ENGLISH WELCOME.
Early on the morning of July 14th the convoy steamed up the bay and anchored in the
harbor of Liverpool and the naval authorities of the convoy could heave a sigh of relief over
another gauntlet run and a fresh batch of force and power landed in Europe to abet the cause of
the Allies. The good ship ‘Runic’ was the first of the convoy to dock, so by nine o’clock in the
morning the regiment was clearing its decks. Through Liverpool we marched in two sections.
Each section as it formed up by the side of the train it was to take to the south was addressed by
an English lieutenant colonel, who extended the greetings of King George V and the God Speed
of all of the English people. Here an English officer in charge of loading the train hustled and
bustled us on – his was the office of seeing that the splendid English train service was not held
up by any sight seeing Americans, and from the persistence he showed in getting us on the train
many minutes before it started, it was apparent that previous units had, perhaps, given trouble
through dilatoriness. However pleasant smiles and wishes of God Speed and good luck
evidenced their satisfaction over the continuous chain of American soldiers leaving toward
training areas, the western front, and ultimate victory. In Liverpool Captain Bates with the
Supply Company was left behind to complete the unloading of the baggage.
TOY TRAINS.
Meanwhile most of the personnel of the regiment were making their first acquaintance
with the toy trains of Europe and side-door Pullmans. During the trip many joking remarks were
passed about these self same trains – box cars that looked like moving vans; engines, which the
soldiers believed they could put in their pockets and take back to their little brothers; the
insignificant little ‘toot-toot’ of the engines, which compared ludicrously with the shriek of the
Twentieth Century Limited.
ENGLISH SCENERY.
It was a fine sunshiney day when we bore south through Birmingham and Oxford;
England looked it its best with its tier after tier of perfectly cultivated fields. Everyone was
impressed by the economical way the ground was tilled – right up to the roadside – almost to the
railroad tracks: no grass growing along the fences, but rather cultivation coming right up to them.
These, with the clean farm yards and villages and businesslike industrial centers through which
the train passed during the day made our first impression of England vividly favorable.
GAMINS.
At every stop of the train in the villages English children gathered rapidly with shouts of
“The Americans, The Americans”. It was not the curiosity alone that drew them, for apparently
they had made friends with American generosity before then, for they set up at once with pleas
for cigarettes and pennies, and these they got, for the American soldier had no reputation for lack
of generosity.
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