kissed them on the street. Grey-headed men removed their hats
to them and shook their hands and street boys followed in groups at
their heels making the air ring with shrill "Vive's." There were not
many of them, only three companies. The men looked trim and clean-cut.
They were tall and husky-looking and the snap with which they walked was
good to the eyes of old Paris that loves verve.

With a thirty-two-inch stride that made their following admirers stretch
their legs, the boys in khaki marched from the Austerlitz station to the
Neuilly barracks over a mile away, where they went into quarters. Paris
was in gala attire. In preparation for the celebration of the following
day, the shop windows and building fronts were decked with American
flags.

Along the line of march, traffic piled up at the street intersections
and the gendarmes were unable to prevent the crowds from overflowing the
sidewalks and pressing out into the streets where they could smile their
greetings and throw flowers at closer range. A sergeant flanking a
column stopped involuntarily when a woman on the curb reached out,
grabbed his free hand, and kissed it. A snicker ran through the platoon
as the sergeant, with face red beneath the tan, withdrew his hand and
recaught his step. He gave the snickering squads a stern, "Eyes front!"
and tried to look at ease.

How the bands played that day! How the crowds cheered! How the flags and
handkerchiefs and hats waved in the air, and how thousands of throats
volleyed the "Vive's!" This was the reception of our first fighting men.
But on the following day they received even a greater demonstration,
when they marched through the streets of the city on parade, and
participated in the first Parisian celebration of American Independence
Day.

Parisians said that never before had Paris shown so many flags, not even
during the days three years before, when the sons of France had marched
away to keep the Germans out of Paris. It seemed that the customary
clusters of Allied flags had been almost entirely replaced for the day
by groups composed solely of the French tri-colour and the Stars and
Stripes. Taxis and fiacres flew flags and bunting from all attachable
places. Flag venders did wholesale business on the crowded streets.
Street singers sang patriotic parodies, eulogising Uncle Sam and his
nephews, and garnered harvests of sous for their efforts.

The three companies of our regulars marched with a regiment