Not until February 9th was another move made. Then, _en freight car_, we
journeyed to the Le Mans area, detraining at Poille from whence we hiked
to La Roches Farm, near Auvers-le-Hamon. April 15th we entrained at
Sable for Brest, where we were quartered at Camp Pontazaine.
[Illustration: (C)_Underwood & Underwood_
_"La Guerre est Fini!" The Parade on Our Return. May 6th, 1919_]
On April 19th, exactly one year after our arrival at Liverpool, we were
lightered out to the United States Transport _America_.
A fast ship and smooth waters combined to give us a rapid and enjoyable
voyage and we docked at Hoboken at 9:00 A.M., April 28th. We proceeded
to Camp Mills, Mineola, Long Island, where immediate passes gave us the
opportunity to greet our home folks, eat home meals, and sleep in
regular beds.
The Company moved on May 5th to the armory of the 22d New York Engineers
in New York City to await final orders for the parade of welcome
arranged by New York City.
We formed for the parade near Washington Square at 8:00 A.M. next
morning and at 10:00 A.M. we marched out to Fifth Avenue and swept up
that thorofare to the acclaim of a million throats. No greeting could
have been more sincere, no welcome more impressive, and this, our last
hike as Company B, was a march of glory.
We returned to Camp Upton, our first station and our last, and we were
demobilized on May 9th, 1919, to return to our respective states. Ours
was a truly American company, composed of true and representative
Americans. Our homes lay in thirty-two different states, scattered
between New York and Maine in the east, Minnesota and the Dakotas in the
north, Utah, Oregon, and California in the west, and Texas, Louisiana,
and Florida in the south.
So ends the History of Company B. We were mustered out of the service
military, but the spirit that withstood the Lorraine, the valor that
gained the Aisne, and the fire that conquered the Argonne, lives on, and
we have banded ourselves together so that we may, in the words of our
commander, Major General Robert Alexander, "serve our Country as well in
Peace as we did in War".