that on the next trip made by the Edward
Luckenbach as a transport, the vessel became crippled through the
breaking of her port shaft and her main journal and had to be towed
for 600 miles into the harbor at South Boston, Mass.

Outside of the monotony, the trip was an uneventful one. The first two
days were attended with fine weather and calm sea, but the third day a
rain and wind storm developed. Bunks, down in the hatch, collapsed and
things in general were topsy turvy all night. Sea sickness was
rampant. It was a case of six meals a day for the next three or four
turns of the clock--three down and three up.

The high sea gales blew for several days in succession. Mess line was
the only formation of the day while K. P.'s and Hatch cleanup were the
only details furnished.

After thirteen days on the water, land was sighted late in the
afternoon of Tuesday, May 27th. It was a welcome sight to the soldiers
to see New York's famous sky-line in the distance. A mist hung over
the harbor and it was 5 p. m. when the outline of the Statue of
Liberty became plainly discernible. As the Edward Luckenbach was
piloted through the roadway of commerce that thronged the harbor, the
U. S. S. Leviathan steamed majestically seaward, carrying a cargo of
soldiers to France to relieve members of the Army of Occupation.

Following the triumphal entry into New York harbor, the vessel
cast another anchor and remained undocked for the night. Thus the boys
spent one night within the beam of Miss Liberty, whose drawing power
had been distinct in memory for many a weary month in France.

A big welcome had been planned for the soldiers on the Edward
Luckenbach. One of the police patrol tugs, bearing the sign: "The
Mayor's Reception Committee," came out to meet the transport. The
river tug had as passengers a band, besides many friends and relatives
of soldiers aboard the transport. A noisy welcome home was sounded as
the patrol boat encircled the steamer several times.

Cheers, and tears also, greeted the 311th boys when the Herman
Caswell, a water front yacht, that had been chartered by three hundred
excursionists from the Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton districts
of Pennsylvania, encircled the Edward Luckenbach, with St. Ann's Band
of Freeland, Penna., on board, playing "Home, Sweet Home."

The three hundred excursionists, who had journeyed from the Anthracite
fields of Pennsylvania to welcome the 311th boys, had a difficult time
to