Having been duly welcomed as "Green Mountain Boys," and, in the manner of the Company, christened "Apple Knockers," the Vermont men were received into the fellowship of the organization. Upon their arrival the newcomers occupied a company street of their own, the work of erecting it having been conferred upon A Company, as many similar and equally arduous honors were conferred upon that unit while it remained a member of the 101st Machine Gun Battalion. The apportionment of the men to the different companies completed, forty-six of the Vermonters came to A Company, most of whom held non-commissioned officers' warrants or had attained the dignity accompanying the rank of private first class. Since the edict had gone forth that an old cavalry organization was to become a "doughboy" outfit, and the yellow hat cord of gallant memory was to be replaced by the blue of the lowly infantry "with the dirt behind their ears," the order had been more or less completely ignored, so that drills had the appearance of a disciplinary formation at a large army post where both arms of the service were represented. This brought out an order which caused all cords to change magically to the endorsed blue color, at least until the men reached a safe distance from camp, where the change could be effected without danger of apprehension, for who would dare return to New Haven wearing the colors he had frowned upon in happier times? Leather leggins were threatened, but the blow never descended and the "doughboys" from Yale Field continued to salute the brilliantly polished puttees of the men from Niantic as they strutted down Church Street. Manifestations of grief at the passing of the yellow hat cords took the form of a funeral procession on the evening of August 30, when, preceded by Corporal Curtiss and Guerrant rendering portions of the "Dead March" on bugle and harmonica, the men as mourners marched with measured tread to the parade ground. They followed a plank which served as a bier for a representative of the deposed cords, and, after a dance symbolical of their grief, the pallbearers laid it to rest, while Shemitz, with the powers characteristic of his race, paid a glowing tribute to the deceased. After hymns had been sung the crowd broke up to hide its tears and console itself in the various ways which have become common to mankind, or were common before prohibition placed its clammy hand on the vitals of the universal consoler. Muster on the afternoon of August 31 was followed a week later by pay day with a trip to New Haven that night for most of the men and a ride back to camp on the 2:20. This train made several unscheduled stops near the Niantic station because the conductor was adamant toward pleas from the men and would have carried them to New London had they not taken the matter into their own hands and opened the air valves when close to Niantic.