Technological advances correspond to a lot of monies spent on projects becoming out-of-date by the time of final completion or very soon after. Excellent cases abound in the field of defense spending. Take the example of the US Army Balloon Service for illustrative purpose.
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So went one of the mottos of the Spruce Production Division during World War 1 – “Bill” being Kaiser William. The huge Cut-up Plant was erected on the Polo Grounds at Vancouver Barracks to better provide the needed correct lumber for American and Allied airplane production. “Spruce for the air”. “Fir for the sea” was for shipbuilding, a secondary purpose of the huge plant.
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World War One was a reluctant push onto the global stage for the United States. The country involved itself only with the last nineteen months of the war. A slow starter, it took a year before meaningful numbers of American troops began to reach the European theater. The summer of 1918 saw the development of a new army which learned the lessons the European citizen armies had already earned over almost four years of brutal industrialized killing. Remembrance would come later, enter the ABMC.
Continue readingThe Centenary of World War One has come and gone. A few books published, but mostly, no special remembrances occurred that garnered much attention here in the U.S. compared to Europe. Of course, the First World War affected Europe much harsher and for a much longer period than the United States. The war dragged on for a little over four long years Over There with America only involved for a little more than the last year and a half. One American who did stand out was Ulysses G. McAlexander, nicknamed “Rock of the Marne” for his leadership in one of the earliest battles American forces did fight.
Having written last of Fort Stevens on the south side of the mouth of the Columbia River, the lynchpin of the triad of forts arranged to guard the entrance from the sea from 1865 until 1947, it is time to turn our attention to the north side of the river. First, Fort Canby set up on the headland on the north side of the entrance to the mouth. Even today, a visit by car to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center – literally erected upon the aprons of one of Fort Canby’s former battery aprons – takes you winding along a narrow densely forested lane giving you just a taste of the primeval nature of the site.
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A visit to semi-restored Fort Stevens on the Point Adams along the southern mouth of the Columbia River transports one part way back in time. Here you see three or four distinct flavors of the month in terms of ideas on how to properly defend the nation.
Fort Stevens became the lynchpin of three forts developed in the latter half of the 19th century to defend the mouth of the Columbia River from would-be invaders, whether they be British, Confederate, German or Japanese. The other two forts forming the Columbiad triad forming on the north side of the river in Washington – Forts Canby and Columbia.
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The mass of the graves at Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery belong to men who did not win medals but still did their duty. They made up the main throng of the two million strong American Expeditionary Force in France during World War One. In two previous posts, I talked about the stories of the men honored with the Medal of Honor or some honored with the second highest Distinguished Service Cross. In this post, some of the other stories found among the graves at Meuse-Argonne come to light. The stories are mostly of officers for their lives were generally a little longer and better recorded than the greater numbers of young enlisted men just starting out in life.
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Others beyond the golden dead (Medal of Honor winners have their names inscribed in gold at cemeteries administered by the American Battlefields and Monuments Commission (ABMC)) earned medals for valor. Their headstones are inscribed with their awards, as well, here at Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery, just not in gold. You have to look a little harder.
This is the second of a series looking at some of the men and women lying buried at America’s largest cemetery in Europe, Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery in Romagne, France. Here, we look at the award given out on the second rung of heroism in the pantheon of awards for heroism in the American military system – the Distinguished Service Cross.
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Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery is by far the largest of the cemeteries administered by the American Battlefields and Monuments Commission from the First World War. In fact, the cemetery is the largest ABMC cemetery in Europe, second in size in the World only behind the giant cemetery on the south side of Manila.
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General John J. Pershing resisted calls from the British and French to insert incoming American units as replacements for existing units. Pershing and President Woodrow Wilson both wanted American units to fight as an amalgamated unit on the Western Front. They wanted a true American army to provide a backbone for the future.
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