to make our trip across the Atlantic. It took us 12-days to return since we had to come back in a storm all the way and the Statue of Liberty was a great sight to behold. The Grand Chapter Meeting which was scheduled to be held in Decem- ber 1918, was held in Chicago in April 1919. It was a great homecoming for those who made the trip to France and even for those who served in the US. All felt that they had taken part in the fight to make the world safe for democracy. The 1919 Grand Chapter Meeting was held at Beta Chapter, April 1920 followed by the second meeting in Philadelphia in December 1920. So we had not missed a meeting. This is for the benefit of those who claim that we missed two meetings during the war. In the summer of 1919 after the soldiers had returned, the city of Indianapolis had a great welcome home for returned veterans. Elder W. Diggs, who had served in the war, was in charge of a Great Parade through the streets of our great city.
War I as the greatest adventure of my life. I went in the war with the inten- tion of making it a great adventure. I wanted to fight for my country as my father had done in the Civil War. He lived to see all of his five sons return safely. My mother had been honored in a parade at Noblesville, Indiana for sending more sons to the war than any mother in Indiana. I spent eight months in France and was able to enjoy some of the finest people that I had ever met. It was up to France to make the Negros fell like men who were equal in every respect. Our own white officers tried to turn them against us, but it did not succeed. In the army, I wanted to be respected by the men over me as well as the men under me. Major Holmer, a West Point man let me use his library while I was there. He even had me to teach his classes when he had to be absent. A captain in the army asked me to help him with his work. He wanted to know where I got my training. I told him that “I just picked it up.”
Armstrong. He said you can tell that he was somebody before he came in the army. One day a sergeant in my compa- ny was going to fight the white captain. He had to be taken to the guard house, but he said I will go to the guard house if Sgt. Armstrong tells me to go. I gave the order and he went quietly. While I was in the army, the new recruits were sent to me to tell them where they should be placed. I taught twelve men how to figure firing data in ten minutes, which was the allotted time. I watched white officers try to figure out a problem, sometimes for 30 minutes. My mathematics knowledge was the key to my success. In my ten months in World War I, I never made a sick call.
A soldier in my squadron told the men one day that they did not appreciate Sgt.
Looking back from today, I regard World
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