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In 1919, the entire town of Marietta paused to welcome home hundreds of soldiers and sailors who had recently returned from France and fighting to defeat Germany in World War I.
Flags were hung from "every house top and every building today," The Times reported, to welcome home members of the 112 Ammunition Train as well as the soldiers who had fought as part of the 145th regiment of the 37th division.
The group had arrived in France on June 22, 1918, and pursued the German army as they retreated, seeing service in both the Argonne and Lorraine sectors.
The train pulled into the train station early Friday morning April 11.
Many of those on the train were local men, eager to get home while others had more transfers ahead of them before getting to their hometowns. The train had left Camp Stuart in Georgia on Thursday morning and made a direct run to Marietta.
The arrival was way ahead of schedule and the town was not quite ready for the big party. The train carried 280 soldiers that had been part of a variety of units while serving. Around 200 on the train were from Marietta.
"Tears of joy were soon in the eyes of many a mother, sweetheart and friend as the long train pulled into the local yards, for the men have not seen the hometown and friends so dear to them in many months," the Times reported.
The soldiers, The Times reported "an aged, gray-haired, sad-faced woman, who told them she was looking for her son. She had been notified that he had died, but she thought and hoped that there might have been some mistake. But the son was not with the boys and the mother, with tear-dimmed eyes, turned away, heartbroken. The soldiers who are returning to their homes and loved ones say they realize how now, as never before, that boy who left home and never returned is missed, while the other boys come." The troops were given liberty for the day. The local men all went to their houses. The rest of them went out to explore the town.
That evening they attended a dance at the Armory before spending the night on the train which had been moved onto Butler Street.
Saturday morning a large parade began to form on the Marietta College campus. The parade traveled all over town, first going down Fourth Street to Greene Street, then down Front Street to Putnam.
On Putnam Street, near Front, they marched under a victory arch that also paid tribute to those soldiers that never made it home.
Giant baskets with red and white flowers hung from the arch. Other arches in town were decorated with red, white and blue lights.
From Putnam Street it turned up Fourth to Washington and then back down Third Street to Wooster, where it turned and went down Front Street to the Armory.
Following the parade, the soldiers had to leave the party early and get back on the train. The stop in Marietta was not the last one because the train would take the soldiers to Camp Sherman near Chillicothe where they would be discharged from duty.
The train pulled out at around 2 p.m. Local organizers tried to keep the train in town longer, but the commanding officer, C.H. Huston, felt it was necessary to leave at once because the railcars were needed elsewhere. Members of the 145th were allowed to stay until late Saturday night before boarding another train to Chillicothe.
The soldiers who had been in multiple parades in several towns just wanted to get home.
"This one-night circus stuff may be all right, but it soon grows monotonous. What we want is a speedy return to civilian life and it can't come too soon to suit me," said one soldier.
Art Smith is online manager of The Times., he can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com