April 7, 1919. Ships leaving, ships arriving, and revolutions.

On this day in 1919, the Western Allies, in the form of French and Greek troops, withdrew from the Russian port of Odessa.

The withdrawal was not under fire. The Red Army was approaching, and that prompted the withdrawal.

Red Commander, at that time Nikifor Grigoriev (Sevetnyk), who commanded the Red forces approaching Odessa.  He was on several sides during the Russian Civil War, and would continue to switch sides up until being executed by anarchists later that year.

While Allied troops were leaving Odessa by ship, they were arriving at Boston the same way on board the troops ship Agamemnon, which had previously been the Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Among those who returned to the United States was Rear Admiral William S. Sims.

The occasion was one that saw his family and friends gather for the event, with everyone being photographed by the press.

Sims was an American military figure of the Great War we don't think of much now, but he was hugely important during the war, commanding the U.S. fleet in the Atlantic during the war.  He can be legitimately credited with changing the Allied approach to convoying during the war, to large success.

Friends and family, Mrs. Anne Sims, fourth from the left.

Details on Sims' life are a bit difficult to come by, and even the Wikipedia entry omits personal details of his life.  He was Canadian by birth, being born in Ontario.  His wife Anne, whom he'd married in 1905, was twenty three years his junior and for that reason his children, as will be seen below, were surprisingly young for a man who was already 61 years old.

Sims with his wife and two his two eldest daughters, Adelaide (age 9) and Margaret (age 12), and one of his sons, William S. (age 7).  Two more children, Anne and Ethan, ages 5 and 3, were apparently left at home.

Margaret Sims, age 12, the admirals daughter.

William S. Sims Jr., age 7, saluting upon the return of his father.

Admiral Sims would go on to win the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for his 1921 book, Victory At Sea.

Poor Admiral Sims, even the name of his august work isn't usually remembered in the context of his name.

The Belgian 13th Regiment of the Line was returning to, to Namur where they'd been the last unit out in 1914.

The Bavarian Soviet Republic, sometimes called the "government of coffee house anarchists", came into existence. The leadership called on the Bavarian Red Army to protect the regime, but there wasn't a Bavarian Red Army. The initial leadership, which had been inspired by the Hungarian communists taking control there, lasted for just a few days before read communist took over.  They rule for about a month.

The Spanish flu claimed the life of George Freeth, the half Hawaiian half Irish American Oahu born and raised surfer who introduced the sport to the United States.  He is credited by some as being inventor of the rescue paddle board, although the claim is disputed.  His body was returned from California to Oahu for burial in a common grave with this brother.

And things were getting tense on the boarder as the Mexican federal government asked the U.S. for help against the Yaquis, who had crossed into the United States for arms and ammunition.