After the Armistice was signed, the regiments were withdrawn to billets and the materiel was parked. The 302nd returned to Rupt en Woevre, where they got busy on the famous show they produced a few weeks later. The 303rd were not as easily satisfied. They had some troops still in and about the positions,--some more at Creue, a lot more at Savannieres, and the 3rd Battalion which had rejoined the regiment was now at St. Christophe Ferme. Later, the First and Second Battalions moved to Troyon and the Third Battalion to Ambly, while regimental Headquarters was established at St. Mihiel. While thus in billets there were many rumors, but they were mostly of “occupation” with the Third Army. The fact was, we were kept busy policing the villages and a good part of France. The part we got was not in the very best of order, so we had our hands full. At the same time it was not all work; the 302nd show took us out of the mud and gunk of the busted villages of France and dropped us temporarily in front of the foot-lights of Broadway. There were other bright spots but they were not the weather. Meantime we waited for we knew not what. We got to know our French brothers in arms, and we sympathized with them for all they had lost. But they demanded our admiration even more than our sympathy. In the face of ruined homes and brothers lost, they could say: “C’est la guerre” and could sing with us the Marseillaise and Madelon: _Quand Madelon vient nous servir a boire Sous la tonnelle au frole de son jupon Et gue chaqu’un lui raconte une histoire, Une histoire a sa façon La Madelon pour nous n’est pas sévère Lorsqu’on lui prend la taille ou le menton, Elle rit, c’est tous le mal qu’elle sait faire, Madelon, Madelon, Madelon._ IV. HOME On December 20th the order to prepare arrived. Prepare for what? The United States of America. My God was it possible? Where were they? But it was so, and a better Christmas present would have been hard to find. This was our second Christmas in the army, and apparently it was to be our last. Cheers! The occasion however recalled a remark attributed to General Pershing in August as follows: “Hell, Heaven or Hoboken by Christmas.” He was right, and we got seats at the first show on his list.