In an official departing parade, soldiers of the United States Army Fourth Infantry Division's Eighth Regimental Combat Team marched in New York City before boarding transports for Europe. They had undergone special training preparatory to joining the defense force of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. About 100,000 spectators, including representatives or the NATO countries, bid the soldiers farewell. General J. Lawton J. Collins, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, told the troops in a message that "where American Soldiers in the past have gone there to fight and win wars, you go there to win friends and, we fervently hope, to prevent another dreadful war." July 06, 1951. (Photo by United States Information Service).