“'The size of the band and the unusual sight of its dark-skinned players surprised the French,' Ames recalled, adding that 'there is a tradition that no foreign musician can ever play the 'Marseillaise' properly—and here was a rendering of their national anthem that fairly swept them off their feet.' Hats were yanked off heads, and not a soul stirred. When Europe's musicians finished, there was a 'sudden and moving burst of cheers.' Standing close to Ames, an old Frenchman, tears streaming down his cheeks, cried out, 'Mais mon Dieu, c'est magnifique!' [My God, how magnificent!]...
“Europe opened the concert with George M. Cohan's 'Over There.'...
“When it was over, doughboys jumped on the tables, shouting and waving their caps and cups of chocolate. 'Play it again!' they yelled. Europe obliged, again and again and again....
“The Fifteenth's sixteen-day tour in Aix-les-Bains was to end on 2 March. But the popularity of the band stretched the tour another two weeks. Ames didn't want Europe and his men to leave. Even the townspeople had grown fond of the black musician. They besieged him with requests...
“The additional two weeks passed quickly, and on 16 March, the band performed its final concerts for the doughboys. The first was at a nearby hospital filled with nearly a thousand patients, nurses, and doctors. The second, of course, was at the Casino Hotel theater. The band had been ordered to report back to the regiment. Hayward had finally won. The men of the Fifteenth New York had been moved out of St. Nazaire as common laborers and into the French Fourth Army as combat infantrymen....
“Later that Saturday evening, the band made its farewell performance at the Casino Hotel. After the final tune was played the YMCA's Reynolds stepped onto the stage. 'It is my sad duty to announce that we have listened to our last concert by the Band of the Fifteenth New York Infantry...rejoin their regiment. Tomorrow, these men... proceed to the front lines, to serve in the trenches against...'
“At that moment, the stunned crowd cut off Reynolds. Everyone in the theater rose to their feet. Yelling and whistling made it impossible for Reynolds to continue...Captain Little wrote, 'On the stage, the colored soldiers who had been spat upon in Spartanburg [SC], rose and bowed—and grinned.'
“The biggest irony, of course, was that no black soldier, certainly none in the Fifteenth, would ever set foot in Aix-les-Bains or any other rest area. These places were strictly off-limits to African-Americans...
“The next day the band played a last concert in the town square and then marched to the train station. Along the route, the citizens of Aix-les-Bains pressed close to the musicians for one last farewell. At least four to five hundred people were on hand, old men, women, and children...”
Sunday, January 12, 2014
HARLEM'S HELL FIGHTERS...EXCERPTS
HARLEM'S HELL FIGHTERS: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN 369TH INFANTRY IN WORLD WAR I, “Ragtime in France,” by Stephen L. Harris (Potomac Books, Inc., Wash. DC: 2003), p.174-176
“'The size of the band and the unusual sight of its dark-skinned players surprised the French,' Ames recalled, adding that 'there is a tradition that no foreign musician can ever play the 'Marseillaise' properly—and here was a rendering of their national anthem that fairly swept them off their feet.' Hats were yanked off heads, and not a soul stirred. When Europe's musicians finished, there was a 'sudden and moving burst of cheers.' Standing close to Ames, an old Frenchman, tears streaming down his cheeks, cried out, 'Mais mon Dieu, c'est magnifique!' [My God, how magnificent!]...
“Europe opened the concert with George M. Cohan's 'Over There.'...
“When it was over, doughboys jumped on the tables, shouting and waving their caps and cups of chocolate. 'Play it again!' they yelled. Europe obliged, again and again and again....
“The Fifteenth's sixteen-day tour in Aix-les-Bains was to end on 2 March. But the popularity of the band stretched the tour another two weeks. Ames didn't want Europe and his men to leave. Even the townspeople had grown fond of the black musician. They besieged him with requests...
“The additional two weeks passed quickly, and on 16 March, the band performed its final concerts for the doughboys. The first was at a nearby hospital filled with nearly a thousand patients, nurses, and doctors. The second, of course, was at the Casino Hotel theater. The band had been ordered to report back to the regiment. Hayward had finally won. The men of the Fifteenth New York had been moved out of St. Nazaire as common laborers and into the French Fourth Army as combat infantrymen....
“Later that Saturday evening, the band made its farewell performance at the Casino Hotel. After the final tune was played the YMCA's Reynolds stepped onto the stage. 'It is my sad duty to announce that we have listened to our last concert by the Band of the Fifteenth New York Infantry...rejoin their regiment. Tomorrow, these men... proceed to the front lines, to serve in the trenches against...'
“At that moment, the stunned crowd cut off Reynolds. Everyone in the theater rose to their feet. Yelling and whistling made it impossible for Reynolds to continue...Captain Little wrote, 'On the stage, the colored soldiers who had been spat upon in Spartanburg [SC], rose and bowed—and grinned.'
“The biggest irony, of course, was that no black soldier, certainly none in the Fifteenth, would ever set foot in Aix-les-Bains or any other rest area. These places were strictly off-limits to African-Americans...
“The next day the band played a last concert in the town square and then marched to the train station. Along the route, the citizens of Aix-les-Bains pressed close to the musicians for one last farewell. At least four to five hundred people were on hand, old men, women, and children...”
“'The size of the band and the unusual sight of its dark-skinned players surprised the French,' Ames recalled, adding that 'there is a tradition that no foreign musician can ever play the 'Marseillaise' properly—and here was a rendering of their national anthem that fairly swept them off their feet.' Hats were yanked off heads, and not a soul stirred. When Europe's musicians finished, there was a 'sudden and moving burst of cheers.' Standing close to Ames, an old Frenchman, tears streaming down his cheeks, cried out, 'Mais mon Dieu, c'est magnifique!' [My God, how magnificent!]...
“Europe opened the concert with George M. Cohan's 'Over There.'...
“When it was over, doughboys jumped on the tables, shouting and waving their caps and cups of chocolate. 'Play it again!' they yelled. Europe obliged, again and again and again....
“The Fifteenth's sixteen-day tour in Aix-les-Bains was to end on 2 March. But the popularity of the band stretched the tour another two weeks. Ames didn't want Europe and his men to leave. Even the townspeople had grown fond of the black musician. They besieged him with requests...
“The additional two weeks passed quickly, and on 16 March, the band performed its final concerts for the doughboys. The first was at a nearby hospital filled with nearly a thousand patients, nurses, and doctors. The second, of course, was at the Casino Hotel theater. The band had been ordered to report back to the regiment. Hayward had finally won. The men of the Fifteenth New York had been moved out of St. Nazaire as common laborers and into the French Fourth Army as combat infantrymen....
“Later that Saturday evening, the band made its farewell performance at the Casino Hotel. After the final tune was played the YMCA's Reynolds stepped onto the stage. 'It is my sad duty to announce that we have listened to our last concert by the Band of the Fifteenth New York Infantry...rejoin their regiment. Tomorrow, these men... proceed to the front lines, to serve in the trenches against...'
“At that moment, the stunned crowd cut off Reynolds. Everyone in the theater rose to their feet. Yelling and whistling made it impossible for Reynolds to continue...Captain Little wrote, 'On the stage, the colored soldiers who had been spat upon in Spartanburg [SC], rose and bowed—and grinned.'
“The biggest irony, of course, was that no black soldier, certainly none in the Fifteenth, would ever set foot in Aix-les-Bains or any other rest area. These places were strictly off-limits to African-Americans...
“The next day the band played a last concert in the town square and then marched to the train station. Along the route, the citizens of Aix-les-Bains pressed close to the musicians for one last farewell. At least four to five hundred people were on hand, old men, women, and children...”
