100 Years Ago - USA

LAUNCH OF AN AMERICAN DREADNOUGHT

CHICAGO'S FIRST DRAFT MARCHING DOWN MICHIGAN A VENUE

THE 4th OF JULY, 1917, IN PARIS.

The American Colours at the Invalides on Independence Day, the first detachment of American Troop ;

having landed in France on June 25th

American troops marching past Buckingham Palace, August 15, 1917

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The United States and the war

The presence of American soldiers at the front will undoubtedly quicken the spirit of all the Allies and further depress the enemy

June 5, 1917

Today ten million citizens of the United States are summoned by their country to register as soldiers in the cause of freedom. The Germans have been working hard to prevent them from answering the call. Demonstrations against the law and its enforcement have been organized and financed, but the result has been to fill “real Americans,” who include many millions of German origin, with disgust at the disloyal movement. The Balfour Mission has helped to open the eyes of many Americans as to the true significance for mankind of a German victory or a German peace, but the Germans themselves have taught the lesson, and continue to teach it best.
The letter from the Chancellor to General von Gebsattel which we quoted the other day shows how utterly apart are the ideals of the two nations. The Chancellor, it will be remembered, paid homage to the services of the Pan-German League. What were the services he singled out for approbation? That in the years of peace before the war, when Germany was loud in protest of her devotion to peace, and was simulating homage to it at The Hague and in countless dispatches, speeches, and articles, devised to throw her intended dupes and victims off their guard, this League had “raised the national will to power, and had combated the theory of the brotherhood of peoples”. In other words, the Pan-German League in a season of peace laboured with all its strength against the very conception of international relationships which Americans most highly, prize and which is the ideal aim of President Wilson’s foreign policy. And it is the boundlessly aggressive war aims of this body which the Chancellor has promised to appreciate “after the complete overthrow of all our enemies.”

Against these aims, and against the whole moral and political theory on which they are based, the Allies drew the sword, and America now draws it with them. Effective military help, it seems, may be expected earlier than was supposed. That will be a bitter disappointment to the Germans who have been assured that American aid could not reach the Allies until the conflict had been decided, just as they were again and again comforted by official and semi-official assurances that in no circumstances could a British conscript army be trained, and equipped in time. It is now probable, our Washington Correspondent tells us, that General Pershing’s Expeditionary Force will be promptly followed by from 100,000 to 120,000 men of the National Guard. They will be called up for Federal service next month, and as they correspond to our Territorials, and many of them have had the training of service oii the Mexican border, they will be fit to sail within a relatively short period. An equal number, it is thought, may be dispatched in the winter, so that when the recruits from the first conscription of 500,000 are ready for the field next year they will come to supplement some 250,000 trained troops who have preceded them under the Stars and Stripes. The presence of American soldiers at the front will undoubtedly quicken the spirit of all the Allies and further depress the enemy, while it will bring home to all citizens of the Republic with a new vividness their direct and immediate concern in the great struggle.
The message from Petrograd which the distinguished Czech leader, Professor Masaryk, sends us, lays stress upon the importance of sending American troops to France. Thoroughly devoted, as he is, to the principles of democracy and of nationality, he does not shrink from telling the other Allies that they will be prudent not to expect the Russians to do more at present than to maintain their positions and to hold a certain number of the enemy on their fronts. The efforts of M Kerensky may result in far more satisfactory results, but it is safest not to go beyond this sober judgment. The Professor does not hesitate to draw from it the conclusion that “an American Army in France is necessary.” He is satisfied that its presence there and the energetic prosecution of the war on the other fronts will exercise’ a great and healthy influence upon the Russian Army and people. The peasantry, he assures us, who furnish the great bulk of the Army, are not pacifists. If they and many other Russians sde that the other Allies, including the Americans, refuse to listen to talk of a premature peace and to daily with what he calls “the abstract, “unpractical, political programme of pacifist visionaries,” the Russian masses, he believes, will rally to the common policy. The processions and prayers “for Russia in the present days of trial’” which thousands took part in in Petrograd on Sunday, may indicate that a new and very potent factor is entering into the Russian situation.

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General Pershing’s Army

The meeting between the American General in command of the transports and the French officers on the quay was of a most friendly character

June 28, 1917

A French port, June 27. The first units of American troops landed at a French port on Monday, after an uneventful voyage.
Somewhere in France, June 26. The arrival of General Pershing in Paris was the first tangible sign of the intervention of the United States in the war, and today France is greeting the advanced guard of the great and splendidly organized Army which will follow its Chief in helping France and her Allies in their great effort to secure the triumph of civilization. There was a slight sea haze, presaging a glorious summer day, when the arrival of the American ships was signalled. Those privileged persons who knew what was going on passed along the deserted quays before the town clocks had struck six.

The Port Commander’s launch put off at once with the French authorities and a number of American officers. The American ships were met a short distance out steaming towards the land, a veritable Armada of huge transports, whose black hulls showed clearly against the horizon, while the grey forms of their escorting destroyers were almost blotted out in the leaden-coloured sea. Dominating everything was an enormous American cruiser, with its peculiar upper works.
The warships picked up their moorings with clockwork precision, and the transports were taken in charge by tugs, which towed them to their appointed berths. By this time the slight haze had disappeared and crowds began to gather as the great transports were slowly brought alongside the quays. On the stroke of 8 o’clock work ceased for a moment, and the troops came to the salute. Then there were resounding cheers from the transports, to which the populace responded with a right good will.
Along the breakwater there were gangs of men who took no part in the demonstration of welcome - German prisoners, who gazed in open-mouthed astonishment at the spectacle. Each transport, as she made fast, was greeted with loud cheers, and the scenes of enthusiasm were repeated throughout the morning.

The meeting between the American General in command of the transports and the French officers on the quay was of a most friendly character. The General, a veteran of the Cuban, Philippine and Mexican campaigns, was overwhelmed with questions as to how the voyage had passed, but even the blandishments of experienced interviewers could make him say nothing more than, “We left in fine weather, with a calm sea, and we have arrived on time. Nothing happened.” He added: “I am happy to be the commander of the first troops who will fight shoulder to shoulder with the heroes of the Marne and Verdun.”
The General then left to inspect the camp where his men will be lodged. No time was lost in landing stores. Negro labourers rushed down the gangways, carrying tents, boxes of tinned meats, biscuits, sugar, &c, while the troops looked on from the decks. The men look in the pink of condition, and have made the best impression on the French

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Old Glory in London

In the watching crowd one was often struck with the frequent comment on the physical appearance of the American troops. They went along with shoulders squared and their eyes to the front

August 16, 1917

Yesterday morning Londoners had one of their few chances to cheer and wax enthusiastic since the war began. American troops marched through the streets behind the flag of the great Republic. For weeks past - indeed, since the United States came into the war - English people have been hearing rumours of the number of troops being sent from the States to the French front. Yesterday they had ocular demonstration enough to convince them of the effort being made on the other side of the Atlantic.
The Censor and our War Office, the American Embassy and the American military authorities decided that it would be better in the interests of all concerned if no very early preliminary announcements were made. Consequently it was not until Tuesday night that Londoners knew that the march was taking place. Even with the short notice given the public, it was evident that the crowds which gathered had come there to express their enthusiasm. To those who have watched London crowds in the past three years of war it was at once plain that, although the gathering was perhaps small in numbers, it was in no way lacking in enthusiasm. The cheering on some parts of the route was continuous and the comments of the crowd would have made any man in the khaki ranks pleased.

From 8.30am yesterday the troops marched from Waterloo to the Wellington Barracks. At the railway station there were some hundreds of British soldiers going on leave and a few score coming back from France. It was there that the Americans got their first noisy welcome. The Tommies cheered in British fashion, and the Americans, standing easy, responded with the sort of cheer that one hears from the Big League crowds when the White Sox have “put it over” the Giants. Every nation cheers in its own way, but in the cheers of both nations at Waterloo there was the same enthusiasm.
At Wellington Barracks Colonel Lassiter, the Military Attache of the American Embassy, was present to welcome the units as they arrived. With him were Lord Derby, Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Lloyd, and a number of officers of the Guards’ Brigade. There was a tremendous crowd here from 9 o’clock onwards, and the railings of the parade ground were packed with people eager to make the men from the United States feel at home, and incidentally to beg a souvenir or two from them in the shape of a button or a badge. At 11.30am the troops left the barracks to the tune of “The Boston Tea Party,” surely a strange air to be played before troops in the streets of London, but still a most appropriate one.
THE MEN THEMSELVES.

The men were admired all along the route. They were a remarkably uniform lot, and their physique was splendid. All of them are volunteers, and most of them are men who have been working with their hands in the West, and they are necessarily as fit as an open-air rigorous life can make them. They marched with a free step, much like the Colonial troops, and they showed that they had learnt their drill. Hardly a man or woman in the crowd realized that nearly all of these men were civilians six weeks ago. But such is the fact, and it is good to let it be known. After a month and a half of drilling these men marched as well as many of our permanent battalions. The slope of their rifles was uniform, and they never seemed to tire or grow slack. And it was a tiring march, even though it was not a long one, for the streets were hot, and the men were up very early in the morning to entrain for the City.
The Americans wear the hat that has been made familiar to us by the New Zealand forces - a felt hat with a straight brim and pinched crown. Each unit of the American Army wears a different cord round the crown, with two tassels hanging on the brim in front. The men carried waterproof capes slung in their belts behind. Instead of puttees they wore canvas leggings laced in front. These are particularly useful for every class of service. On the Mexican border they were found to be cool and comfortable. In France they will be every bit as useful, for they do not collect as much mud as puttees, and are easily washed.
The sergeants, many of them with medal ribbons telling of their service in Mexico, the Philippines, or China, all wore automatic pistols hung handily on the right hip. Their chevrons denoting rank are reversed and the “Vs” of the stripes point upwards. There was at least one man from the New York police in the non-commissioned ranks, and perhaps a patrolman or two from Chicago. Many of the men have come fresh from the West. It is just about now that the annual migration of the “hoboe” takes place. He leaves New York for the winter, often travelling on the undercarriage of a freight wagon until he reaches a town far enough west, and warm enough climatically, to attract him. Here he stops off, and works intermittently until the city calls again. This year the “hoboe” will have a much easier time. One of the biggest men in the first contingent to march past, when asked what he was doing two months ago looked a little homesick. “I was chasin’ hoboes off the freight cars on the Dallas-Sweetwater stretch in Colorado.” And in case the uninitiated do not know what a “hoboe” is, it might be explained that a hoboe is a tramp.
In the watching crowd one was often struck with the frequent comment on the physical appearance of the American troops. They went along with shoulders squared and their eyes to the front. There was no talking in the march, and each man kept the alignment of his four splendidly. When, as often happened, the column paused on the route, the men marked time with a precision that would have pleased even a Guards sergeant-major. There was one noticeable thing about their appearance, and that was the lack of moustaches. Very few of them had moustaches, and fewer still had beards.
SALUTING “OLD GLORY.”
At the head of each contingent there was carried the Stars and Stripes, and it can safely be said the “Old Glory” has never had such a rousing reception in the streets of London before. As each colour party passed it was saluted by every man among the watching crowds. Civilians doffed their hats, and soldiers saluted rigidly Often, too, it was the signal for three cheers. There were many individual examples of enthusiasm, and they were not missed by the marching men. In the Green Park, when the men halted, one of them called to the other, “Say, did you get the little bell-hop I looking through the grating in Pell Mell Street? The one that was hollerin’ ‘Are we downhearted?’” They had all noticed him, and his little tribute was appreciated. As a matter of fact, it was the page-boy of the Automobile Club who had squeezed his head through the grille above the front door and so addressed the crowd beneath and received a rousing answer.
Once in the crowd there came a weird sound that caused all heads to turn in wonder. The American files knew it, and although they could not respond, they smiled as they looked straight to their front, for it was the college yell of Harvard. Yale followed in lesser voice, and ended with a hoarse wheeze. Many of the men in the ranks were engineering graduates, and many of them were athletes. More than one private carrying his rifle in yesterday’s parade has stood at the diamond and hit balls that made the out field scatter to the four corners of the ground. Many of them have pitched balls fast enough and curly enough to make the best batsman resume his seat after a bare few seconds with never a base gained. Some of them are runners who have breasted the tape for Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard.
They are all in a bigger game now, where the pace is faster and the stake greater. The ancestors of many of these men fought in the Civil War and it is certain that the traditions of Gettysburg, Harper’s Ferry, and the Hagerstown Pike will be jealously guarded. There will be many families in the United States in a few years who will be able to point to war records covering three generations. The column swung past the Nelson Monument, along Pall-mall, and up into Piccadilly, where the crowd was not so dense. Then they marched to the American Embassy, where they passed the Ambassador and Mrs Page. As each company marched past the men came to the salute, and the movement was acknowledged by Mr Page. Canadians at the Maple Leaf Club cheered hard and continuously as the procession swung past the Embassy.
AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
Perhaps the crowd was thickest and most enthusiastic round Buckingham Palace, where the King, Queen Alexandra, Lord French and Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Lloyd stood at the saluting base in front of the massed bands of the Guards’ Brigade. As the salute was given by each company in turn the King acknowledged it, and the crowd burst into prolonged cheering. One band played “The Long, Long Trail,” and the crowd took up the refrain in great voice, helping the strains of the brass with a fine volume of sound. When the Stars and Stripes came past the King and all the military officers at the saluting point paid the proper compliments. When most of the troops had gone by a motor-car drove into the cleared space in front of the Palace, and the Prime Minister stepped out amidst cheers, and walked briskly across to the King, and stood beside him until the guard of honour had been inspected. In the Green Park the Americans were given a light luncheon at open-air tables, and many of their countrymen mixed with them and stayed to talk of their homes. The Canadians were especially fraternal in their greetings, for many of them had friends in both forces, and after all it is not a far cry from Medicine Hat to Missouri or from Montreal to Massachusetts.
The impression made by the men was undoubtedly a splendid one, and one could not help wondering what the regular battalions of the United States Army in France are like if soldiers of six weeks’ training comported themselves as well as these. The whole procession was an excellent argument in favour of our having more of the same sort of thing. Why should not we see our own men from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa march through the streets? Yesterday’s enthusiasm was sufficient warranty that the London public needs a spectacle like this every little while, and it would be a pretty compliment if it could be arranged.
When the bands passed the cheering grew louder than ever, and the pipers of the Irish Guards, in brick-coloured kilt, and with Irish pipes, the stocks decked with emerald ribbons, received a particularly hearty reception. The bands of the Guards, in full strength, were distributed along the column, and they played every appropriate air their bandmasters could think of. The opinion of the average man in the crowd was that “it was a good show, and it was a pity that we did not have more. like it.”