Westminster Bridge
Image by Leonard Bentley
This is Wednesday 15th August 1917 and the very first American troops to arrive in the UK march via the streets of London, here they are marching across Westminster Bridge en route to Waterloo Station. Right here is how the Occasions newspaper reported the occasion the following day.
"OLD GLORY” IN LONDON.
AMERICAN TROOPS WELCOMED.
MARCH Past THE KING.
Yesterday morning Londoners had a single of their few chances to cheer and wax enthusiastic because the war began. American troops marched via the streets behind the flag of the wonderful Republic. For weeks past – indeed, since the United States came into the war – English individuals have been hearing rumours of the number of troops getting sent from the States to the French front. Yesterday they had ocular demonstration enough to convince them of the work getting made on the other side of the Atlantic.
The Censor and our War Workplace, the American Embassy and the American military authorities decided that it would be far better in the interests of all concerned if no very early preliminary announcements have been created. Consequently it was not until Tuesday night that Londoners knew that the march was taking location. Even with the short notice offered the public, it was evident that the crowds which gathered had come there to express their enthusiasm. To these who have watched London crowds in the previous three years of war it was at when plain that, despite the fact that the gathering was perhaps tiny in numbers, it was in no way
lacking in enthusiasm. The cheering on some components of the route was continuous and the comments of the crowd would have produced any man in the khaki ranks pleased.
From 8.30 a.m. yesterday the troops marched from Waterloo to the Wellington Barracks. At the railway station there have been 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 style, and the Americans, standing simple, responded with the sort of cheer that 1 hears from the Large League crowds when the White Sox have “put it over“ the Giants. Each and every nation cheers in its personal way, but in the cheers of each nations at Waterloo there was the exact same enthusiasm.
At Wellington Barracks Colonel Lassiter, the Military Attaché 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 quantity of officers of the Guards’ Brigade. There was a tremendous crowd right here from 9 o’clock onwards, and the railings of the parade ground have been packed with people eager to make the guys from the United States really feel at house, and incidentally to beg a souvenir or two from them in the shape of a button or a badge. At 11.30 a.m. the troops left the barracks to the tune of “The Boston Tea Celebration,” surely a strange air to be played just before troops in the streets of London, but still a most appropriate 1.
THE Males THEMSELVES.
The males were admired all along the route. They have been a remarkably uniform lot, and their physique was splendid. All of them are volunteers, and most of them are males who have been functioning 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 totally free step, considerably like the Colonial troops, and they showed that they had learnt their drill. Hardly a. man or woman in the crowd realized that almost all of these men have been civilians six weeks ago. But such is the truth, and it is very good to let it be known. Right after a month and a half of drilling these men marched as effectively as numerous of our permanent battalions. The slope of their rifles was uniform, and they never ever seemed to tire or develop slack. And it was a tiring march, even even though it was not a long 1, for the streets had been hot, and the guys had been up quite early in the morning to entrain for the City.
The Americans wear the hat that has been created 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 males carried waterproof capes slung in their belts behind. Alternatively of puttees they wore canvas leggings laced in front. These are particularly valuable for every single class of service. On the Mexican border they were discovered to be cool and comfy. In France they will be each bit as useful, for they do not gather as significantly mud as puttees, and are easily washed.
The sergeants, a lot of of them with medal ribbons telling of their service in Mexico, the Philippines, or China, all wore automatic pistols hung handily on the appropriate hip. Their chevrons denoting rank are reversed and the “ Vs “ of the stripes point upwards. There was at least 1 man from the New York police in the non-commissioned ranks, and probably a patrolman or two from Chicago. Numerous of the men have come fresh from the West.
It is just about now that the annual migration of the "hoboe" requires place. He leaves New York for the winter, typically travelling on the undercarriage of a freight wagon till he reaches a town far enough west, and warm adequate climatically, to attract him. Right here he stops off, and performs intermittently till the city calls once again. This year the “hoboe " will have a a lot simpler time. A single of the greatest males in the first contingent to march past, when asked what he was performing two months ago looked a small homesick. “ I was chasin hoboes off the freight automobiles 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 look 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 and every man kept the Alinement (sic) of his four splendidly. When, as frequently happened, the column paused on the route, the guys marked time with a precision that would have pleased even a Guards sergeant significant. There was 1 noticeable factor about their look, and that was the lack of moustaches. Quite few of them had moustaches, and fewer nevertheless had beards.
SALUTING "OLD GLORY".
At the head of every 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 just before. As each and every colour party passed it was saluted by each man among the watching crowds. Civilians doffed their hats, and soldiers saluted rigidly frequently, as well, it was the signal for 3 cheers. There were a lot of individual examples of enthusiasm, and they were not missed by the marching males. In the Green Park, when the guys halted, one particular of them known as to the other, “ Say, did you get the small ‘ bell-hop ‘ seeking by way of 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 by way of 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 though 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 had been engineering graduates, and numerous of them were athletes. Far more than a single private carrying his rifle in yesterday’s parade has stood at the diamond and hit balls that produced the out field scatter to the 4 corners of the ground. A lot of of them have pitched balls quick sufficient and curly sufficient to make the best batsman resume his seat after a bare couple of seconds with in no way a base gained. Some of them are runners who have breasted the tape for Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard. They are all in a larger game now, exactly where the pace is faster and the stake greater.
The ancestors of a lot of of these men fought in the Civil War and it is specific that the traditions of Gettysburg, Harper’s Ferry, and the Hagerstown Pike will be jealously guarded. There will be several families in the United States in a few years who will be able to point to war records covering 3 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, exactly where they passed the Ambassador and Mrs. Page. As each and every business marched previous the guys came to the salute, and the movement was acknowledged by Mr. Page. Canadians at the Maple Leaf Club cheered tough 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-Basic Sir Francis Lloyd stood at the saluting base in front of the massed bands of the Guards’ Brigade. As the salute was given by every business in turn the King acknowledged it, and the crowd burst into prolonged cheering. 1 band played “The Extended, Long Trail,“ and the crowd took up the refrain in excellent voice, assisting 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 numerous of their countrymen mixed with them and stayed to talk of their properties. The Canadians have been especially fraternal in their greetings, for numerous of them had friends in each forces, and soon after all it is not a far cry from Medicine Hat to Missouri or from Montreal to Massachusetts. The impression made by the males was undoubtedly a splendid one, and one could not assist wondering what the normal battalions of the United States Army in France are like if soldiers of six weeks’ education comported themselves as well as these. The complete procession was an outstanding argument in favour of our possessing far more of the identical sort of thing. Why need to not (sic) we see our personal men from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa march by means of the streets? Yesterday’s enthusiasm was sufficient warranty that the London public needs a spectacle like this every single small although, and it would be a quite 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 stocs decked with emerald ribbons, received a specifically hearty reception. The bands of the Guards, in complete strength, had been distributed along the column, and they played every proper air their bandmasters could believe of. The opinion of the typical man in the crowd was that "it was a great show, and it was a pity that we did not have far more like it".