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 locate the Edward Luckenbach. At 6 o'clock that night they sailed out to find the vessel, reported as advancing past Ambrose Channel. They traversed the entire waterfront, both on the North and East River sides, before the hospital ship Comfort located the transport by radio, up the Hudson. The excursion delegates stayed near the transport until dark.
It was with rejuvenated spirits that the soldiers spent their last night on board the transport, lying in New York harbor. On Wednesday morning, May 28th, the troops debarked at Pier 6, Bush Terminal, Brooklyn. Only a few of the friends and relatives got to see the soldier boys at the terminal. While the soldiers lingered at the terminal, partaking of refreshments furnished by the Red Cross and the welfare associations, the crowds beat the ferry boat that carried the soldiers to Jersey City and formed two lines through which the boys passed to entrain for Camp Dix, N. J.
Plans were under way to hold a Seventy-Ninth Division parade in Philadelphia, Penna., but the boys voiced protests against being held in camp, with the result that the work of putting the outfit through the process of sterilization and cootiization was expedited.
After going through the "delouser" at Camp Dix, Battery D was moved to another section of barracks, near the discharge center. Clerical details were sent to the discharge center, known as the "madhouse," each day, to assist in getting out the paper work for official discharge of the outfits scheduled for muster out before Battery D.