Wednesday September 10, 1930

Homeward bound!

At 10 am this morning, Josephine and the rest of her companions in Party R (between 225 and 250 pilgrims; Josephine's Journey has no definitive number) found themselves back at the des Invalides railway station. (1) This station was normally used for dignitaries only; the normal folk used the St. Lazare Station on the way to and from Cherbourg. However, the Army had arranged for Gold Star Mothers and Widows to use the des Invalides Station in order to avoid the congestion of the St. Lazare Station. The mothers and widows were greatly thankful to the French government for allowing them to use this special station.

The pilgrims boarded the “boat train” to Cherbourg, a six-hour train trip of 250 miles. As on the trip from Cherbourg to Paris, the train had the right of way, the Gold Star was painted on the engine, and the train traveled at a high rate of speed.

The pilgrims enjoyed the scenery as they traveled from Paris to Cherbourg just as they had on the trip from Cherbourg to Paris two weeks earlier (although several pilgrims on other pilgrimages did not think the return trip scenery was quite as pretty). The pilgrims had a meal on the boat train – after two weeks of French food, were they more accustomed to it? – probably not the hard as brick rolls, the bitter coffee, the snail!

The pilgrims arrived in Cherbourg at 3:56 pm. (2) Small tenders took them from the dock out to the ship. At 5:40 pm the pilgrims were on the SS America, (3) bound for New York. The distance from Cherbourg to New York was approximately 3,071 sea miles.

The SS America was a combination freight and passenger ship, as was the SS George Washington, which had taken Party R to Europe.

On board the SS America for this voyage back to New York were 570 passengers in Cabin Class, 459 passengers in Tourist Class, and 503 officers and crew: there was a total of 1,532 people on board. Of those 1,532 people, I know the names of 197 Gold Star Mothers and Widows.

Josephine was in Cabin 115-B – Josephine's Journey assumes her cabin mate was still Mrs. Elodie Hanks Duhon of Crowley.

Josephine had sailed to Europe on the SS George Washington; she was returning to America on the SS America. Did she at first find it difficult to navigate the different locations on the ship as she did when she had first boarded the SS George Washington? Josephine boarded the SS America around 6 pm. As when she boarded the SS George Washington, when she arrived at her cabin for the first time, she found her luggage already there, compliments of the Army escorts’ directions to the ship’s stewards.

As they had found on the SS George Washington, many of the pilgrims, Josephine included, discovered on the SS America luxury far beyond what all but a few of the women had experienced before.

After dinner, perhaps Josephine stayed on deck for some of the entertainment that was offered. Or perhaps she decided to go to bed early; time enough tomorrow to explore the SS America.

Was Josephine happy and excited to be on her way home? She, along with many other pilgrims, felt the satisfaction of having achieved her goal, sad as it had been: to visit the grave site of her son, Buddy. She had also allowed herself to enjoy all the opportunities that Paris provided. Yet I would imagine she missed her family immensely and was ready to be back in the little town of Schwab, Louisiana, in the presence of those she loved.

Josephine's Journey hopes that those of you who have been following Josephine on her journey to France will continue to follow her as she sails the Atlantic back to New York and as she travels by train back to Louisiana. There is more to report as she travels home. Thank you for reading about Josephine and her journey.




Source: written by Carolyn Ourso