Tag: Fort Worth Texas

It’s over, over there

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

Back in the United States after almost one year, men of the 142nd infantry rested for a week at Camp Merritt in New Jersey. All of them would rather have been home instead of on the outskirts of New York. But it was significant as it was the last time the regiment was together. Although most of the soldiers of the 142nd were Texans or Oklahomans, a number from other states had been transferred to it. These men would not be making the journey southwest with the regiment. So, soldiers began to make their farewells during the first week of June at Camp Merritt.

Back in the Southwest

On June 8th, 1919, the 142nd Infantry Regiment entrained at Camp Merritt at 10 a.m. heading west. That night, they reached Cincinnati. The next night they had reached Springfield, Missouri. On June 11, the 142nd was in Enid, Oklahoma, where they marched through the streets to wild acclaim. Family members of soldiers were in the crowd, leaning in to get their first glimpse of a son, a brother, a husband. It was possible for these men to briefly reunite with family and friends, but the train had miles to go.

142nd Infantry in Enid, OK June 11 1919

The next day, the train stopped in El Reno, Oklahoma City, and Chickasha. Each time, the whole regiment got off the train, looking sharp, and carried their rifles in formation down the main street. They were among the first Oklahoma servicemen to return from the Great War. The greeting they received was tumultuous, but all the soldiers really wanted to do was get home fast.

Camp Bowie

On June 13, the train finally stopped in Fort Worth, which the 142nd had last seen eleven months before. Experienced veterans stepped off the train at the place they had once been green recruits. Once again they marched through the main thoroughfares, but happily returned to the train to get to Camp Bowie. Camp Bowie had been converted to a Demobilization Center in late 1918. Soldiers from overseas had been processing through it since February 1919; so the crowd along the parade route on that day in June was not as boisterous.

Members of the 36th Infantry on parade, June 1919

That is not to say that Texas was not happy to see its warriors come home. However, they were all coming home at the same time. Along with the other units of the 36th Infantry Division, the 90th “Alamo” Division was returning to Texas as well. Camp Bowie was a nest of activity as staff directed units to their tents and soldiers began the process of demobilizing out of the Army.

Demobilization

The process could take a few days, especially now that Camp Bowie was crowded. The 142nd found itself encamped in the area where the 61st Artillery Brigade was located back in 1917. Many, if not all of them, walked over to the area which had been their home at Camp Bowie for ten months. Soldiers turned in their rifles and all their equipment, keeping only their uniforms, shoes, gas mask, and helmet. There was a physical for all the men at the camp hospital. Then soldiers got in line to see the paymaster. Each one received his back pay plus a sixty-dollar bonus awarded to all soldiers returning from France.

142nd Infantry Regiment Band at Camp Bowie, 1917

Soldiers also received a travel allowance that paid for transportation to the location of their enlistment. Train tickets were sold right there in camp. There was an office of the US Employment Bureau for soldiers who wanted to apply for a job. The government also offered one last chance to purchase life or disability insurance before the men left the service.

“Farewell”

The men received their discharge paper from the Army. The moment had arrived; they were no longer working for Uncle Sam. “Oh boy, ain’t it a grand and glorious feeling” one ex-soldier exclaimed after he came out of the last barracks with his discharge. Friends and comrades who’d been through every stage of life in the service together now had to say goodbye. There was a train to catch or family waiting at the camp gate. Time did not allow for all that might have been said. But what they did communicate to each other in those few heady moments said it all.

On June 17, 1919, the 142nd Infantry Regiment stood down.

On June 18th, its parent organization, the 36th Infantry Division, was demobilized.

In the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles Palace, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany on June 28th, ending the European war. The collapse of the Russian, German and Austrian Empires sparked fighting in Eastern Europe for two more years. Because of some of its provisions, especially the one establishing the League of Nations, the United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles. A state of war existed between the United States and Germany until August 25, 1921.

The last American soldier left occupied Germany on January 24, 1923.

Remembrance

Ten years after the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the Llano Estacado chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution unveiled a memorial in Amarillo. It was dedicated to “The Panhandle Boys”, young men who went to war in 1917, some of whom would never get to grow old. A local department store published a tribute that day in the Amarillo Daily News,

“The rancors of the struggle have vanished long ago. With our generation will die the distant recollections of undersea destroyers, Liberty Loan parades and ghostly troopships fading down the misty reaches of New York Bay. But the memory of the lad who marched into the east on those long ago mornings shall ever remain sacred in our hearts and those of our children and our children’s children.”

Mobilized

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

With over 41,000 residents, Camp Bowie in Fort Worth was a city within a city. As with all cities, change was normal in Camp Bowie. After the consolidation of the eight infantry regiments into four big ones, the next big change was transfers.

While the original soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division were National Guard volunteers, that distinction soon changed. In November 1917, five thousand draftees were transferred to Camp Bowie from Camp Travis in San Antonio and Camp Dodge in Iowa.

By this time training was in earnest and officers and non-commissioned officers were sent off-base for training at special schools across the country. Camp Bowie also hosted a number of British and French officers and noncoms who helped train the men.

American Industry steps up

By 1918, weapons and equipment were beginning to arrive at Camp Bowie. The Division’s first six artillery pieces arrived in January and February. Rifles were more plentiful after the beginning of the year as well. But there were still shortages of weapons and ammunition. Two more cannon arrived in April, but the 61st Field Artillery Brigade was not fully equipped until June.

Officers of the 36th Infantry Division kept the men busy training while waiting for equipment to arrive. Soldiers could expect long hikes, simulated battles, and instruction in trench warfare. This included gas mask drills, cutting through barbed wire, and using Camp Bowie’s ten mile-long trench system.

As 1918 wore on the Division received motor trucks, wagons and communications equipment. The men also trained to proficiency with their rifles, squad automatic rifles and machine guns. But it would not be until June when every rifleman in the division had his own rifle.

Division in review

By the spring of 1918 the 36th Infantry Division was approaching readiness. Ready, but not sent overseas. Other Divisions that trained in Texas, for example the 32nd Infantry (Camp MacArthur in Waco), 33rd Infantry (Camp Logan in Houston) and the 90th Infantry (Camp Travis in San Antonio), were already transferred to France. Some in and outside Camp Bowie wondered if they would ever get there.

In the meantime, Fort Worth got to see their Sammies on parade. On April 11th, about 25,000 of them, along with 1,200 vehicles and 5,000 horses passed in a miles-long review before the multitudes. In the proud column was Otho Farrell of Headquarters Company, 142nd Infantry, who had just been promoted Corporal on April 5th.

Otho wrote a letter to Gladys Loper, a friend of his sisters’ in Waynoka, OK around this time. She was about to graduate High School and was thinking about her future.

Mobilized

Men of the 36th Infantry Division could sense things were changing. Five thousand men, draftees from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, were added in May. That month, the War Department gave the division orders to be ready to move on short notice. In June, the men were drilling for immediate deployment, packing and moving to departure points. They knew it was the real thing when they were issued new dog tags that did not include their unit name.

At last, on July 2nd, the order to leave Camp Bowie was received. For ten months Fort Worth and Camp Bowie were home to the 36th Infantry Division. In late summer 1917, this was a largely untested mass of Guardsmen, volunteers all. They were practically the entire National Guard of both Texas and Oklahoma; just as diverse as the lands they represented.

Although they were volunteers and Guardsmen, they felt adequately prepared. Their morale was high and, despite all hazards of the previous year, had formed into a force they believed was equal to the fight. Texas and Oklahoma expected no less.

Camp Bowie

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

In the first weeks of America’s involvement in World War I, the Army decided it needed to raise a force of at least one million men. While that number was soon found to be much too small, the effort to recruit, house and train so many men turned out to be one of the war’s great achievements.

In May 1917 the Army planned to raise seventeen divisions of draftees and eighteen divisions from an enlarged Army National Guard. Therefore, thirty-five new camps for these divisions needed to be built from scratch. In addition other camps for Artillery, Coastal Defense, Quartermaster Corps, Engineers, Transport, Signal Corps and an Infantry School needed to be built in the same time frame.

The schedule itself was punishing: Soldiers would appear on the doorstep of their new camps beginning on September 5, 1917. If all the camp sites were selected, contractors found, money and materials freed up, it still would have been an organizational miracle to see all these small cities built in three months.

But in most cases the Army had to do it in a month and a half.

Mess Halls at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth

Camp Bowie

Nineteen National Guard training camps were to be built. Moreover, the Army decided to create tent cities for the Guard. The idea was, since the camps were to train one division and then close, resources would be diverted into the more permanent camps. Most of the nineteen National Guard camps were built in the Southern or the Western department of the Army’s command.

This meant that the relevant Departmental commander would choose where each small city of over 40,000 inhabitants would be built. A number of Texas cities as well as McAlester, Oklahoma were in the running for camps. Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce President Ben E. Keith and L. J. Wortham, President and Editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram led the charge for Cowtown.

Keith and Mayor W. D. Davis made the case for Fort Worth at Southern Department Headquarters in San Antonio in May. Consequently, a delegation led by a Brigadier General made the trip to tour proposed sites. They were most impressed with the Arlington Heights district just west of downtown. Fort Worth was selected as the site for the Texas and Oklahoma National Guard camp on June 11th. It was to be named after Col. Jim Bowie, hero of the Alamo.

Men of the 111th Engineer Regiment at Camp Bowie
Men of the 111th Engineer Regiment at Camp Bowie

Rush to construction

It was now Fort Worth’s turn to make good on its promises. Roads, utilities and a rail spur to camp were built by the city. Land, nearly 1,500 acres of it, was purchased by or donated to the city for Camp Bowie (Uncle Sam got the land free of charge). In addition, buildings had to be relocated or demolished, water and sewer lines dug, cattle moved.

Most of all, building materials had to be found. With so many construction projects underway, the government had to organize these resources. The War Department created a Cantonment Division which would organize base construction during the war. It was a massive organization, with over 16,000 enlisted soldiers nationwide. Ultimately, over 200,000 tradesmen and laborers would work on at least one site owned by the Cantonment Division during the war.

The Dallas construction firm of J. W. Thompson was contracted to build Camp Bowie. The contractor was chosen for his ability to take on such a project as well as his ability to get credit; short term costs were steep. The Army managed the payroll of all laborers as well as reimbursing the cost of materials.

Soldiers just arrived at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.

Building Camp Bowie

On July 18, 1917 officers from the Cantonment Division reported in Fort Worth for duty and the contract with the builder was signed. Construction on Camp Bowie was about to begin. On July 23 the Quartermaster’s Office was established and on July 25 the timekeeper’s office was built.

3,500 craftsmen and laborers joined to build a city that would house over 41,000 soldiers. They built roads, strung electric wire and put up hundreds of buildings. Most of the soldiers would sleep in tents, but there were bathhouses, mess halls, laundry shacks and 300 kitchens.

A spur of the Texas & Pacific Railroad went by the Quartermaster’s. In addition, there were stables and barns for horses of Texas’ 1st Cavalry Regiment, who would make their home in Camp Bowie. The Northern Texas Traction Company spent $125,000 (in 1917 dollars) to extend the Fort Worth Streetcar line through camp, adding or improving twelve stops.

Forty miles of roads were built in the hot summer sun. Water tanks were built and pipes were laid. In addition, refrigeration units for food were installed. By August 21, 900 wooden buildings were constructed. A telephone exchange was built. Moreover, a stockade was built near the Military Police barracks.

Will it ever be done?

On September 6th, Amarillo’s Company A, 7th Texas Infantry had arrived in Fort Worth on the same train as  Company B of Clarendon and Company C of Childress. By September 11, 1917 all of the Seventh Texas infantry Regiment was at Camp Bowie. The Seventh Texas was one of many Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, Engineer, Ambulance, Transportation and Signal units gathered at Camp Bowie. Most of the Texas and Oklahoma National Guard would form the 36th Infantry Division.

Camp Bowie was far from finished. For example, water pipes and electrical wires had just been introduced to the camp. The hospital, which would include 300 buildings, was only begun on August 27. The rifle range had just been started. No hurry; rifles had not yet arrived at Camp Bowie. In addition, the artillery range was still in the planning stage.

Like most cities, Camp Bowie was constantly changing in size and appearance. The staff of the Cantonment Division left in November 1917. After that, Engineers in the 36th Division declared the camp substantially finished on December 2nd, with the Camp Hospital still under construction. By July 1918, Camp Bowie had grown to 3,000 buildings and had cost the Army $3.4 million in 1917 dollars.

The Fighting 36th

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

In the Great War the United States Army was actually two armies. The Regular Army represented the permanent U.S. Army. In the 48 states, the largest part of it was the Coastal Artillery Corps. Another large part of the Regular Army was the Cavalry. Many of the seventeen U. S. Cavalry regiments were used to protect the border with Mexico.

The Regular Army also had infantrymen. Through the first half of 1916, there were thirty-one infantry regiments. A regiment at that time had about 1,550 men. The thirty-one regiments served in the four military departments in the United States plus overseas in Hawaii, the Philippines, China, Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone.  Likewise in January 1917, the United States purchased St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and had to defend those as well.

The National Defense Act of 1916 added seven more infantry regiments to the Regular Army. When war with Germany was declared in April 1917 the U.S. Army had about 213,000 men in active service. This included 66,594 National Guardsmen on the border with Mexico. That month twenty-seven more infantry regiments were planned for the Regular Army, bringing the number to sixty-five.

A New Kind of War

When it fought, the U.S. Army was fighting insurgents who operated in smaller numbers. A unit the size of the divisions manning the trenches of Europe had not been known in the U.S. military since the Civil War. When it studied the problem beginning in April 1917, the Army concluded that it would also need infantry divisions over there. Lots of them.

Soldiers at bayonet practice at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.

This is when the U.S. Army became two armies. The Regular Army was a professional army made of volunteers. Joining them would be a National Army of draftees. Men who had registered for the draft in the spring began to be inducted into service during the summer of 1917. These men would form a new but temporary citizen army whose job was to defeat Germany and then go home.

This new National Army would add seventeen new divisions. They would come from all parts of the United States. The seventeen divisions each began with a distinctive part of the country as its home base. For example one division, the 90th (National Army), drew its men from Texas and Oklahoma.

The National Guard

Somewhere in between the Regular Army and the National Army was the National Guard. Eighteen new Guard divisions were also created at the same time as the National Army. Guardsmen were not professional soldiers, as they enlisted for the duration of the war with Germany. However they were volunteers; and some of them had previous experience in the military. Many of the Guardsmen had been in Federal service guarding the border with Mexico, but most were brand new recruits. Moreover, the vast majority of these were young and single.

Company Street Scene, 144th Infantry at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.

News of a Texas National Guard division had been circulating since early April 1917. By June, the Texas Adjutant General was ordered by Washington to recruit to war strength three existing and four new infantry regiments. In July President Woodrow Wilson signed an order drafting all of the National Guard into Federal service for the duration of the war. That order would take effect on August 5, 1917. The eighteen new National Guard divisions would be numbered, instead of named after their home states.

Consequently, the Texas National Guard became the 36th Infantry Division on August 5, 1917.

Camp Bowie

Seventeen new National Army and eighteen new National Guard divisions would need thirty-five new training camps. The camps for the National Guard divisions were nearly all located in the Southern and Western departments of the Army. The idea was that these locations would have a milder winter to allow for faster training. Locating the training camps was in the power of the commander of the relevant department.

Warehouses - Field Headquarters at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.

Realizing the potential for development that a military city could provide, Fort Worth Mayor W.D. Davis and some leading men in the city wrote a proposal for the Army. Fort Worth was an important rail transportation hub in 1917 with a population of about 95,000. Fort Worth was also in the beef business with stockyards and massive meat packing facilities. Horses and mules were also transported from Fort Worth to the world. For example, France and Britain were customers. The climate had already brought the Royal Flying Corps to settle in Fort Worth to train pilots.

Through the ministrations of the city government, business leaders, and a little southern charm, Fort Worth made the case for hosting a major training facility. Each training camp would be a small city in its own right; over 40,000 inhabitants all on the payroll of Uncle Sam. As a result, Fort Worth’s proposal was convincing. The city’s Arlington Heights neighborhood was selected as one of thirty-five new training camps for the Army on June 11th, 1917. The facility was named after Col. Jim Bowie, Texas pioneer and hero of The Alamo.

(More about Camp Bowie can be found here)