stay on the switchboard and Corporal Adolphus Johnson to stay on the
buzzerphone. The twelve-cord monocord board was nailed up by White and
then began the connecting up of the lines from outside to the monocord
board. All this time the shelling by the Germans was fierce and deadly.
Shells struck all around the boys and one struck a nearby ammunition
dump, causing the explosion of thousands of rounds of ammunition, which
created a terrific shock and extinguished all the lights.

But still the men worked on and would not leave the dangerous post, a
veritable target for the enemy's big guns, until the lieutenant of the
Military Police arrived and ordered them out.

The 325th Field Signal Battalion was a great success. What the boys did
not learn about radio, telephonic and telegraphic work would be of
little advantage to anyone. It will be of great advantage to many of
them in the way of making a living in times of peace.

By the time the armistice stopped the fighting the different units of
the 92nd Division had taken many prisoners and gained many objectives.
They finally retired to the vicinity of Pont a Mousson, where time was
spent salvaging material and cleaning equipment, while the men, knowing
there was to be no more fighting, anxiously awaited the time until they
were ordered to an embarkation point and thence home.

The trip home in February, 1919, was about as perilous to some of them
as the war had been. It was a period of unusually rough weather. The
north Atlantic, never very smooth during the winter months, put on some
extra touches for the returning Negro soldiers. An experience common to
many on several different transports has been described by Mechanic
Charles E. Bryan of Battery B, 351st Artillery upon his return to his
home, 5658 Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. Asked about his
impressions of the war, he said that which impressed him the most was
the storm at sea on the way home.

"That storm beat the war all hollow," he said. "Me and my buddies were
messing when the ship turned about eighteen somersaults, and we all
pitched on the floor, spilling soup and beans and things all over the
ship.

"The lights went out and somehow the automatic bell which means 'abandon
ship' was rung by accident. We didn't know it was an accident, and from
the way the ship pitched we thought she was on her way down to look up
one Mr. Davy Jones. So we made a break for the decks, and believe me,
some of those lads w