The Tonnerre area was alive with activity during the last three weeks of April as the officers and men said their more-or-less formal farewells at dances and parties, paid their bills, and prepared to leave. The 36th was transferred to the SOS on April 15 as scheduled, but the departure date was set back to May 2 as a consequence of "emergencies" at the AEC. The entrainment of over 4,000 troops daily on a total of 16 trains at Tonnerre, Ervy, and Jeugny was accomplished in four days. The 111th Engineers remained behind a short time to salvage supplies "in use until the last moment" and "to put things in order generally." Refreshments were served at the entrainment and detrainment points by welfare workers and hot coffee was dispensed from two rolling kitchens set on a flat car with each train during the approximately 30-hour journey mainly or entirely via St. Florentin and Tours.

Upon reaching Le Mans, located inland at the junction of trunkline railroads leading to Brest, St. Nazaire, and Bordeaux, the troops were billeted in nearby villages designated for new arrivals. Smith’s headquarters was located at Montfort, Whitworth’s at Torce, and Jamerson’s at Thorigne. During the next two weeks service records were checked, equipment was inspected, new clothing and personal articles were issued as "needed," medical examinations were conducted, and the men were deloused.

The 36th negotiated the mill without a hitch. Smith had visited the SOS operation in late March in company with other division commanders of the First Army and had subsequently seen to it that the 36th was "in good shape" before it reached the AEC. The inspecting officer, Lieutenant Colonel Edward B. Mitchell, reported on May 16 that the 36th had passed "an excellent inspection." The men’s clothing and equipment "were clean, well arranged, and well taken care of and about half the organizations "had no shortage whatever." "No division," he stated, "has ever left this area in better shape." He commented gratuitously that discipline was excellent, the enlisted men were "alert," the officers were cooperative, and saluting was "sharp and snappy." Colonel F. T. Arnold, the chief inspector, noted on an endorsement that Mitchell’s "coincides with my own observations of the 36th Division."

The discipline and military bearing of the division were reported as excellent upon its arrival in France. That they remained so, perhaps even better, after over five months of marking time, as it were, in the Tonnerre area, is a tribute to Smith’s leadership and to Pershing’s efforts to maintain good morale in the AEF. To a larger extent, however, the smart appearance reflected the tremendous pride the personnel felt for the 36th, which seems to have been even greater—certainly it was not diminished—after its combat service. Historians of other divisions, for example, the 90th, that served creditably and longer, at the front perhaps without as much fanfare might argue that the 36th did not see enough hard fighting to demonstrate that it deserved greater recognition, but no matter whether or not it had actually proved itself as such, its personnel believed theirs was a crack division and they conducted themselves accordingly.

On May 19, two days after the 36th began leaving Le Mans, the first units boarded transports at Brest. In less than one week, the entire command was crossing the Atlantic on the Great Northern, the Saxonia, the Graf Waldersee, the Troy, the Von Steuben, the Pretoria, the Finland, the Pueblo, the Patricia, the Louisville, and possibly other vessels. Corporal Hart found the Graf Waldersee so "incredibly jammed" that the Lenape, which had borne him to Europe in 1918, "now seemed to have been a cruising pleasure boat." The Transportation Service was undoubtedly filling the troop carriers to the brim in response to pressure from home and abroad that it expedite the return of the Doughboys. If crowded conditions was not enough, "all the boats encountered a severe storm" during which "a wall of water swept over the bow" of the Pueblo and washed two 142nd Infantrymen overboard. Despite the herculean efforts of the seamen who manned the lifeboats in a rescue attempt, both men were drowned and the body of one "left to a grave in the deep."²

The principal ports of debarkation were New York (Hoboken), Newport News, Boston, and Charleston. Hoboken and Newport News received the largest number of ships in the order named. As a general rule, the Transportation Service routed the transports after they left France to the debarkation point in the United States nearest the homes of the majority of their passengers. But probably due, at least in some measure, to crowded ports in the South, every 36th unit out of Brest except the 143rd Infantry, which debarked at Newport News, was landed at Hoboken.³

Within a fortnight after the arrival of the first troops at Newport News in the second week of March, the entire contingent out of St. Nazaire was on American soil. After processing at Camp Stuart, the several units were dispatched by rail to Texas for demobilization. It was War Department policy to discharge the men in the demobilization camps nearest their homes. Consequently, the 131st Artillery was shipped to Camp Travis, where the majority of its membership was recruited, while the other units were transported to Camp Bowie. Except where "special conditions made it impossible," the men were supposed to be mustered out within 48 hours of their arrival in camp.

Whatever the attitude of the majority of men, parades figured prominently in the 36th’s homecoming. At Newport News, Colonel Sholars’s 132nd Artillery Regiment, which returned on the Kroonland, marched off the dock "to the sounds of music from several bands and were served by the Red Cross with candy, chewing gum and the other little delicacies befitting the occasion." Later, en route to Camp Bowie, the 132nd paraded in Corsicana, Houston, and Waco. Part of Colonel Logan’s 133rd Artillery, with the regimental band in the lead, stepped smartly through downtown Monroe, North Carolina. In Dallas, on Saturday, March 29, where the majority of the members had enlisted, the 133rd was greeted by thousands as it marched through the streets. The 111th Ammunition Train, in deference to its large Oklahoma membership, was routed through the Sooner State for ovations at McAlester and Oklahoma City.

Probably no other municipality made more elaborate preparations for the reception of the Texans and Oklahomans than Fort Worth. The city had, in a sense, recently honored the 36th by changing the name of the Arlington Heights thoroughfare to Camp Bowie Boulevard. Upon learning that most of their beloved "Panthers" would be brought to Camp Bowie for demobilization, the War Camp Community Service, the Chamber of Commerce, and other groups joined in planning their reception. A parade of the entire division, or even of one of the two major contingents, since the units in each would not arrive simultaneously, was out of the question, but parades by individual units whenever possible were contemplated. Otherwise, the city was decorated and turned into a playground of dances, parties, picnics, band concerts, and what have you. The same welcome was extended to all soldiers, particularly the "Alamos" of the 90th Division, who were also sent to Camp Bowie for discharge.

The main body of the 36th reached American shores late in May and early in June, 1919. Elements of the 111th Engineers, the 111th Sanitary Train, and other units conveyed by the Great Northern and the Saxonia and the 144th Infantry brought by the Pretoria and the Von Steuben, which arrived on May 30 and June 6, respectively, were the first and last portions of the division out of Brest to arrive at Hoboken. At the port to greet the 142nd Infantry was a delegation of Oklahomans headed by Congressman E. B. Howard and Jim McClintic, who rode out in a private boat to meet the Pueblo as it entered the harbor. Amid the cheering of the troops and the blaring of the regimental band, McClintic shouted through a megaphone that "we are darn glad you are here and we will give you a big blowout in Oklahoma City."

Subsequent arrivals were welcomed by these and other dignitaries, among them Governor J. B. A. Robertson, Senator Robert L. Owen, and General Hoffman of Oklahoma and Congressman Sumners and Marvin Jones of Texas. At Newport News, the 143rd Infantry was greeted as it debarked from the Finland by a representative of Governor Hobby’s, who had "victory banners [strung] at frequent intervals along the line of march" from the dock to Camp Stuart.

Another aspect of the in-processing was the assembling of men from states other than Texas and Oklahoma into casual detachments for distribution to demobilization camps located in close proximity to their homes. The AEF had, after the Armistice, shuffled many troops from one division to another to accomplish this purpose, but complete redistribution had not been achieved. Therefore, the outsiders—those who did not possess "geographical indentity" with the division in which they were serving—were detached at the port camps. In accordance with this practice, many Arrow Heads were sent to camps other than Bowie and Travis—Pike and Grant, to name two—for demobilization.⁵

Despite the recent War Department decision to curtail parading and the request of mothers to politicians that the boys, who were "under full equipment and in their winter clothes," not be forced to march in the prevailing hot weather, the second set of 36th arrivals paraded as much as the artillerymen. Of all the units in both major segments of returnees, none was displayed more than the 142nd Infantry whose route from Camp Merritt took it through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Missouri for stopovers in Enid, Oklahoma City, El Reno, and Chickasha. The boisterous ovations accorded the Texans and Oklahomans in the Sooner State evidently made Fort Worth’s greeting seem somewhat "cool" by comparison. The crowd that met the infantrymen at the end of the line on June 13 was "demonstrative," but that which watched them parade was "a quiet one."

But probably a more important factor in the relatively tame welcome extended at least to the 142nd Infantry was the descent of so many units upon the city at different times within a short period. The Alamo Division, which left Europe just behind Smith’s command, commenced pouring into Fort Worth almost simultaneously with the 36th, creating considerable congestion in both town and camp. Although some of the earlier hoopla may have been missing, Fort Worth was no less glad to have the boys back and showed it by providing "one continuous festival" for their enjoyment as individuals.

The first of the 36th combat units to arrive was the 143rd Infantry, on June 11, and among the last was the 144th Infantry, on June 17. The 143rd and 144th paraded in Houston and Dallas, respectively, before reaching Fort Worth. Inscribed in bold letters on the side of the first of four trains bearing the 143rd were the words, "From No Man’s Land to Dixie!" Men leaned out the windows and waved as the train rolled into Fort Worth "amid the blowing of whistles, ringing of bells and shouts of welcome from thousands of people" who had been waiting at the Texas and Pacific railroad yards for hours. During a brief stop at the depot, "the Blue Birds of the Red Cross" dispensed cakes, doughnuts, cigarettes, and fruit. At Camp Bowie, "the returned heroes" were "given another reception by wives, sweethearts, and mothers who had gathered out there." On Sunday, June 15, a picnic planned for upwards of 7,000 returnees at Trinity Park was poorly attended owing to a heavy rain.⁶

A hot, dusty ex-Doughboy "leaped into the air," let go "a few warwhoops," waved his discharge and exclaimed: "Oh, boy, ain’t it a grand and glorious feeling." The man had just passed through "the mill" at Camp Bowie. Although the demobilization personnel were under orders to get the men out within two days of their arrival, it appears that the crush of business in June was such that it often took several days longer. Colonel Logan remained temporarily in the service to command the center which, under his direction, operated "from early morning until late every night."

The demobilization procedure was simple enough. An officer met each incoming train while another officer found quarters for its passengers. After the unit was located, the men turned in all gear and equipment except such items as uniforms, shoes, overcoats, steel helmets, and gas masks. They were then marched to the mill, which consisted of "just a few sheds thrown together," where they were given a physical examination, paid whatever was owed them, including five cents a mile travel money to their home or place of induction, plus a 60-dollar separation bonus, and issued their discharge. They could purchase a train ticket from the Railroad Administration office and apply for a job through the U.S. Employment Bureau. A Red Cross representative told them good-by, lectures were provided on insurance and disability compensation, and a movie was shown on the "horrors of social disease." Once outside, they said what was often an emotional farewell to their buddies and headed for home.⁸