Tag Archives: World War 1

BEAVERS AT WAR – OAC RENOWNED FROM THE GREAT WAR

Posted on by
Reply
Memorial Union building at Oregon State University. McAlexander helped with fundraising for the memorial to students killed in World War I.
Memorial Union building at Oregon State University, built as a memorial to students killed in World War I.

Oregon Agricultural College, OAC, is a land grant university.  As such, military science and tactics became part of the curriculum.  This in order for the school to receive land grants to help fund the establishment and development of the college.

All male students studied military classes for their first two years at school, taking part in military drills and parades in all the years of the school before 1917 – military classes would remain mandatory until 1961.  Many remained in the classes for their entire sojourn at the school.  With so many indoctrinated in the mysteries of military life, it should not surprise anyone that many students and graduates of OAC served in one branch or another during the first world conflagration the United States found itself involved with in 1917.

Continue reading →

BATOGNICA – GREAT WAR STALEMATE HIGH IN THE JULIAN ALPS

Posted on by
Reply
Grenades, shoe leather, wire and bones – all atop Batognica, where time stood still for 26 months.

Rising as a bump on the long Krn-Vršič ridge just to the south of the pyramidal climax of Krn, Batognica looks nondescript from afar.  Closer up, say from the peak of Krn, that impression changes.  Standing not unlike an aircraft carrier as the last mound rising above the 2100-meter mark as the ridge begins its precipitous drop to the south – and the murderous grounds of Myrzli vrh – Batognica takes on a different impression.

Continue reading →

FROM THE NORTHWEST TO THE FIELDS OF FRANCE – 361st INFANTRY REGIMENT IN THE GREAT WAR

Posted on by
Reply
Private Ora Roscoe
Grave of Ora and his wife on the right.
Grave of Ora and his wife on the right.

On a recent visit to a cemetery, I visited several family ancestors buried in the very small community of Bellfountain, Oregon. Bellfountain lies in the southern part of the Willamette Valley. Amongst the graves, I found one particular headstone near the family ancestors mentioning the man’s service in World War 1 as part of the 361st Infantry Regiment.

The American Army mushroomed almost overnight with the country’s entrance into World War 1 in April 1917. Selective Service – conscription – was brought back for the first time since the American Civil War. One of the units raised, mostly from draftees from Washington and Oregon was the 361st Infantry Regiment, 181st Infantry Brigade, 91st Division.

Continue reading →

“BALLOONS UP” – SHORT LIFE OF THE ARMY BALLOON SERVICE

Posted on by
Reply
French Cagout R going up operated by men trained at Fort Omaha.

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.

Continue reading →

BRICE DISQUE – WARDEN OF THE SPRUCE WORLD

Posted on by
Reply
Brigadier General Brice P. Disque founder and leader of the Spruce Production Division.

A recent visit to the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site took me to the museum inside the former airplane hangar at Pearson Airfield. This, one of the early hubs of military aviation in the Pacific Northwest. Besides the airplanes on display, there is a magnificent model of what was the world’s largest sawmill in 1918. On the wall surrounding the model are panels explaining the unique story of the Spruce Production Division. This unit encompassed over 100,000 men by the end of WW1 in one of the lesser remembered episodes of the war. Hanging on the wall is the haunting portrait of the commander of the Division – one Brice Disque.

Brice Disque was one of the many officers seeing rapid advancements in rank during WW1. He moved from captain to brigadier general in a under a year.  After spending fourteen years as a captain, the rise dizzying. His energy and ability to accomplish extremely difficult tasks were equal to the meteoric journey.

Continue reading →

VANCOUVER CUT-UP PLANT – SPRUCE WINGS TO BEARD OLD BILL

Posted on by
Reply
The sawmill portion of the Cut-up Plant at Vancouver Barracks.

SPRUCE FOR THE AIR, FIR FOR THE SEA

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.

Continue reading →

VANCOUVER BARRACKS NATIONAL CEMETERY REVEALING HISTORY OF THE FORT AND MORE

Posted on by
1

The post cemetery for Vancouver Barracks became established in 1857.  The Army maintained the cemetery until recently. In 2020, the cemetery became part of the National Cemetery Administration – Department of Veterans Affairs – renamed the Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery.

Graves laid out – view from the south or the top of the “heart”.

Vancover Barracks National Cemetery.

Fort Vancouver was built in 1824 to serve as a central hub of business for the Hudson Bay Company in the Oregon Country. The company had its way in the region until the late 1830’s when American settlers began to arrive.  Attempts by the company to meet this influx with colonists of their own came to naught and the Oregon Treaty of 1846 set the border far to the north at the 49th parallel.  The fort, left deep in American territory though the company continued its operations.  However, those operations became more unprofitable and difficult as more and more settlers came into the picture.

Continue reading →

FORT WALLA WALLA – CURTAIN CALL ON THE FRONTIER

Posted on by
1
Parade Ground and Administration Building at Ft Walla Walla VA Complex

Today’s fort is the fourth to go by this name.  The first fort was a fur-trading post opened by the North West Company. The post was built at the confluence of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers.  Established in 1818, the post ran until abandoned and burnt down during the 1855 Yakima War.  A steamboat landing settlement sprang up a few years later. The remains now all under the waters backed up from the McNary Dam some miles further down the Columbia.

Original Fort Walla Walla trading post at the confluence of Snake and Columbia Rivers.
Continue reading →

AISNE-MARNE ABMC CEMETERY – AMERICA ENCOUNTERS THE GREAT WAR HEAD ON

Posted on by
4

1919 panorama of what would become the Aisne-Marne ABMC Cemetery.

From the US 2nd Division website.

The Spring Offensives of 1918 rocked the Allies to the core.  For a moment, it appeared the Great War could actually be lost.  Enter America and the American Expeditionary Force – AEF.  General John J. Pershing had been pushing against the desires of his fellow Allies to insert American troops as they became available into the ranks of the French or British armies.  In the emergency of spring 1918, Pershing finally relented, agreeing to allow American divisions already present into the front lines as needed.  The Aisne-Marne ABMC – American Battlefield and Monuments Commission – Cemetery is a result of that decision. 

Continue reading →

WEST POINT CLASSES IN THE GREAT WAR

Posted on by
1

West Point classes before the Great War was the main source of officers guiding the U.S. Army.  The huge mobilization meant an equal increase in the officer corps which West Point could not begin to cover.  But the officers with West Point in their background – much as was the case during the American Civil War – did account for most of the upper leadership positions within the Army and the AEF.  Also, like the Civil War, there was a certain animosity between West Pointers and those without the pedigree in World War One, too.  I, however, want to focus on the West Pointers here.  This is a brief rundown of several who helped the American efforts during the Great War.

AEF Commander General John J. Pershing (class of 1886) and Army Chief of Staff General Peyton March (class of 1888)
continue here