close of hostilities. They were to serve as hostesses, social secretaries and general welfare workers among the thousands of Negro soldiers who had been retained there with the Army of Occupation and the Service of Supply. The first Negro woman to go abroad in the Y.M.C.A. service was Mrs. Helen Curtis of 208 134th Street, New York, in May, 1918. For a number of years she had been a member of the committee of management of the Colored Women's Branch of the Y.M.C.A., and had assisted at the Camp Upton hostess house. Her late husband, James L. Curtis, was minister resident and consul general for the United States to Liberia. Mrs. Curtis lived in Monrovia, Liberia, until her husband's death there. She had also lived in France, where she studied domestic art for two years. Being a fluent speaker of the French language, her appointment was highly appropriate. So successful was the appointment of Mrs. Curtis that another Negro secretary in the person of Mrs. Addie Hunton of 575 Greene Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y., followed the next month. Her husband was for many years senior secretary of the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A. Negro Men's Department, and her own work had always been with the organization. A short time later Miss Catherine Johnson of Greenville, Ohio, followed in the wake of Mrs. Curtis and Mrs. Hunton. She is a sister of Dr. Johnson of Columbus, Ohio, appointed early in 1919 minister to Liberia. No less successful at home than abroad was the work of the Y.M.C.A. among the Negroes in cantonments and training camps. It is known that the services rendered by the Association to the officers' training camp at Fort Des Moines had much to do with making that institution such a remarkable success. From that time on comment was frequent that the best work being done by the Association in many of the camps was done by Negro secretaries. The heroic exploit of Professor Cook, the "Y" secretary, which secured him a recommendation for the Distinguished Service Cross, is mentioned elsewhere. It was only equalled by the valiant performance of A.T. Banks of Dayton, Ohio, a Negro "Y" secretary who went over the top with the 368th Infantry. Secretary Banks, during the action, tarried to give aid to a wounded soldier. The two were forced to remain all night in a shell hole. During the hours before darkness and early the following morning they were targets for a German sniper. The secretary succeeded in getting the wounded man back to the lines, where he then proceeded to organize a party to go after the sniper. They not only silenced him, but rendered him unfit for any further action on earth. Mr. Banks returned to America with the sniper's rifle as a souvenir. His work was additionally courageous when it is considered that he was a non-combatant and not supposed to engage in hostilities. Had he been taken by the Germans he would not have been accorded the treatment of a prisoner of war, but undoubtedly would have been put to death. Were the records sufficiently complete at the present time to divulge them, scores of examples of valorous conduct on the part of the "Y" workers, Red Cross and other non-combatants who ministered to Negro soldiers could be recounted. The work of all was of a noble character. It was accompanied by a heroic spirit and in many cases by great personal bravery and sacrifice. CHAPTER XXVII. NEGRO IN ARMY PERSONNEL. HIS MECHANICAL ABILITY REQUIRED—SKILLED AT SPECIAL TRADES—VICTORY DEPENDS UPON TECHNICAL WORKERS—VAST RANGE OF OCCUPATIONS—NEGRO MAKES GOOD SHOWING—PERCENTAGES OF WHITE AND BLACK—FIGURES FOR GENERAL SERVICE. In 1917 and 1918 our cause demanded speed. Every day that could be saved from the period of training meant a day gained in putting troops at the front. Half of the men in the Army must be skilled at special trades in order to perform their military duties. To form the units quickly and at the same time supply them with the technical ability required, the Army had to avail itself of the trade knowledge and experience which the recruit brought with him from civil life. To discover this talent and assign it to those organizations where it was needed was the task of the Army Personnel organization. The army could hardly have turned the tide of victory if it had been forced to train from the beginning any large proportion of the technical workers it needed. Every combat division required 64 mechanical draughtsmen, 63 electricians, 142 linemen, 10 cable splicers, 156 radio operators, 29 switchboard operators, 167 telegraphers, 360 telephone repairmen, 52 leather and canvas workers, 78 surveyors, 40 transitmen, 62 topographers, 132 auto mechanics, 128 machinists, 167 utility mechanics, 67 blacksmiths, 151 carpenters, 691 chauffeurs (auto and truck), 128 tractor operators and 122 truckmasters. Besides these specialists each division required among its enlisted men those familiar with 68 other trades. Among the latter were dock builders, structural steel workers, bricklayers, teamsters, hostlers, wagoners, axemen, cooks, bakers, musicians, saddlers, crane operators, welders, rigging and cordage workers, stevedores and longshoremen. Add to these the specialists required in the technical units of engineers, ordnance, air service, signal corps, tanks, motor corps and all the services of supply, and the impossibility of increasing an army of 190,000 in March 1917, to an army of 3,665,000 in November, 1918, becomes apparent unless every skilled man was used where skill was demanded. To furnish tables showing the number of Negroes which the selective draft produced for the various occupations mentioned was at the compilement of this work not practicable. In many cases the figures for white and black had not been separated. The Army Personnel organization did not get into the full swing of its work until well along in 1918. A good general idea of the percentages of white and black can be gained from the late drafts of that year. Figures for white drafts were not available with the exception of that of September 3rd. But a very fair comparison may be made from the following table showing some occupations to which both whites and blacks were called. Take any of the three general service drafts made upon Negro selectives and it makes a splendid showing alongside the whites. Out of 100,000 men used as a basis for computation, it shows that among the Negro selectives an average of slightly over 25 percent were available for technical requirements, compared with slightly over 36 percent among the whites. It reveals a high number of mechanics and craftsmen among a race which in the minds of many has been regarded as made up almost entirely of unskilled laborers: Supply per 100,000 in late Negro drafts for general service, compared with supply of white men in same occupations for the September 3rd draft. Misc. Figures Sept. 3 Sept. 1 Sept 25 Upon Draft Occupation— Draft Draft 59,826 Men White Mechanical engineer 7 30 8 25 Blacksmith 393 334 331 733 Dock builder ... ... 15 ... Carpenter 862 571 670 2,157 Stockkeeper 161 176 140 562 Structural steel worker 463 326 351 334 Chauffeur 3,561 4,003 3,300 7,191 Chauffeur, heavy truck 1,304 1,356 987 2,061 Bricklayer 189 99 132 223 Hostler 3,351 1,433 2,062 3,559 Teamster or wagoner 8,678 12,660 9,534 13,691 Transit and levelman ... 4 2 47 Axeman logger 1,192 1,759 1,423 1,827 Clerical worker 603 395 324 4,159 Baker and cook 4,129 3,157 2,974 1,077 Musician 105 17 115 160 Alto horn 56 47 38 46 Baritone 21 21 15 16 Bass horn 35 21 18 16 Clarinet 21 64 25 66 Cornet 98 56 67 132 Flute 21 ... 5 29 Saxaphone 7 13 10 23 Trap drum 217 197 100 46 Trombone 42 69 40 67 Bugler 14 13 12 24 Saddler ... 26 3 12 Crane operator, hoistman 21 39 42 44 Crane operator, pile driver ... 13 12 7 Crane operator, shovel ... 13 5 30 Oxy-acetylene welder ... 21 8 44 Rigger and cordage worker 49 77 57 40 Stevedore, cargo handler 161 34 68 10 Longshoreman 652 664 651 15 ---- ---- ---- ---- 26,413 27,708 23,544 38,473 Figures are for general service drafts and do not include the enlarged list of occupations for which both whites and Negroes were selected. FIVE SEA TUGS PUSHING TRANSPORT "FRANCE" INTO DOCK. SHIP LADEN WITH MEMBERS OF NEW YORK'S "FIGHTING 15TH" (369TH INFANTRY) AND CHICAGO'S "FIGHTING 8TH" (370TH INFANTRY) NEGRO HEROES FROM BATTLEFIELDS OF EUROPE. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE KNOCKOUT BLOW. WOODROW WILSON, AN ESTIMATE—HIS PLACE IN HISTORY—LAST OF GREAT TRIO—WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, WILSON—UPHOLDS DECENCY, HUMANITY, LIBERTY—RECAPITULATION OF YEAR 1918—CLOSING INCIDENTS OF WAR. When sufficient years have elapsed for the forming of a correct perspective, when the dissolving elements of time have swept away misunderstandings and the influences engendered by party belief and politically former opinions, Woodrow Wilson is destined to occupy a place in the Temple of Fame that all Americans may well be proud of. Let us analyze this and let us be fair about it, whatever may be our beliefs or affiliations. Washington gave us our freedom as a nation and started the first great wave of democracy. Probably, had some of us lived in Washington's time, we would have been opposed to him politically. Today he is our national hero and is reverenced by all free people of the earth, even by the nation which he defeated at arms. Lincoln preserved and cemented, albeit he was compelled to do it in blood, the democracy which Washington founded. He did infinitely more; he struck the shackles from four million human beings and gave the Negro of America his first opportunity to take a legitimate place in the world. Lincoln's service in abolishing slavery was not alone to the Negro. He elevated the souls of all men, for he ended the most degrading institution that Satan ever devised—more degrading to the master who followed it, than to the poor subject he practiced it upon. Unitedly, we revere Lincoln, yet there were those who were opposed to him and in every way hampered and sneered at his sublime consecration to the service of his country. It takes time to obtain the proper estimate of men. Enough light has already been cast on President Wilson and his life work to indicate his character and what the finished portrait of him will be. We see him at the beginning of the European conflict, before any of us could separate the tangled threads of rumor, of propaganda, of misrepresentation, to determine what it was all about; before even he could comprehend it, a solitary and monitory figure, calling upon us to be neutral, to form no hasty judgments. We see him later in the role of peacemaker, upholding the principles of decency and honor. Eventually as the record of atrocities and crimes against innocents enlarges, we see him pleading with the guilty to return to the instincts of humanity. Finally as the ultimate aim of the Hun is revealed as an assault upon the freedom of the world; after the most painstaking and patient efforts to avoid conflict, during which he was subjected to humiliation and insult, we see him grasp the sword, calling a united nation to arms in clarion tones, like some Crusader of old; his shibboleth: DECENCY, HUMANITY, LIBERTY. What followed? His action swept autocracy from its last great stronghold and made permanent the work which Washington began and upon which Lincoln builded so nobly. This of Woodrow Wilson; an estimate—there can be no other thought, that will endure throughout history. In the earlier chapters are sketched the main events of the great war up to the end of the year 1917, when the history of the Negro in the conflict became the theme. It remains to give an outline review of battles and happenings from the beginning of 1917 until the end of hostilities; culminating in the most remarkable armistice on record; a complete capitulation of the Teutonic forces and their allies, and a complete surrender by them of all implements and agencies for waging war. The terms of the armistice, drastic in the extreme, were largely the work of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied armies. Early in 1918 it became evident that England, France and Italy were rapidly approaching the limit of their man power. It became necessary for America to hasten to the rescue. Training of men and officers in the various cantonments of America was intensified and as rapidly as they could be brought into condition they were shipped to France. The troop movement was a wonderful one and before the final closing of hostilities in November there were more than 2,000,000 American troops in Europe. The navy was largely augmented, especially in the matter of destroyers, submarine chasers and lighter craft. Our troops saw little actual warfare during the first three months of the year. Americans took over a comparatively quiet sector of the French front near Toul, January 21. Engagements of slight importance took place on January 30 and February 4, the latter on a Lorraine sector which Americans were holding. On March 1, they repulsed a heavy German raid in the Toul sector, killing many. On March 6, the Americans were holding an eight mile front alone. On March 21 the great German offensive between the Oise and the Scarpe, a distance of fifty miles, began. General Haig's British forces were driven back about twenty miles. The French also lost much ground including a number of important towns. The Germans drove towards Amiens in an effort to separate the British and French armies. They had some successes in Flanders and on the French front, but were finally stopped. Their greatest advance measured thirty-five miles and resulted in the retaking of most of the territory lost in the Hindenburg retreat of the previous year. The Allies lost heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners, but the Germans being the aggressors, lost more. While the great battle was at its height, March 28, the Allies reached an agreement to place all their forces from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean, under one supreme command, the man chosen for the position being General Foch of the French. On March 29, General Pershing placed all the American forces at the disposal of General Foch. The Germans began a new offensive against the British front April 8 and won a number of victories in the La Basse canal region and elsewhere. The battle of Seicheprey, April 20, was the Americans' first serious engagement with the Germans. The Germans captured the place but the Americans by a counter attack recovered it. Another great offensive was started by the Germans, May 27, resulting in the taking of the Chemin des Dames from the French and crossing the river Aisne. On the following day they crossed the Vesle river at Fismes. Here the Americans won their first notable victory by capturing the village of Cantigny and taking 200 prisoners. They held this position against many subsequent counter-attacks. By the 31st the Germans had reached Chateau Thierry and other points on the Marne, where they were halted by the French. They made a few gains during the first days of June. On June 6, American marines made a gallant attack, gaining two miles on a front two and one-half miles long near Veuilly la Poterie. On the following day they assisted the French in important victories. In the second battle northwest of Chateau Thierry, the Americans advanced nearly two and one-half miles on a six mile front, taking 300 prisoners. It was in these engagements that the Americans established themselves as fighters equal to any. On June 9, the Germans began their fourth offensive, attacking between Montdidier and the river Oise. They advanced about four miles, taking several villages. In the operations of the following day which gained them several villages, they claimed to have captured 8,000 French. This day the American marines took the greater portion of Belleau wood and completed the capture of it June 11. The French at the same time defeated the Germans between Robescourt and St. Maur. There were other battles on the 12th and 13th, but on the 14th it became evident that the German offensive was a costly failure. The fighting from this time until the end of June was of a less serious nature, although the Americans in the Belleau and Vaux regions gave the Germans no rest, attacking them continually and taking prisoners. The Americans at this time were also engaged in an offensive in Italy. July 2, President Wilson announced there were 1,019,115 American soldiers in France. The Fourth of July was celebrated in England, France and Italy as well as in the United States. On that day Americans assisted the Australians in taking the town of Hamel and many prisoners. On the 8th and 9th the French advanced in the region of Longpont and northwest of Compiegne. On the 12th they took Castel and other strong points near the west bank of the Avre river. July 14, the French national holiday was observed in America, and by the American soldiers in France. The fifth and last phase of the great offensive which the Germans had started in March, began July 15, in an attack from Chateau Thierry to Massignes, along a sixty-five mile front and crossing the Marne at several places. At Chateau Thierry the Americans put up a strong resistance but the enemy by persistent efforts finally succeeded in getting a footing on the south bank. The battle continued east and west of Rheims with the Allies holding strongly and the Germans meeting heavy losses. While the Germans were trying to force their way regardless of cost, in the direction of Chalons and Epernay, General Foch was preparing a surprise in the Villers-Cotterets forest on the German right flank. In the large force collected for the surprise were some of the best French regiments together with the famed Foreign Legion, the Moroccan regiment and other crack troops including Americans. On the morning of July 18, a heavy blow was launched at the Germans all along the line from Chateau Thierry on the Marne to the Aisne northwest of Soissons. The foe was taken completely by surprise and town after town fell with very little resistance. Later the resistance stiffened but the Allies continued to advance. Cavalrymen assisted the infantry and tanks in large numbers, helped to clean out the machine gun nests. The Americans who fought side by side with the French won the unbounded admiration of their comrades. Thousands of prisoners were taken with large numbers of heavy cannon, great quantities of ammunition and thousands of machine guns. By the 20th Soissons was threatened. The Germans finding themselves caught in a dangerous salient and attacked fiercely on both flanks, retreated hurriedly to the north bank of the Marne and still farther. Meanwhile things were going badly for the Austrians. After its retreat in 1917 to the line of the Piave river, the Italian army had been reorganized and strengthened under General Diaz, who had succeeded General Cadorna in command. French and British regiments had been sent to assist in holding the line, and later some American forces. The Austrians began an offensive June 15 along a 100-mile front, crossing the Piave in several places. For three days they made violent attacks on the Montello plateau, and along the Piave from St. Andrea to San Dona and at Capo Sile, twenty miles from Venice. Then the Italians, British, French and Americans counter-attacked and within three days had turned the great Austrian offensive into a rout, killing thousands, taking thousands of prisoners, and capturing an immense amount of war material including the Austrian's heavy caliber guns. The whole Austrian scheme to advance into the fertile Italian plains where they hoped to find food for their hungry soldiers, failed completely. It was practically the end of Austria and the beginning of the end for Germany. Bulgaria gave up September 26, due to heavy operations by the French, Italians and Serbians during July, August and September, in Albania, Macedonia and along the Vardar river to the boundaries of Bulgaria. They signed an armistice September 29 and the king of Bulgaria abdicated October 3. Turkey being in a hopeless position through the surrender of Bulgaria, and the success of the British forces under General Allenby, kept up a feeble resistance until the end of October when she too surrendered. The collapse of Austria-Hungary followed closely on that of Turkey. They kept up a show of resistance and suffered a number of disastrous defeats until the end of October when they raised the white flag. An armistice was signed by the Austrian representatives and General Diaz for the Italians, November 3. On the anniversary of Britain's entry into the war, August 4, Field Marshall Haig, commander-in-chief of the British forces issued a special order of the day, the opening paragraph of which was: "The conclusion of the fourth year of the war marks the passing of the period of crisis. We can now with added confidence, look forward to the future." On August 4, General Pershing reported: "The full fruits of victory in the counter offensive begun so gloriously by Franco-American troops on July 18, were reaped today, when the enemy who met his second great defeat on the Marne, was driven in confusion beyond the line of the Vesle. The enemy, in spite of suffering the severest losses, has proved incapable of stemming the onslaught of our troops, fighting for liberty side by side with French, British and Italian veterans. In the course of the operations, 8,400 prisoners and 133 guns have been captured by our men alone. Our troops have taken Fismes by assault and hold the south bank of the Vesle in this section." On August 8, the British and French launched an offensive in Picardy, pressed forward about seven miles on a front of 20 miles, astride the river Somme and captured several towns and 10,000 prisoners. It was in this engagement that the hard fighting at Chipilly Ridge occurred, in which the Americans so ably assisted, notably former National Guardsmen from Chicago and vicinity. Montdidier was taken by the French August 10. The British also continued to advance and by the 11th the Allies had captured 36,000 prisoners and more than 500 guns. A French attack August 19-20 on the Oise-Aisne front, netted 8,000 prisoners and liberated many towns. On the 21st Lassigny was taken by the French. This was the cornerstone of the German position south of the Avre river. On August 29 the Americans won the important battle of Guvigny. By September 2 the Germans were retreating on a front of 130 miles, from Ypres south to Noyon. By the 9th the Germans had been driven back to the original Hindenburg line, where their resistance began to strengthen. On September 12 the American army, led by General Pershing, won a great battle in the attack on and wiping out of the famous St. Mihiel salient. This victory forced the enemy back upon the Wotan-Hindenburg line, with the French paralleling him from Verdun to the Moselle. Pershing's forces continued fighting steadily, wearing out the Germans by steady pressure. On September 26 the Americans began another offensive along a front of 20 miles from the Meuse river westward through the Argonne forest. This developed into one of the bloodiest battles of the war for the Americans. On September 29 American and British troops smashed through the Hindenburg line at its strongest point between Cambrai and St. Quentin. British troops entered the suburbs of Cambrai and outflanked St. Quentin. Twenty-two thousand prisoners and more than 300 guns were captured. Meanwhile the Belgians tore a great hole in the German line, ten miles from the North sea, running from Dixmude southward. On October 3 the French launched three drives, one north of St. Quentin, another north of Rheims, and a third to the east in Champagne. All were successful, resulting in the freeing of much territory and the capture of many prisoners. On October 4 the Americans resumed the attack west of the Meuse. In the face of heavy artillery and machine gun fire, troops from Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, forced the Germans back to the so-called Kriemhilde line. In the Champagne, American and French troops were moving successfully. On the 6th the Americans captured St. Etienne; on the 9th they reached the southern outskirts of Xivry and entered Chaune wood. On the same day the armies of Field Marshall Haig made a clean break through the Hindenburg system on the west. Through a twenty-mile gap, they advanced from nine to twelve miles, penetrating almost to the Le Selle and Sambre rivers. On October 12 the British General Rawlinson, with whom an American division had been operating, sent a telegram of congratulation to the commander of the division, which comprised troops from Tennessee, in which he highly praised the gallantry of all the American troops. French troops on October 13 captured the fortress of La Fere, the strongest point on the south end of the old Hindenburg line. They also entered Laon and occupied the forest of St. Gobain. On October 15 the Americans took and passed St. Juvin after desperate fighting. On October 16 they occupied the town of Grandpre, a place of great strategic importance, being the junction of railways feeding a large part of the German armies. The Germans now began a retreat on an enormous scale in Belgium. So fast did they move that the British, French and Belgians could not keep in touch with them. The North sea ports of Belgium were speedily evacuated. Northwest of Grandpre the Americans captured Talma farm October 23, after a stiff machine gun resistance. Victories continued to be announced from day to day from all portions of the front. On November 1 the Americans participated in a heavy battle, taking Champaigneulle and Landres et St. George, which enabled them to threaten the enemy's most important line of communication. On November 4 the Americans reached Stenay and on the 6th they crossed the Meuse. By the 7th they had entered Sedan, the place made famous by the downfall of Napoleon III in the war of 1870. On other parts of the American front the enemy retreated so fast that the infantry had to resort to motor cars to keep in touch with him. It was the same on other fronts. The Germans put up a resistance at the strong fortress of Metz, which the Americans were attacking November 10 and 11. Armistice negotiations had been started as early as October, 5, and were concluded November 11th. This date saw the complete collapse of the German military machine and will be one of the most momentous days in history, as it marked the passing of an old order and the inauguration of a new era for the world. In the armistice terms every point which the Americans and Allies stipulated was agreed to by the Germans. The last shot in the war is thus described in an Associated Press dispatch of November 11: "Thousands of American heavy guns fired the parting shot to the Germans at exactly 11 o'clock this morning. The line reached by the American forces was staked out this afternoon. The Germans hurled a few shells into Verdun just before 11 o'clock. "On the entire American front from the Moselle to the region of Sedan, there was artillery activity in the morning, all the batteries preparing for the final salvos. "At many batteries the artillerists joined hands, forming a long line as the lanyard of the final shot. There were a few seconds of silence as the shells shot through the heavy mist. Then the gunners cheered. American flags were raised by the soldiers over their dugouts and guns and at the various headquarters. Soon afterward the boys were preparing for luncheon. All were hungry as they had breakfasted early in anticipation of what they considered the greatest day in American history." The celebration, which occurred November 11, upon announcement of the news, has never been equalled in America. It spontaneously became a holiday and business suspended voluntarily. Self-restraint was thrown to the winds for nearly twenty-four hours in every city, town and hamlet in the country. There was more enthusiasm, noise and processions than ever marked any occasion in this country and probably eclipsed anything in the history of the world. RETURN OF THE 15TH NEW YORK, 369TH INFANTRY. SHOWN SWINGING UP LENOX AVENUE. NEW YORK CITY WHERE THEY RECEIVED A ROYAL WELCOME. CHAPTER XXIX. HOMECOMING HEROES. NEW YORK GREETS HER OWN—ECSTATIC DAY FOR OLD 15TH—WHITES AND BLACKS DO HONORS—A MONSTER DEMONSTRATION—MANY DIGNITARIES REVIEW TROOPS—PARADE OF MARTIAL POMP—CHEERS, MUSIC, FLOWERS AND FEASTING—"HAYWARD'S SCRAPPING BABIES"—OFFICERS SHARE GLORY—THEN CAME HENRY JOHNSON—SIMILAR SCENES ELSEWHERE. No band of heroes returning from war ever were accorded such a welcome as that tendered to the homecoming 369th by the residents of New York, Manhattan Island and vicinity, irrespective of race. Being one of the picturesque incidents of the war, the like of which probably will not be repeated for many generations, if ever, it well deserves commemoration within the pages of this book. Inasmuch as no more graphic, detailed and colorful account of the day's doings has been printed anywhere, we cannot do better than quote in its entirety the story which appeared in the great newspaper, The World of New York, on February 18, 1919. The parade and reception, during which the Negro troops practically owned the city, occurred the preceeding day. The World account follows: "The town that's always ready to take off its hat and give a whoop for a man who's done something—'no matter who or what he was before,' as the old Tommy Atkins song has it—turned itself loose yesterday in welcoming home a regiment of its own fighting sons that not only did something, but did a whole lot in winning democracy's war. "In official records, and in the histories that youngsters will study in generations to come, this regiment will probably always be known as the 369th Infantry, U.S.A. "But in the hearts of a quarter million or more who lined the streets yesterday to greet it, it was no such thing. It was the old 15th New York. And so it will be in this city's memory, archives and in the folk lore of the descendants of the men who made up its straight, smartly stepping ranks. "New York is not race-proud nor race-prejudiced. That this 369th Regiment, with the exception of its eighty-nine white officers, was composed entirely of Negroes, made no difference in the shouts and flagwaving and handshakes that were bestowed upon it. New York gave its Old 15th the fullest welcome of its heart. "Through scores of thousands of cheering white citizens, and then through a greater multitude of its own color, the regiment, the first actual fighting unit to parade as a unit here, marched in midday up Fifth Avenue and through Harlem, there to be almost assailed by the colored folks left behind when it went away to glory. "Later it was feasted and entertained, and this time very nearly smothered with hugs and kisses by kin and friends, at the 71st Regiment Armory. Still later, perfectly behaved and perfectly ecstatic over its reception, the regiment returned to Camp Upton to await its mustering out. "You knew these dark lads a year and a half ago, maybe, as persons to be slipped a dime as a tip and scarcely glanced it. They were your elevator boys, your waiters, the Pullman porters who made up your berths (though of course you'd never dare to slip a Pullman porter a dime). But, if you were like many a prosperous white citizen yesterday you were mighty proud to grasp Jim or Henry or Sam by the hand and then boast among your friends that you possessed his acquaintance. "When a regiment has the medal honors of France upon its flags and it has put the fear of God into Germany time after time, and its members wear two gold stripes, signifying a year's fighting service, on one arm, and other stripes, signifying wounds, on the other, it's a whole lot different outfit from what it was when it went away. And that's the old 15th N.Y. And the men are different—and that's Jim and Henry and Sam. "Col. William Hayward, the distinguished white lawyer and one time Public Service Commissioner, who is proud to head these fighters, was watching them line up for their departure shortly after 6 o'clock last evening, when someone asked him what he thought of the day. "'It has been wonderful!' he said, and he gazed with unconcealed tenderness at his men. 'It's been far beyond my expectations. But these boys deserve it. There's only one thing missing. I wish some of Gen. Gouraud's French boys, whom we fought beside, could be here to see it.' "The Colonel slapped his hand affectionately upon the shoulder of his dark-skinned orderly. "'How about that, Hamilton, old boy?' he inquired. "'That's right, Colonel, sir; Gen. Gonraud's boys sure would have enjoyed this day!' the orderly responded as he looked proudly at the Colonel. "There's that sort of paternal feeling of the white officers toward their men, and that filial devotion of the men to their officers, such as exists in the French Army. "Much as the white population of the town demonstrated their welcome to the Regiment, it was, after all, those of their own color to whom the occasion belonged. And they did themselves proud In making it an occasion to recall for years in Harlem, San Juan Hill and Brooklyn, where most of the fighters were recruited. "At the official reviewing stand at 60th street, the kinsfolk and admirers of the regimental lads began to arrive as beforehandedly as 9 o'clock. They had tickets, and their seats were reserved for them. The official committee had seen to that—and nine-tenths of the yellow wooden benches were properly held for those good Americans of New York whom birth by chance had made dark-skinned instead of fair. BUT this was their Day of Days, and they had determined (using their own accentuation) to BE there and to be there EARLY. "The first-comers plodded across 59th Street from the San Juan Hill district, and it was fine to see them. There seemed to be a little military swank even to the youngsters, as platoons of them stepped along with faces that had been scrubbed until they shone. Had a woman a bit of fur, she wore it. Had a man a top hat—origin or vintage-date immaterial—he displayed that. All heads were up, high; eyes alight. Beaming smiles everywhere. No not quite everywhere. Occasionally there was to be seen on a left sleeve a black band with a gold star, which told the world that one of the Old 15th would never see the region west of Columbus Circle, because he had closed his eyes in France. And the faces of the wearers of these were unlaughing, but they held themselves just as proudly as the rest. "Few of the welcomers went flagless. No matter whether a man or woman wore a jewel or a pair of patent leather boots as a sign of "class," or tramped afoot to the stand or arrived in a limousine, nearly every dark hand held the nation's emblem. "Nearly every one wore white badges bearing the letters: "Welcome, Fighting 15th," or had pennants upon which stood out the regimental insignia—a coiled rattlesnake of white on a black field. "Those colored folk who could afford it journeyed to the stand in closed automobiles. Gorgeously gowned women alighted with great dignity beneath the admiring gaze of their humbler brethren. Taxies brought up those whose fortunes, perhaps, were not of such amplitude. Hansoms and hacks conveyed still others, and one party came in a plumber's wagon, its women members all bundled up in shawls and blankets against the cold, but grinning delightedly as the whole stand applauded. "Children by the thousands lined the east side of the avenue—Boy Scouts and uniformed kids and little girls with their school books under their arms, and they sang to the great delight of the crowd. "Just why it was that when Governor Smith and former Governor Whitman and Acting Mayor Moran and the other reviewers appeared behind a cavalcade of mounted policemen, the youngsters struck up that army classic, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," no one could tell, but it gave the reviewers and the crowd a laugh. "With the state and city officials were the members of the Board of Aldermen, the Board of Estimate, Major Gen. Thomas J. Barry, Vice Admiral Albert Gleaves, Secretary of State, Francis Hugo; Rodman Wannamaker and—in a green hat and big fur coat—William Randolph Hearst. Secretary Baker of the War Department was unable to attend, but he did the next best thing and sent his colored assistant, Emmett J. Scott. "The reviewers arrived at 11:30 and had a good long wait, for at that time the paraders had not yet left 23rd Street. But what with the singing, and the general atmosphere of joyousness about the stand, there was enough to occupy everyone's time. "There was one feature which took the eye pleasingly—the number of babies which proud mothers held aloft, fat pickaninnies, mostly in white, and surrounded by adoring relatives. These were to see (and be seen by) their daddies for the first time. Laughingly, the other day, Col. Bill Hayward spoke of 'our boys' posthumous children,' and said he thought there were quite a few of them. "'Some of our boys had to go away pretty quickly,' he reminisced. 'Some of them were only married about twenty minutes or so.' "'O Colonel!' said the modest Major Little on that occasion. "'Well, maybe it was a trifle longer than twenty minutes,' admitted Bill. But anyhow, there was the regiment's posthumous children in the stand. "It was 11:26 when the old 15th stepped away from 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue. They looked the part of the fighting men they were. At an exact angle over their right shoulders were their long-bayonetted rifles. Around their waists were belts of cartridges. On their heads were their 'tin hats,' the steel helmets that saved many a life, as was attested by the dents and scars in some of them. Their eyes were straight forward and their chins, held high naturally, seemed higher than ever because of the leather straps that circled them. The fighters wore spiral puttees and their heavy hobbed hiking shoes, which caused a metallic clash as they scraped over the asphalt. "At the head of the line rode four platoons of mounted police, twelve abreast, and then, afoot and alone, Col. Hayward, who organized the 15th, drilled them when they had nothing but broomsticks to drill with, fathered them and loved them, and turned them into the fightingest military organization any man's army could want. "The French called them 'Hell Fighters.' The Germans after a few mix-ups named them 'Blutlustige Schwartzmanner' (blood-thirsty black men.) But Col. Bill, when he speaks of them uses the words 'those scrapping babies of mine,' and they like that best of all. Incidentally (when out of his hearing) they refer tenderly to him as 'Old Bill, that fightin' white man.' So it's fifty-fifty. "The Colonel had broken a leg in the war, so there were those who looked for him to limp as he strode out to face the hedge of spectators that must have numbered a quarter of a million. But nary a limp. With his full six feet drawn up erectly and his strong face smiling under his tin hat, he looked every bit the fighting man as he marched up the centre of the avenue, hailed every few feet by enthusiasts who knew him socially or in the law courts or in the business of the Public Service Commission. "'Didn't your leg hurt you, Bill?' his friends asked him later. "'Sure it hurt me; he said, 'but I wasn't going to peg along on the proudest day of my life!' Which this day was. "Behind the Colonel marched his staff, Lieut. Col. W.A. Pickering, Capt. Adjutant Robert Ferguson, Major E.A. Whittemore, Regimental Sergt. Majors C.A. Connick and B.W. Cheeseman, Regimental Sergts. L.S. Payne, H.W. Dickerson and W.W. Chisum, and Sergts. R.C. Craig, D.E. Norman and Kenneth Bellups. "The Police Band was at the front of the line of march, but it was a more famous band that provided the music to which the Black Buddies stepped northward and under the Arch of Victory—the wonderful jazz organization of Lieut. Jimmie Europe, the one colored commissioned officer of the regiment. But it wasn't jazz that started them off. It was the historic Marche du Regiment de Sambre et Meuse, which has been France's most popular parade piece since Napoleon's day. As rendered now it had all the crash of bugle fanfares which is its dominant feature, but an additional undercurrent of saxaphones and basses that put a new and more peppery tang into it. "One hundred strong, and the proudest band of blowers and pounders that ever reeled off marching melody—Lieut. Jimmie's boys lived fully up to their reputation. Their music was as sparkling as the sun that tempered the chill day. "Four of their drums were instruments which they had captured from the enemy in Alsace, and ma-an, what a beating was imposed upon those sheepskins! 'I'd very much admire to have them bush Germans a-watchin' me today!' said the drummer before the march started. The Old 15th doesn't say 'Boche' when it refers to the foe it beat. 'Bush' is the word it uses, and it throws in 'German' for good measure. "Twenty abreast the heroes marched through a din that never ceased. They were as soldierly a lot as this town, now used to soldierly outfits, has ever seen. They had that peculiar sort of half careless, yet wholly perfect, step that the French display. Their lines were straight, their rifles at an even angle, and they moved along with the jaunty ease and lack of stiffness which comes only to men who have hiked far and frequently. "The colored folks on the official stand cut loose with a wild, swelling shriek of joy as the Police Band fell out at 60th Street and remained there to play the lads along when necessary and when—now entirely itself—the khaki-clad regiment filling the street from curb to curb, stepped by. "Colonel Hayward, with his hand at salute, turned and smiled happily as he saw his best friend, former Governor Whitman, standing with his other good friend, Governor Al Smith, with their silk tiles raised high over their heads. It was the Governor's first review in New York and the first time he and Mr. Whitman had got together since Inauguration Day. They were of different parties, but they were united in greeting Colonel Bill and his Babies. "From the stand, from the Knickerbocker Club across the street, from the nearby residences and from the curbing sounded shouts of individual greetings for the commander and his staff. But these were quickly drowned as a roar went up for Lieutenant Europe's band, with its commander at the head—not swinging a baton like a common ordinary drum-major, but walking along with the uniform and side-arms of an officer. "'The Salute to the 85th,' which they learned from their comrade regiment of the French Army of General Gouraud, was what they were playing, a stirring thing full of bugle calls and drum rolls, which Europe says is the best march he ever heard. "So swiftly did the platoons sweep by that it took a quick eye to recognize a brother or a son or a lover or a husband; but the eyes in the stand were quick, and there were shouts of 'Oh, Bill!' 'Hey, boy, here's your mammy!' 'Oliver, look at your baby!' (It wasn't learned whether this referred to a feminine person or one of those posthumous children Colonel Hayward spoke about.) 'Hallelujah, Sam! There you are, back home again!' "Half way down the ranks of the 2,992 paraders appeared the colors, and all hats came off with double reverence, for the Stars and Stripes and the blue regimental standard that two husky ebony lads held proudly aloft had been carried from here to France, from France to Germany and back again, and each bore the bronze token with its green and red ribbon that is called the Croix de Guerre. Keen eyes could see these little medals swinging from the silk of the flags, high toward the top of the poles. "At the end of the lines which filled the avenue came a single automobile, first, with a round-faced smiling white officer sitting in it and gazing happily from side to side. This was Major Lorillard Spencer, who was so badly wounded that he came back in advance of the outfit some weeks ago. There was a special racket of cheers for him, and then another for Major David L. 'Esperance, also wounded and riding. "Then a far different figure, but one of the most famous of the whole war. Henry Johnson! That Henry, once a mild-mannered chauffeur, who to protect his comrade, Needham Roberts, waded into a whole patrol of 'bush Germans' with a lot of hand grenades, his rifle and his trusty 'steel' in the shape of a bolo knife, and waded into them so energetically that when the casualties were counted there were four dead foemen in front of him, thirty-four others done up so badly they couldn't even crawl away, and heaven knows how many more had been put to flight. "And now Henry, in commemoration of this exploit, was riding alone in an open machine. In his left hand he held his tin hat. In his right he held high over his head a bunch of red and white lilies which some admirer had pressed upon him. And from side to side Henry—about as black as any man in the outfit if not a trifle blacker—bowed from the waist down with all the grace of a French dancing master. Yes, he bowed, and he grinned from ear to ear and he waved his lilies, and he didn't overlook a bet in the way of taking (and liking) all the tributes that were offered to him. "A fleet of motor ambulances, back of Henry, carried the wounded men who were unable to walk, nearly 200 of them. But though they couldn't walk, they could laugh and wave and shout thanks for the cheers, all of which they did. "Almost before the happy colored folk could realize at the official stand that here were their lads back home again, the last of the parade rolled along and it was over. With that formation and the step that was inspired by Lieutenant Europe's band—and by the Police Band which stood at 60th Street and kept playing after the music of the other died away—it required only seventeen minutes for the regiment to pass. "From this point north the welcome heightened in intensity. Along the park wall the colored people were banked deeply, everyone giving them the first ranks nearest the curb. Wives, sweethearts and mothers began to dash into the ranks and press flowers upon their men and march alongside with them, arm-in-arm. But this couldn't be, and Colonel Hayward had to stop the procession for a time and order the police to put the relatives back on the sidewalks. But that couldn't stop their noise. "The residents of the avenue paid fine tribute to the dusky marchers. It seemed inspiring, at 65th Street, to see Mrs. Vincent Astor standing in a window of her home, a great flag about her shoulders and a smaller one in her left hand, waving salutes. And Henry Frick, at an open window of his home at 73d Street, waving a flag and cheering at the top of his voice. "At the corner of 86th street was a wounded colored soldier wearing the Croix de Guerre and the Victoria Cross as well. Colonel Hayward pressed to his side with a hearty handshake, exclaiming: 'Why, I thought you were dead!' It was one of his boys long ago invalided home. "No, sir, Colonel, not me. I ain't dead by a long ways yet, Colonel, sir,' said the lad. "'How's it going, Colonel?' asked a spectator. "'Fine,' said the Commander. 'All I'm worrying about is whether my boys are keeping step.' He needn't have worried. "The real height of the enthusiasm was reached when, after passing through 110th street and northward along Lenox Avenue, the heroes arrived in the real Black Belt of Harlem. This was the Home, Sweet Home for hundreds of them, the neighborhood they'd been born in and had grown up in, and from 129th Street north the windows and roofs and fireescapes of the five and six story apartment houses were filled to overflowing with their nearest and dearest. "The noise drowned the melody of Lieut. Europe's band. Flowers fell in showers from above. Men, women and children from the sidewalks overran the police and threw their arms about the paraders. There was a swirling maelstrom of dark humanity in the avenue. In the midst of all the racket there could be caught the personal salutations: 'Oh, honey!' 'Oh, Jim!' 'Oh, you Charlie!' 'There's my boy!' 'There's daddie!' 'How soon you coming home, son?' It took all the ability of scores of reserve policemen between 129th Street and 135th Street, where the uptown reviewing stand was, to pry those colored enthusiasts away from their soldiermen. "There was one particular cry which was taken up for blocks along this district: 'O-oh, you wick-ed Hen-nery Johnson! You wick-ed ma-an!' and Henry the Boche Killer still bowed and grinned more widely than ever, if possible. "'Looks like a funeral, Henry, them lilies!' called one admirer. '"Funeral for them bush Germans, boy! Sure a funeral for them bushes.' shouted Henry. "The official reviewing party, after the parade had passed 60th street, had hurried uptown, and so had the Police Band, and so there were some doings as the old 15th breezed past 135th Street. But no one up there cared for Governors or ex-Governors or dignitaries. Every eye was on the Black Buddies and every throat was opened wide for them. "At 145th Street the halt was called. Again there was a tremendous rush of men and women with outstretched arms; the military discipline had to prevail, and the soldiers were not allowed to break ranks, nor were the civilians (save the quickest of them) able to give the hugs and kisses they were overflowing with. "As rapidly as possible the fighters were sent down into the subway station and loaded aboard trains which took them down to the 71st Regiment Armory at 34th Street and Fourth Avenue. Here the galleries were filled with as many dusky citizens as could find places (maybe 2,500 or 3,000) and so great was the crowd in the neighborhood that the police had to block off 34th Street almost to Fifth Avenue on the west and Third on the east. "As each company came up from the subway the friends and relatives were allowed to go through the lines, and, while the boys stood still in ranks, but at ease, their kinsfolk were allowed to take them in their arms and tell them really and truly, in close-up fashion, what they thought about having them back. "When the entire regiment was in the Armory, the civilians in the gallery broke all bounds. They weren't going to stay up there while their heroes were down below on the drill-floor! Not they! They swarmed past the police and depot battalion and so jammed the floor that it was impossible for the tired Black Buddy even to sit down. Most of the boys had to take their chicken dinner—served by colored girls, and the chow, incidentally, from Delmonico's—standing up with arms about them and kisses punctuating assaults upon the plates. "'Some chow, hey Buddy?' would be heard. "'Pretty bon.' You'd get the answer. 'I'd like to have beaucoup more of this chicken.' There was noticeable a sprinkling of French words in the conversation of the Old 15th, and, indeed, some of them spoke it fluently. "'Sam told me,' one girl was heard to say, 'that he killed nineteen of them Germans all his own self, but nobody saw him and so he didn't get that Cross doo Gare.'"