Soon after the announcement that the Sixty-ninth Regiment was to be one of the very first into battle it was learned that the Regiment was to be brought up to a strength of 3500, according to the scheme which the French military experts had developed from their hard-bought experience with the conditions of modern warfare. It would have been a task gratifying to the whole Regiment, including Colonel Charles Hine, who now was placed in command, to build up the Regiment to this size by means of the recruiting methods which already had proved so successful. But it had been decided by higher authorities that the Regiment’s numbers should be augmented by additions from other New York National Guard organizations. Accordingly, one day in August, 1917, there arrived at the armory the first of the new increments—332 men from the 7th New York Infantry. The ties that bind the 7th and the 69th are ancient and strong. The friendship between the two organizations has often been strikingly manifested. It was much in evidence when the New York National Guard was stationed on the Border. But it has never been displayed more convincingly than on the day that the men from the 7th joined the 69th. Escorted to the doors of the armory by the rest of the 7th, led by Colonel Willard C. Fisk, the men found the entire 69th Regiment assembled to welcome them. They were made at home; they found it no difficult task to orient themselves to their new surroundings. Without any disloyalty to the venerable regiment they had left, they accepted as their own the traditions and standards of the 69th and became not a distinct group added to the Regiment but a vital part of it. On the 20th of August the 69th Regiment, now 2,500 strong, again marched through New York, and again an enormous crowd witnessed and followed the march. But this crowd, unlike that of the 9th of March previous, was not composed of people rejoicing over a long-sought reunion. The same men, women and children who had been present on the 9th of March to welcome the soldiers returning from the Rio Grande were present and they were as proud as, or prouder than before. But faces that had been happy were fearful now and the gestures were of farewell. Wives and mothers looked at the bright ranks with smiling anguish. The 69th was marching to the ferry to cross the East River and entrain for Camp Albert L. Mills, near Mineola, New York. It was the first move toward the front, to win new battle-rings for the pole that saw Cold Harbor and Bloody Ford.