"This is where we were," writes Captain Reddick, "when a runner brought us the message from Regimental Headquarters that the armistice had been signed. We were instructed to advance no further, but to dig in and wait. The boys just gave one big yell of gladness, and then, after a second thought, settled back and took things very quietly. They still realized that this might be a lull, a temporary cessation of hostilities. They knew we had the Dutch beat to a frazzle, but they had no confidence in the word of any Dutchman. Happy, glad beyond expression, were the men, yet cool and steady, not to be thrown off their guard. These boys from Wayne County had developed into wonderful soldiers -soldiers in every sense of the word. Better soldiers never put on a uniform."

The companies that went out from Wayne County had lost many men through promotion and transfer, and had been given many others in their places. By hard work, great spirit, and a sense of pride, the organizations were always able to make good under all conditions and made a reputation of which Wayne County can well be proud.

· The 146th regiment held its positions on the Escaut River until November 18th when the men marched to Belsique. This was the first daylight march for many weeks. The first light snow of the season fell. It was reported that the unit was to march to Brussels and become a part of the army of occupation in Germany. At Belsique orders were changed and a provisional company from the regiment (twenty men from each company) was formed and proceeded to Brussels, where · it took part in the parade on the day King Albert entered his capital, regained after four years of struggle. The men selected from each company were certainly proud of the honor of being in that parade.

At Belsique orders were issued sending the regiment back across Belgium towards France. The route was through Dentze, Wontergen, Denterghen, Wacken, Oestreesbeke, Inglemunster, Iseghen to Lendelede, which was reached November 23rd. Here the regiment rested until December 4th when the march was taken up again, to Iseghem, Rumbeke, Roulers, West Oestreesbeke, Langemarck, Poperinghe to Wormhoudt, France, reached December 7th. The march of these last few days was through what had formerly been no man's land-through the mud of Flanders. From eighteen to thirty-five kilometers were covered each day, depending upon the condition of the country. There were no buildings left, and quarters for the men at night were hard to find. The weather was cold, rainy and conditions were anything but pleasant. But the boys were in good spirits. Their morale could not have been excelled. They marched along with songs and jests, and dreams of the good old U. S. A. The "rest camp" joke was still a joke. The Wayne County men had started for a rest camp after their first drive in the

Argonne in early October, and they were still marching towards it. Rumors of rest camps were always in the air, but none was ever reached. As the men would march past a military cemetary they would sing out, "there is our rest camp."

... But at Wormhoudt the rest camp was actually found, and, for a number of days, really appreciated. Then the desire to return to the states, a desire that had grown each hour after the armistice was signed, began to assert itself in earnest. Transport facilities were limited, and the volunteers waited patiently, moving slowly to the port of embarkation at Brest, from where they sailed on March 18th, on the Transport Maui.

Col. Gerlach, who had won such signal honors while commanding the 145th regiment, was transferred back to his old unit, and was in command of the 146th on the trip back to the states. Col. Pickering had been the regimental commander during the severe fighting.

The Maui docked at Pier No. 4, Hoboken, on the morning of Monday, March 31st, and the men disembarked and were sent to Camp Dix for a final delousing. A Wooster welcoming committee, headed by Mayor Geo. A. Fisher, and including Herman Freedlander, Chat Reddick and A. B. Lee, met the men upon landing, with greetings from home.

The regiment remained at Camp Dix until April 3rd when it proceeded to Akron, Ohio. Parades took place at Akron Saturday, April 5th, at Canton on Sunday and Columbus on Monday. More than 600 Wooster, Shreve and Orrville people saw the Canton parade. The regiment proceeded to Camp Sherman, where the preliminary work for the final discharge was completed during the week, and on Sunday morning, April 13th, the men were mustered out of service.

Wayne County people were especially glad to learn, before the final muster out, that Capt. F. C. Reddick, the heroic commander of Company D, had been decorated for bravery by General Glenn, who was then in command of the division. This ceremony took place on Friday, April 11th. Capt. Reddick's gallant conduct in the Argonne battle, when he refused to go to the rear after he was wounded, won him this honor.

A special train carried the Companies northward on Sunday afternoon. The train reached Shreve at 10 p. m., and Wooster at 10:30 p. m. Big receptions were given at both places. The crowd in Wooster, despite the lateness of the hour, was estimated at 10,000. There was an elaborate display of fireworks.

The Argonne veterans were escorted to the public square by the Guard of Honor, the Drum Corps, the Board of Trade Band and members of secret and patriotic organizations. From the band stand from.

which, in the name of the people of Wayne County, he bade them farewell in September, 1917, Judge W. E. Weygandt welcomed them home. He spoke as follows:

Eighteen months ago we bade you farewell on this spot, and committed to your care and keeping the sacred honor of our country and our flag. Tonight you bring back that flag with an added luster in every star, its crimson bars a deeper red, its bars of white as spotless as the snow that glitters in the sunshine upon the mountain's peak.

Called to the front in the hour of the world's greatest peril, you relighted the torch of Liberty at Chateau Thierry, and taught the world anew the lesson that free men, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible against all the hosts of wrong. You turned the tide of invasion from Paris towards Berlin, and brought the braggart Hun to his knees begging for mercy. You found the Kaiser a world dictator and left him a homeless vagabond. Had it not been for Company D, and thous ands of other companies of American soldiers almost as good, Germany today would be dictating terms of peace to a vanquished world instead of signing on the dotted line as directed by Marshal Foch.

The German watch on the Rhine has a broken mainspring with its face turned to the wall, while the Stars and Stripes float over every stronghold along that historic river.

You have written your names high in the niche of fame, and the years to come will but add to the glory of your achievements. You no longer belong alone to Wooster and Wayne County. You are now a part of the world's history. Yours are among those immortal names not born to die.

That is why we are proud-mighty proud-of you tonight. Wayne County can look the whole world proudly in the face for she knows her soldiers are second to none. Your heroic deeds will be the inspiration of the school boy in the ages to come. And we did not forget you while you were gone. As long ago as last eighth of January we unanimously nominated Colonel Gerlach for Governor of Ohio, Captain McCoy for Sheriff of Wayne County, and the rest of you for just anything you

want.

But while we rejoice and congratulate you upon your safe return, let us pause a moment to mingle tears with that mother who watched your home-coming with streaming eyes, waiting in vain for that boy of hers who will never return. He has made the supreme sacrifice for you and me, and may we not indulge the hope, that somewhere, someday, that mother and son shall meet again.

But this is not the occasion for speech making. There are others who have superior claim to you tonight. Anxiously have they waited for this hour, and it would be indeed unkind to withhold you for an

other moment from the greetings, the hugs and kisses that await you from mother, father, brother and sister, or it may be, some one else's sis

ter.

When I bade you goodbye I closed with the prayer that God would keep you and bring you safe home again. Tonight we turn again to that same kind Providence in thankfulness that you are home again

once more.

A study of the appended roster of Company D when the regiment sailed for France, June 15, 1918, will show how the war department's orders for transfers of men mixed up the fighters from various states and communities, so that no single city could, by any chance, bear a disproportionate share of losses in battle. The rosters of the Headquarters Co. and Co. H would show just as great a variety of home addresses, but the one roster here serves the purpose. Others are in the rear of the volume.

Adgeldinger, Martin J., Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Ajay, Albert A., Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Albertini, Nazzareno, Baggaley, Pa.; Allen, Harvey A., Elida, Pa.; Anderson, Andres S., Akron, O.; Ante, Joseph, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Atkinson, Sylvester C., Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Aubrey, Frank G., Hazelton, Pa.

Brown, Henry S., 1st Sergt., Wooster, O.; Bricker, Harrison J., Supply Sergt., Wooster, O.; Brenner, Abraham, Sergt., Wooster, O.; Blair, Everett, Corp., New Lexington, O.; Boigegrain, James, Corp., Wooster, O.; Braunneck, Harry, Corp., Wooster, O.; Bowden, John C., Corp., Akron, O.; Beks, Steve, Corp., Canton, O.; Barratt, Chas. A., Cook, Canton, O.; Battaglia, August, Musician, Youngstown, O.; Boyer, Grafton, Mt. Hope, O.; Birbeck, Robert, Doylestown, O.; Baird, John, Delphos O.; Buffmyer, Clarence, Wooster, O.; Bachetti, Burt, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Banker, Geo., Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Barnofsky, Frank, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Benedetto, John, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Bereiter, Andrew J., Dunbar, Pa.; Bertrum, Max, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Blume, Philip, Pitts

burgh, Pa.; Bohannon, Walter L., Richmond, Va.; Bricker, Geo., Fairchance, Pa.; Brock, Joseph W., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Brooks, Junius A., Bock, Va.

Coles, Cyril M., Corp., Wooster, O.; Condy, Rosco, Corp., Wooster, O.; Cattell, Ralph R., Delphos, O.; Clowser, Walter R., Wooster, O.; Cernea, Charles M., Canton, O.; Carbonara, Antonio, Lambert, Pa.; Carlson, John E., Akron, O.; Casterlin, Roy W., Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Catarina, Felix, Erie, Pa.; Catena, Carlo, Messington, Pa.; Cavanaugh, Thomas, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Cermuto, Michael, Greenville, Pa.; Cerqua, Vito, Uniontown, Pa.; Coburn, Richard P., Hazelton, Pa.; Coggeshall, Frank U., Cleveland, O.; Conti, Joseph, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Cork, Meigs, West Point, Va.; Costello, Patrick J., Sharon, Pa.; Croghan, Virgil R., Van Wert, O.; Cropwncozski, Stanley, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Currie, James M., Baltimore, Md.; Cushing, Currell L., Manassas, Va.; Cuzzola, Tony, Youngstown, O.

Davis, Cooper D., Sergt., Wooster, O.; Dunbar, Lewis H., Cook, Leighton, Pa.; Daminski, Walter, Erie, Pa.; Daniels, Geo., Weisport, Pa.; Darup, Andrew J., Mt. Carmel, Pa.; Demasi, Candido, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Denmore, Nicholas, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Diorio, Sylvia, Wooster, O.

Erwin, Morris D., Corp., Wooster, O.; Eckleberry, Edwin J., Cook, Canton, O.; Elbel, Henry, Canton, O.; Eck, Calvin, Leighton, Pa.; Ebrhart, William I., Dallastown, Pa.; Engman, Hugo, G., Erie, Pa.

Farrell, Charles K., Corp., Wooster, O.; Fisher, Walter R., Corp., Apple Creek, O.; Fair, Vernon F., Corp., Wooster, O.; Frick, Wayne M., Wooster, O.; Ferentz, Stevens J., Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Fetter, Emmett L., Wooster, O.; Flickinger, Carl, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Fisher, Luther, Churchville, Va.; Fotz, Michael, Andenreid, Pa.; Fox, Charles E., Mt. Carmel, Pa.; Franks, John R., Wooster, O.; Freedel, Albert F., Sharpsville, Pa.

Gang, John, Akron, O.; Gardner, Earl C., Youngstown, O.; Ganoe, Paul L., Mahophey, Pa.; Geary, Jacob, Sculton, Pa.; George, Alvin E., Erie, Pa.; Gibson, Hillard, Van Wert, O.; Girod, William B., Masontown, Pa;; Guiseppe, Leo, Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Glavin, Edward J., Buffalo, N. Y.; Grant, Samuel, Frostburg, Pa.; Gregrowicz, Nicholas, E: St. Louis, Ill.; Grenoble, Lester W., Mungoville, Pa.; Griessel, Chas. H., New York, N. Y.; Grimaldi, Luigi, Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Groe. Frank, Martin, Pa.

Harter, William, Sergt., La Rue, O.; Hagerman, Raymond E., Corp., Wooster, O.; Harnman, Clarence, Corp., Van Wert, O.; Hanthorn, Milton L., Corp., Lima, O.; Harmon, Geo. E., Corp., Orrville, O.; Harpster, Ralph L., Corp., Wooster, O.; Hartley, Jesse, Corp., Wooster, O.; Heinig, Edwin D., Corp., Wooster, O.; Hover, Howard C., Corp., Mendon, O.; Himes,. Thurman F., Mechanic, Wooster, O.; Hitchcock,