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Westminster Bridge
Image by Leonard Bentley
This is Wednesday 15th August 1917 and the initial American troops to arrive in the UK march by means of the streets of London, right here they are marching across Westminster Bridge en route to Waterloo Station. Here is how the Times newspaper reported the event the following day.
"OLD GLORY” IN LONDON.
AMERICAN TROOPS WELCOMED.
MARCH Past THE KING.
Yesterday morning Londoners had one particular of their handful of possibilities to cheer and wax enthusiastic given that the war started. American troops marched by means of the streets behind the flag of the fantastic Republic. For weeks past – indeed, given that the United States came into the war – English people have been hearing rumours of the quantity of troops becoming sent from the States to the French front. Yesterday they had ocular demonstration enough to convince them of the effort becoming created 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 quite early preliminary announcements had been created. Consequently it was not until Tuesday evening 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 those who have watched London crowds in the previous three years of war it was at after plain that, though the gathering was probably 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 8.30 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 handful of 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 Huge League crowds when the White Sox have “put it over“ the Giants. Every single nation cheers in its own way, but in the cheers of both nations at Waterloo there was the identical enthusiasm.
At Wellington Barracks Colonel Lassiter, the Military Attaché of the American Embassy, was present to welcome the units as they arrived. With him have been Lord Derby, Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Lloyd, and a quantity of officers of the Guards’ Brigade. There was a tremendous crowd here from 9 o’clock onwards, and the railings of the parade ground have been packed with individuals eager to make the men from the United States really feel at property, 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,” certainly a strange air to be played ahead of troops in the streets of London, but nonetheless a most acceptable one particular.
THE Males THEMSELVES.
The men had been admired all along the route. They had been a remarkably uniform lot, and their physique was splendid. All of them are volunteers, and most of them are guys who have been operating 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 of charge 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 excellent to let it be recognized. After a month and a half of drilling these men marched as well as several of our permanent battalions. The slope of their rifles was uniform, and they in no way seemed to tire or grow slack. And it was a tiring march, even although it was not a extended a single, for the streets have been hot, and the men had been up very early in the morning to entrain for the City.
The Americans put on the hat that has been made familiar to us by the New Zealand forces a felt hat with a straight brim and pinched crown. Every unit of the American Army wears a diverse cord round the crown, with two tassels hanging on the brim in front.
The guys carried waterproof capes slung in their belts behind. Instead of puttees they wore canvas leggings laced in front. These are particularly valuable for every class of service. On the Mexican border they were located to be cool and comfy. In France they will be every single bit as valuable, for they do not gather as significantly mud as puttees, and are simply 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 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. A lot of 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, frequently travelling on the undercarriage of a freight wagon till he reaches a town far adequate west, and warm enough climatically, to attract him. Right here he stops off, and functions intermittently till the city calls once more. This year the “hoboe " will have a considerably easier time. A single of the most significant 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 1 was frequently 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 4 splendidly. When, as usually happened, the column paused on the route, the men marked time with a precision that would have pleased even a Guards sergeant main. There was 1 noticeable point 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 stated the “ Old Glory " has never had such a rousing reception in the streets of London prior to. As every colour celebration passed it was saluted by every man amongst the watching crowds. Civilians doffed their hats, and soldiers saluted rigidly usually, too, it was the signal for three cheers. There had been a lot of person examples of enthusiasm, and they had been not missed by the marching men. In the Green Park, when the males halted, one particular of them named to the other, “ Say, did you get the little ‘ bell-hop ‘ seeking through the grating in Pell Mell Street ?" The a single that was hollerin " Are we downhearted ?" They had all noticed him, and his tiny tribute was appreciated. As a matter of fact, it was the web page-boy of the Automobile Club who had squeezed his head via 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 triggered 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. Numerous of the males in the ranks were engineering graduates, and many of them were athletes. Much more than a single 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 rapidly sufficient and curly adequate to make the best batsman resume his seat soon after a bare handful of seconds with never ever 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, where the pace is more quickly and the stake higher.
The ancestors of many of these guys fought in the Civil War and it is particular that the traditions of Gettysburg, Harper’s Ferry, and the Hagerstown Pike will be jealously guarded. There will be many households in the United States in a few years who will be capable to point to war records covering 3 generations.
The column swung past the Nelson Monument, along Pall-mall, and up into Piccadilly, exactly where the crowd was not so dense. Then they marched to the American Embassy, where they passed the Ambassador and Mrs. Web page. As each organization marched past the males came to the salute, and the movement was acknowledged by Mr. Page. Canadians at the Maple Leaf Club cheered difficult and continuously as the procession swung past the Embassy.
AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
Possibly 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 company in turn the King acknowledged it, and the crowd burst into prolonged cheering. 1 band played “The Long, Long Trail,“ and the crowd took up the refrain in wonderful voice, helping the strains of the brass with a fine volume of sound. When the Stars and Stripes came previous the King and all the military officers at the saluting point paid the correct compliments.
When most of the troops had gone by a motor-automobile 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 have been provided a light luncheon at open-air tables, and numerous of their countrymen mixed with them and stayed to speak of their homes. The Canadians have been specially fraternal in their greetings, for many of them had buddies 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 produced by the men was undoubtedly a splendid one particular, and a single could not assist questioning what the standard battalions of the United States Army in France are like if soldiers of six weeks’ education comported themselves as nicely as these. The complete procession was an excellent argument in favour of our possessing more of the very same sort of factor. Why should not (sic) we see our own guys from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa march by means of the streets? Yesterday’s enthusiasm was enough warranty that the London public wants a spectacle like this each and every tiny while, and it would be a fairly 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 each and every proper air their bandmasters could consider of. The opinion of the typical man in the crowd was that "it was a excellent show, and it was a pity that we did not have much more like it".