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The journey back home was far different from the journey going
over. Our bands were playing all the day and the ship was
ablaze with light at night, moving picture shows, dancing,
boxing and every form of amusement was furnished to the happy
men homeward bound. On the morning of April 25 we caught the
first gleam of the American shore, which we had left eighteen
months before. In the afternoon we moved down the harbor with
the returning tide, amidst screaming whistles and bellowing
fog horns. We were joyfully received by old New York. Iowa had
sent a delegation, which came out in tug boats to meet and
greet us and when it came alongside the giant liner, with a
large sign saying "Iowa Greets the 168th," a mighty roar went
up from the twelve thousand home-hungry boys and again as we
passed the Statue of Liberty the boys cheered this mighty
emblem of the land to which we were returning.
At 6:30 the boat swung into dock. At 8 we said good-by to the
splendid chaps in the navy, who had taken us safely over and
brought us triumphantly back. We moved out to the edge of the
wharf and for the first time in eighteen months we greeted
those who had waited so patiently and prayerfully for our safe
return. Of the happy scenes that followed I cannot write.
My readers know them quite as well as myself.
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