Big Transport Brings
Back Several Thousand Troops. . . North Carolinians Arrive
New York, Dec. 24—The transport George Washington, which
took President Wilson to France, and the steamship Cedric, arrived here
yesterday, bringing 6,025 men from overseas in time to celebrate Christmas in
the United States.
The Cedric from Liverpool with 65 officers and 2,168
enlisted men docked first and was accorded a rousing reception, but the welcome
to the George Washington, which arrived an hour later from Brest, was perhaps
the most enthusiastic the city yet has given a returning transport.
The George Washington’s 968 sick and wounded, contrary to
custom were in possession of their honorable discharge papers when the
transport landed. They received them last night with cigarettes and candy at a
novel Christmas celebration. As the men were dozing off for their last seep
aboard, the ship’s quartette entered and roused them by singing Christmas
carols and “Home, Sweet Home.” The lights then were flashed on and a member of
the crew attired as Santa Clause distributed the discharges.
Col. Halsted Dorey of Washington, wearing four wound
stripes, was one of the officers on the George Washington. He was gassed twice
and wounded in the leg. Before sailing for France he commanded the first
Plattsburg training camp for business men.
Lieut. George W. Buryear of Memphis, Tenn., who escaped
Germany by swimming the Rhine, after being in five German camps, was another
passenger.
Lieut,. Edgar Boligney of New Orleans, aviator who enlisted
with the foreign legion in 1914 and later was transferred to the American
service, was another passenger. Lieut. Bolginey’s plane was shot down in
Albania last July from a height of 7,000 feet, he said, but he escaped without
a scratch.
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