Editor\u2019s note: This piece was originally published in DAV Magazine, a publication of the congressionally chartered national nonprofit DAV (Disabled American Veterans).<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even the blaring sounds of a 100-piece jazz band turned to whispers in the throngs of cheering Americans who lined New York City\u2019s Fifth Avenue on Feb. 17, 1919.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the city\u2019s first homecoming for troops returning from the Great War. The Sun newspaper<\/a> described the crowds as \u201ctwo solid walls of booming, roaring welcomers,\u201d and soldiers \u201cdecorated with flowers like brides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The men were the city\u2019s own, having originated as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment in Harlem before being shipped off to France as the 369th Infantry Regiment. They quickly gained a reputation for their steadfast fierceness in battle, eventually earning the moniker \u201cthe Harlem Hellfighters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheirs is the finest of records,\u201d the New York Tribune<\/a> reported at the time. \u201cUnder fire 191 days, they never lost a prisoner or a foot of ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t