By order of COLONEL HAYWARD:
T. A. RYAN,
_1st Lt., 369th Infantry,_
_Acting Adjutant._
While the regiment embarked for France with five colored officers, it
returned with only one, Lieutenant James Reese Europe, of the famous
15th Infantry Band. The others were transferred to other organizations
under the peculiar system that was used for the purpose of moving
colored officers about like checkers on a checker board. Captain
Marshall was sent to the 365th Infantry, while the other three were
attached to the 370th. Captain Fillmore was decorated with the Croix de
Guerre before leaving the 369th, and Lieutenants Lacey and Reid after
they became members of the regiment from Illinois, a proof that the
French recognized their ability.
The regiment returned to the States on February 12, 1918. They had made
a splendid record all through their period of service, and—in the words
of a tribute paid by the new 15th Regiment to the old—they “Never lost
a prisoner, a trench, nor a foot of ground, and demonstrated for all
time the bravery of the American Negro, his high quality as a soldier,
and his devotion to the cause of liberty.”
The City of New York gave them a tremendous, whole-hearted, and royal
welcome, and the New York _Herald_ republished in their honor the
following poem from “_The Black Phalanx_,” composed by George Henry
Boker: