Life, as to all men, was sweet to them.  They had mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, wives and sweethearts; the ties of association; of home, from all of which they would be separated and for all of which they cherished that love, which alone of human fires:  “Burns and burns, forever the same, for nature feeds the pyre.”

Above and over all these things, tending to augment the seriousness of the sacrifice he was to be called upon to make, was the spirit, the optimism, the joy of life that attends vigorous youth and young manhood.

Nature in all of its enticing charm and beauty, was smiling in the home places these men were leaving; flowers bloomed; birds sang; insects buzzed cheerily.  There were green fields and babbling brooks; the stately beauty of trees, and the delights of lake, river and vale.  The cities from which they came, were many of them, splendid monuments of the work of man.  The sun clothed in glory the days, moon and stars gave a loveliness to the nights.  Leaving these things to face suffering and hardship; possible death in strange lands, caused many a pang; but a man’s work had to be done, and they were there to do it.

Well they knew there would be no chance in France to follow the wild bee to its tree; to track the fox or hunt the ’possum or the coon.  The hum they would hear would be that of machine gun bullets; their sting, death or serious wounding.  For game they would hunt the Hun; would kill or be by him killed.

There were busy times in thousands of homes when the young Negroes of the land; from East, West, North and South went forth to war.

Bright faces hiding the pangs of parting; happy, singing lads left their homes to enter a new life on earth or, the tragedy of it; also the glory; a new life in the great Beyond; beyond the stars and flaming suns.  The training camp was their first destination and was to be their home for months.

Correspondents in France wrote of Negro soldiers being among the first expeditionary force to set foot upon the soil of the battle torn Republic.  This force arrived there in June, 1917, and was composed of marines and infantry from the Regular army.  Floyd Gibbons, the intrepid representative of the Chicago Tribune, speaking of the first Negro contingents in his remarkable book entitled, “And They Thought We Wouldn’t Fight”, said: 

“There was to be seen on the streets of St. Nazaire that day some representative black Americans, who had also landed in that historical first contingent.  There was a strange thing about these Negroes.  It will be remembered that in the early stages of our participation in the war it had been found that there was hardly sufficient khaki cloth to provide uniforms for all of our soldiers.  That had been the case with these American negro soldiers.

“But somewhere down in Washington, somehow or other, someone resurrected an old, large heavy iron key and this, inserted into an ancient