GREAT LAKES NAVAL TRAINING STATION F RANCIS BUZZELL THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS THE GREAT LAKES NAVAL TRAINING STATION THE GREAT LAKES NAVAL TRAINING STATION A HISTORY BY FRANCIS BUZZELL Wartime Editor of "The Great Lakes Recruit" and Historian of the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Naval Districts ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1919, BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) V The author was given permission to prepare this history by Secretary Daniels. Therefore, in this sense, it is the official history of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK I GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION . . . ; w t .i . i II GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 27 III THE SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS ... 48 IV THE STATION BUILDERS 65 V THE HOSPITAL AND REGIMENTAL DISPENSARIES . 75 VI THE "DETENTION" AND APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 89 VII THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 108 VIII PAGEANT DAYS AND SPECIAL REVIEWS . . . 135 IX THE GREAT LAKES' "LIBERTY" BAND . . . 143 X GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 153 XI THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS . . . . .171 XII ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" , 200 ILLUSTRATIONS Thirty-five Thousand Great Lakes Sailors . . Frontispiece PAGE Thousands of Sailors form a living "Vive la France" . . 24 Captain W. A. Moffett giving a message to his Orderly . 24 The Main Entrance to Great Lakes ..... 24 Instructors in the Main Rigging Loft 25 Captain Moffett and his Staff lead Liberty Loan Parade in Chicago 25 A Destroyer of the Land Fleet 25 The Supply Storage in the Main Drill Hall .... 62 The Supply Officer, Lieutenant-Commander H. B. Worden, and his Staff 62 A Company Mess Hall 62 The Firemen's Classroom 63 A Regimental Street of Barracks ...... 63 The Machinists' Mates Class 63 Captain H. E. Odell and Lieutenant-Commander H. F. Hull with Medical Officers attached to the Hospital . . 86 The Interior of a Hospital Ward 86 The Board of Medical Survey 86 Ensign P. B. Riley, Commanding Officer of Outgoing Deten- tion, and his Assistants 87 "Still" Practice with Field Guns 87 Waiting for the Call to "Shove Off" 87 Bluejacket Signalmen on the Bridge of a Regimental Head- quarters' Building 114 Practice in the "Dry Land Boats" 114 " Deck Seamanship " Practice 114 ILLUSTRATIONS .'AGE Gunners' Mates Practising Loading 115 Ready for Cutter Practice 115 Cutter Drill 115 Instructors in Officer Material School 132 At Work on a Flying Boat ....... 132 A Miniature Flyer Designed by the Students . . . 132 One of the Famous " Singing Squares " 133 Presentation of the Colors 133 A Review on a Pageant Day 133 The "Rookie "Band 150 Lieutenant Sousa and a Section of the Great Lakes Band . 150 A Detachment of the Great Lakes Band Heading a Parade in Chicago 150 Secretaries of the Y. M. C. A. going through Military Formations 151 M. H. Bickham, General Y. M. C. A. Secretary . . .151 The Corps of Chaplains 151 Secretaries of the American Red Cross at Great Lakes . 182 Interior of the Jolly Tar Club 182 The Reading Room at Red Cross House . . . .182 THE GREAT LAKES NAVAL TRAINING STATION THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION CHAPTER I GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION THIS is the story of America's Jack and the Beanstalk; of America's Middle-Western blue- jackets and the little naval training station which so suddenly grew to be the largest and most efficient in the world, far outstripping in the magnitude and multiplicity of its achievement all other training camps, whether military or naval. Just why the naval training station at Great Lakes grew to be the most productive in the world just why this astounding development of something naval should take place a thousand miles from salt water may still be a matter of considerable astonishment to the seaboard sections of the country. But the great Middle West was not astonished, nor were Captain William A. Moffett and his staff. For the great Middle West, sending its maturer sons into the Army, gave its youth, its boys just out of high school, its boys on the threshold of manhood, to the Navy. And thus giving, the great Middle West saw no reason why its own naval training station, located on one of its own great inland seas, should not become the most important, the most productive, in the world. 2 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Tremendously energizing though this spirit was, it could not alone account, however, for Great Lakes be- coming the Navy's main source of man-power. The youth of the Middle West might have gone to the sea- board for its apprenticeship; Great Lakes might have become only a mere outfitting depot for naval recruits from Illinois and the few surrounding states, instead of an establishment capable of quartering, feeding and training as high as 50,000 men at a time, which was its status late in the summer of 1918. That this didn't happen; that Great Lakes became in the words of Secretary Daniels the patriotic capital of the Central West was due most directly to the fore- sight and untiring energy of Captain W. A. Moffett the Commandant whose policy of refusing to include "can't" in his vocabulary, or to tolerate its use by his subordinates, caused to be overcome obstacle after obstacle that seemed insurmountable. Captain Moffett realized what was going to happen in the Middle West, arose to the occasion, and boomed it along. It all seems quite obvious now, but, like all ob- vious things, it wouldn't have happened at Great Lakes just as it did, had not the right man been at hand as com- mandant. Captain Moffett had his fingers on the pulse of the Middle West; he knew what was going to happen and rushed preparations. When Washington asked him how many men he could take care of and train, he answered in detail and convincingly. Less than a week after the United States entered the World War the youth of the Middle West began to flow into Great Lakes. They came in long trainloads. They came from as far west as Denver and from as far east as Pittsburg; they came from Galveston, Texas; GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 3 from Bismarck, North Dakota; from Duluth, Minne- sota; they came from all the big and little cities, from all the towns, from nearly every crossroad, in an ever- increasing flow. But Great Lakes, designed to accommodate not more than 1500 apprentice seamen, was not swamped. This is the astonishing part of it Great Lakes was not swamped ! The great brick buildings of the permanent station became, in those first few days, merely the center, the nucleus, of a great tented city of America's greatest City of Youth. The difficulties met with and overcome in obtaining the tents need not be entered into here. The important fact is that they were obtained, more than 6000 of them, and that each tent was provided with three iron cots, and each cot with sufficient blankets. Out of the welter of rushed preparation soon emerged a well- defined plan for expansion, and it was the rapidity with which this development took place that made Great Lakes the largest naval training station in the world. For the moment, let us review the Great Lakes Naval Training Station as it was two or three months before America's entry into the World War. At the beginning of 1917 Great Lakes comprised thirty-three buildings of permanent brick construction, located on one hundred and sixty-seven acres of land. The officers attached to the Station were : Captain W. A. Moffett, Commandant; Lieutenant L. N. McNair, Executive Officer; Lieutenant Tracy McCauley, Public Works, Communication and Engineer Officer; Lieuten- ant C. S. Roberts, head of the Department of Education and Athletics, and District Enrolling Officer ; Assistant Paymaster R. S. Robertson, Disbursing and Commissary 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Officer; Paymaster Farwell, Supply Officer; Surgeon C. E. Ryder, Medical Officer; Assistant Surgeon N. R. Sullivan, Assistant Medical Officer; Assistant Surgeon Meyer, Dentist; Chaplain Frank Thompson, Chaplain; four medical officers attached to the Naval Hospital, lo- cated on the Station but under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, and four ensigns for instruction in academic subjects. In addition to the above commissioned officers there were five warrant Officers: Chief Boatswain Martin Fritman, Drill Of- ficer; Boatswain V. C. Carpenter, Boatswain Depart- ment ; a machinist and a carpenter attached to the Public Works Department; and one pay clerk. Immediately upon the declaration of war, Lieutenant McCauley and three of the ensigns were detached and sent to sea. The normal complement of recruits was approximately one thousand men. The regular course of training, covering a period of from four to six months, was such as was usually given apprentice seamen, and there were no special schools. In 1916 the average number of re- cruits received at Great Lakes each month was two hun- dred and twenty, or less than ten recruits a day. In January, 1917, the number of recruits received jumped to six hundred and eighteen, due to the stimulation of enlistments in the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Naval Districts caused by the passage of the Reserve Act, which created the Naval Reserve Force. During this month the average number of recruits received was about twenty per day. If a batch of twenty-five men were received, it was considered a crowd. In February, 1917, the recruits received numbered 922; in March, 1364; and in April the month of the declaration of war 9027. GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 5 Contrast the above facts with the following and you will get an idea of Great Lakes' tremendous growth a growth so astounding, so replete with the accomplish-, ment of the seemingly impossible, that it will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. On November n, 1918 the day the armistice was signed Great Lakes was going at top speed. It had spread itself over 1200 acres of land, and comprised 775 buildings. Nine of these buildings were great drill halls, in each of which an entire regiment of 1726 men could drill in regimental formation. Its population on that date was in the neighborhood of 45,000 men, and its administra- tive and operating personnel consisted of approximately seven hundred commissioned and warrant officers, and eight thousand enlisted men. Of the commissioned of- ficers comparatively few belonged to the regular navy establishment, the greater number being men who were recruited into the Naval Reserve Force from the ranks of business and professions of the Middle West. Some of these men came into the service as commissioned of- ficers ; others entered Great Lakes as "gobs" and worked their way up to administrative positions. Therefore, the great Middle West can honestly claim credit not only for providing the Navy with the best and most efficiently trained portion of its man-power, but also for producing many of the officers who, under Captain W. A. Mof- fett's magnificent leadership, were so instrumental in making Great Lakes an example of wonderwork that drew astonished admiration from the many representa- tives of the Allied countries who visited it in 1918. During the actual war period from April 6, 1917 to November n, 1918 Great Lakes received for training 125,000 men. During this period 96,779 men were 6 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION transferred to sea, and the special schools, organized to provide intensive training and instruction for recruits who could qualify for quick advancement, graduated 17,356 men. This is an achievement, for which the great Middle West can pat itself upon the back and chuckle with glee. For when Great Lakes was established by an act of Congress, April 27, 1904, on a site donated by the Com- mercial Club of Chicago, the project was laughed at as a glaring example of Congressional "pork." It was still being laughed at when the completed station was officially opened by President Taft on October 28, 1911. The idea of a naval training station a thousand miles in- land may still have resulted in a laugh as late as the be- ginning of 1917. When the United States entered the World War, things had to happen quickly particularly in the Navy. The way to Europe had to be kept clear, and this was the Navy's job. The Navy, therefore, couldn't build its training camps, and then, when the camps were com- pleted, call its recruits for training. Instead, it had to receive its recruits as rapidly as they volunteered, provide temporary quarters for them, train them in the rudiments of seamanship, as well as in military practice, and at the same time plan to build substantial cantonments adequate for the demands of a war the duration of which could not be estimated all of which applies particularly to the situation at Great Lakes when war was declared. Officers were scarce, discouragingly so. Imagine, if you can, the task that loomed before Captain W. A. Moffett, and the handicap with which he started. He GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 7 had only eight officers of the line on his entire staff, and four of these were detached and sent to sea immediately war was declared. The Navy Department not only de- tached these officers, but many experienced petty officers as well, and then found itself unable to provide others to carry on the work at Great Lakes. So Captain Mof- f ett was authorized to enroll both officers and men in the Naval Reserve Force. Men who had had previous ex- perience in the Merchant Marine or in any military organization were examined and commissioned. Petty officers were invaluable and scarce the demand for them had somehow to be met. Chief petty officers who had been company commanders under normal conditions became regimental commanders, and every petty officer of the line on the Station was made a company com- mander. But even this didn't suffice, so a training camp for petty officers was immediately established. Picked men from the apprentice seamen companies were sent to this camp for a period of intensive training, and within a short time Great Lakes was provided with a steadily increasing number of competent company commanders, who did excellent work in the handling and training of thousands upon thousands of recruits. More than one hundred of these company commanders, it may be in- teresting to know, passed the required examinations be- fore the United States had been in the war many months and became commissioned officers, serving both at Great Lakes and on board the fighting ships. It is a record of which Great Lakes may be proud that from the very beginning it developed and trained its own officer and petty officer material. On April i, 1917 six days before the declaration of 8 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION war Great Lakes was already overcrowded, there be- ing 2500 men on the Station at that time. And during April, 9027 recruits were received. The section of the Great Lakes Naval Training Sta- tion known as "Incoming Detention" was, naturally, one of the first to become congested. It consisted at that time of a number of brick structures at the southwest corner of the reservation, and could accommodate ap- proximately five hundred men for the total detention period of twenty-one days. It was complete in every de- tail for handling this number of men, having in its brick structures everything essential in a detention camp. But now five hundred recruits were being received daily and provision had to be made for them. Tents sufficient to afford quarters for approximately 1800 men were raised on every available spot in Incoming Detention except the drill field, and even then it became necessary to transfer men to other sections of the Station at the expiration of two or three days, or immediately after they were outfitted and had received one inoculation and one typhoid prophylaxis. Then these other sections of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station became congested in their turn and several thousand men had to be transferred to the Re- ceiving Ships on the eastern coast within a few days and with practically no training. For the first couple of weeks of the war, Great Lakes was, therefore, only a re- ceiving and distribution center instead of a training camp which it might have continued to be for many months had it not been that Captain W. A. Moffett, with boundless energy, cheerfulness and resourcefulness, spurred on his small staff of officers. Many times the immediate outlook was dark, but within less than a GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION ; 9 month sufficient tents had been received to house thou- sands of men and regular training was resumed. In ordinary times it was considered a good day's work completely to outfit the twenty-five recruits who might be received on a single day, but when they came by hun- dreds it became necessary to adopt new methods of pro- cedure or be hopelessly swamped. When consideration is given to the fact that forty-four pieces were included in each clothing allowance, that each piece of clothing had to be stenciled, that it was necessary to furnish each recruit with a hammock, mattress, mattress cover, two blankets, and the necessary gear for stringing ham- mocks, and that requisite entries had to be made in the receipt and transfer of all recruits, it can be seen what an enormous amount of continuous detail and laborious work was necessary properly to handle the number of men who daily reported at Great Lakes. To expedite this work, one of the permanent struc- tures in Incoming Detention was set aside for receiving the recruits, and holes were cut through the walls to- make all the dormitories connecting. By this arrange- ment a recruit could enter this building as a civilian and leave it as a sailor, fully outfitted. In the first section he received a complete outfit of clothing, in the next every one of the forty-four pieces was stenciled, and in the third section he received his blankets, mattress and hammock. This system worked excellently, as many as one thousand men being thus outfitted in twenty-four hours. The clothing supply, however, being limited, became depleted in the first few weeks of the war, and fresh supplies were delayed because of transportation difficul- ^s, due to the congested condition of railroad termi- io THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION nals. Therefore, for a certain period, it became impos- sible to outfit the new men as soon as they arrived on the Station. Transportation troubles also interfered with the prompt delivery of much-needed tents. Every one of the permanent barracks at Great Lakes housed double its capacity; half the men quartered in each barrack swinging in hammocks, and the other half sleeping be- low them on cots. The great drill hall of the permanent station and the instruction building were also used as barracks. The messing (feeding) of the men was accomplished by setting three different messes for each meal in the Main Mess Hall, and accommodating two thousand men at each mess, thus making equipment designed to feed not more than fifteen hundred men at a meal provide for six thousand. The remainder of the men were taken care of at the Galley in Incoming Detention. During these first weeks every officer and every en- listed man permanently detailed on the Station worked eighteen and twenty hours a day. While part of the operating organization was busy handling the flow of recruits, other parties were working day and night drain- ing land and laying out tented camps, the tents being put up and filled with men as fast as they were received. The Naval Militia organizations of Minnesota, Mis- souri, and the western district of Michigan, reported at Great Lakes within the first month of the war. They were quartered in tents erected on a plot of land imme- diately north of the Main Station, and, along with the thousands of other recruits who flowed into Great Lakes, endured many hardships. This was the begin- GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION n ning of Camp Paul Jones, which became the largest tented section on the Station during the summer of 1917. During that summer it contained more than five thou- sand tents. Mess for the men in this camp was pre- pared in temporary wooden galleys located along the edge of the bluff looking out over Lake Michigan. The service was cafeteria style, the men forming in lines, three hundred and fifty for each galley, and having their plates filled as they passed by. In fair weather they ate on the ground, and in wet weather shelters were erected out of old tents and tent flies to protect them. The drinking water was piped from the Main Station and supplied to the various companies through hydrants lo- cated at the ends of the company streets. Every other morning the men were marched to the barracks of the Main Station for a bath. During the day buckets were used for washing purposes. Camp Paul Jones was ideal in dry weather, but when it rained, and it rained con- siderably in the spring of 1917, hip-boots, of which there were but few in stock, became an important part of a man's uniform. The ground around the galleys and in the regimental streets was a sea of soggy clay in bad weather, and the men were obliged to stand up in about six inches of this to eat their meals. When Camp Paul Jones was well under way, with adequate galleys, garbage disposal apparatus, and la- trines established, the reorganization of the personnel was undertaken. This was accomplished by dividing the men quartered in Camp Paul Jones into regiments of 1726 men each. Before the end of May, the First, Second and Third regiments had been thus organized, and the men put under intensive training. Cinder roads 12 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION were then built, the ground was leveled, and every tent was provided with a wooden deck. By this time the number of men at Great Lakes had grown so large and the lack of officers was still so great that the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Lawrence Mc- Nair, was placed in direct command of Camp Paul Jones. Before the increase in population Lieutenant McNair had had general direction of the drilling and instruction of recruits, as well as the general direction and operation of the entire Station under the Command- ant. The Drill Officer, Chief Boatswain Martin Frit- man, was given charge of all incoming recruits and the men on the Main Station. And the actual functions of Executive Officer were, for the time-being, assumed by the Commandant personally. Ways and means for the proper handling and dis- patch of business were still regrettably inadequate and every department at Great Lakes suffered. Only by the most untiring efforts of the officers and the enlisted men who assisted them were the setbacks which continually occurred alleviated. By the middle of June Great Lakes had its first breath and Captain Moffett and his staff had thoroughly ana- lyzed all apparent difficulties and devised methods to overcome them. The training camp for petty officers, organized to turn out much-needed company command- ers, was in full swing; the Hospital Corps Training School, opened in March with a class of twenty hospital apprentices, had seven hundred and fifty apprentices under instruction; the Signal and Radio Schools had grown so large that they had to be separated ; the Great Lakes Naval Band had grown until it contained two hundred and fifty musicians; the aviation school had GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 13 been started with two officers and a few enlisted men; miles of tented streets had been laid out ; men were being sent to the fighting ships in great train loads; and the various departments were becoming more thoroughly organized and broadened in their scope. And while all this was going on, Captain W. A. Mof- fett, with unflagging energy and the assistance of all the experts he could lay hands upon, worked out the plans for Great Lakes' War-time development. This, too, is another achievement that Great Lakes can be proud of that, unassisted by Washington, it formu- lated and developed to the minutest detail, its own plans for the expansion that resulted in its becoming the larg- est and most thoroughly equipped training camp in the world. Data was obtained regarding all the army canton- ment plans and compared with the particular needs of a naval organization such as Great Lakes. A number of tentative plans were drawn up, and these were criti- cized freely by all the officers concerned at Great Lakes, as well as by the different bureaus in the Navy Depart- ment. The plan which was finally approved took the Main Station as a regimental unit and duplicated it. in frame buildings, each duplication being a regimental unit designed to be complete in itself, with its own ad- ministration and instruction building, drill hall, galley and mess halls, dispensary, and heating pknt. Each regimental unit accommodated 1726 men. Why Captain W. A. Moffett adopted the regimental unit as the basis for the expansion of Great Lakes is quite obvious when once explained. It wasn't possible to determine just when the war would end, nor how great the Navy's demand for man-power would be. i 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Had Great Lakes been expanded simply as an enlarge- ment, a spreading out of the Main Station, which is the way that cities grow each additional demand for en- largement would have resulted in many complications and readjustments. Captain Moffett and his staff planned for just such a contingency, the result being that Great Lakes was able, simply by adding regimental unit after regimental unit, to multiply itself to any size the war demanded without any radical change in anything previously constructed. How important this was will be shown later. The United States had not been in the World War more than a month before authority was received from Washington to lease land and prepare plans. In May, E. H. Clark, a Chicago architect, was enrolled in the Naval Reserve force as a junior grade lieutenant, and he at once enlisted several young Chicago draughts- men. Within two weeks, working day and night, this architectural staff had completed the plans for seven regimental units for regular training purposes, and two regimental units to be used as incoming detention camps. Captain Moffett, accompanied by Rear-Admiral Al- bert Ross, Commandant at Great Lakes during the con- struction of the original Station, took the plans to Wash- ington to have them approved. The result was permis- sion to construct wooden cantonments to accommodate 20,000 men, and contracts were let for the construction of Camps Perry, Dewey, Farragut and Decatur. As planned and carried out, Camp Perry comprised four regimental units and Camp Dewey, three regimental units. Camps Farragut and Decatur, designed as in- coming detention camps, each consisted of one regi- mental unit. At the same time a contract was let for GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 15 the construction of sufficient buildings to give the Main Hospital a capacity of fourteen hundred beds and pro- vide adequate quarters for its operating personnel. The plans for the expansion of the hospital were prepared by the Bureaus of Medicine and Surgery and Yards and Docks. At about the same time Captain Moffett received an appropriation for the construction of Camp Ross, a regimental unit to be used as an outgoing detention camp. The buildings in this regimental unit were of galvanized iron and of the portable type, which made it possible to complete this camp and have it ready for occupation while the other camps were still under way. The actual construction of Camps Perry, Dewey, Decatur and Farragut commenced early in July. Fields that were covered with a crop of corn one week were covered by a mass of buildings and building material the next; barracks, drill halls, galleys and mess halls, and instruction buildings sprang up like mushrooms. The greatest difficulty experienced was that of transporting and hauling material about the various camps. This difficulty was overcome by utilizing the services of the 12,000 men at that time at Great Lakes. Owing to the untiring energy of these men, who, although new to discipline, were willing workers and seemed never to tire, lumber piles, brick, machinery, plumbing material, and building fixtures were moved from place to place as if by magic. By the end of September, 1917, Camp Farragut was completed, and on October 6 it became the main Incom- ing Detention Camp, and the Incoming Detention execu- tive headquarters was moved into it. A short time later 1 6 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Camp Decatur was completed, thus adding another regimental unit to Incoming Detention. In October the seven regimental units contained in Camps Perry and Dewey were ready for occupation. With the first sustained spell of cold weather which oc- curred the latter part of this month, the appearance of Great Lakes underwent a change. The miles of tented streets so familiar to the thousands upon thousands of visitors who thronged the Station on Pageant Days dur- ing the summer months of 1917 disappeared over night. When the order was given, the thousands of men folded up their tents and stole away into barracks that were double-floored and sealed, and provided with steam heat and hot and cold running water. Incidentally, they dis- carded the military cot for the sailor's hammock. By the first of November practically every man on the Sta- tion had been moved into barracks. Two features of great importance stand out promi- nently in the construction of these wooden cantonments. One of these was the regimental unit system, the purpose of which has already been explained, and the other was the comprehensive, thorough manner in which each separate regimental unit was further subdivided to make doubly sure that any kind of contagion could be quickly and effectively segregated. Great Lakes, as Captain Moffett planned its expan- sion, was not only to become the largest naval training station in the world, but one that was as contagion-proof as the particular conditions would allow. Captain Mof- fett knew that the boys just finishing high school, the boys on the threshold of manhood, were more liable to bring and spread contagion than were the men who an- swered the Army's call. So one of the first things GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 17 that Captain Moffett did was to call into the service an architect who had had considerable experience in the designing of tubercular camps. What was accomplished in 1917 along the lines of making Great Lakes contagion-proof is best explained in conjunction with the architectural description of the regimental units. Two distinct architectural plans were adopted one for the detention camps, and the other for the main training camps. Each of the seven regimental units comprising Camps Perry and Dewey consisted of a galley and twelve semi- detached mess halls ; six H-shaped barracks units; a store- house with a barber shop, tailor shop and post office; an executive and instruction building; and a dispensary and sick bay with a detached observation ward. In Camp Dewey was erected a drill hall which, at that time, was the largest in the world. Even Captain Moffett didn't know how large it would be when he decided upon its construction. What he asked for was a drill hall so large that an entire regiment of 1726 men could drill in it without the slightest cramping of regimental evo- lutions. This drill hall was six hundred feet long by one hundred and two feet wide. In planning the mess building for each of these regi- mental units, Captain Moffett realized that to bring a large number of boys together in one huge hall, the at- mosphere of which was warm and heavy with the odors of food, would not be the best way in the world to com- bat disease. So, instead of one great eating hall in each regimental unit, the mess building for each of these regimental units comprised a large, perfectly-equipped galley, around which were grouped twelve mess halls, each of which accommodated a company of 144 men. 1 8 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION These company mess halls were provided with outside doors, so that the men could enter them directly from the open air, and, on leaving, go directly out into the open air again. The result was that at no time while in the mess build- ings did the men of one company come in contact with the men of any other company. In the H-shaped barracks units a still further division was made in an endeavor to prevent contagion. Each one of these barracks units contained four hammock- hung dormitories, and each dormitory, accommodating seventy-two men, had its own shower baths, wash basins and other toilet facilities, making it a self-contained unit having no inner connection with any other unit. The value of this arrangement in preventing the spread of contagion almost speaks for itself. If a man came down with measles, scarlet fever, or any one of the other -contagious diseases, the only men he came in direct contact with were the seventy-one others occupy- ing that particular dormitory with him. And they could be immediately isolated from the rest of the camp without being moved from the dormitory in question, and be kept so isolated until such time as the medical department considered their release advisable. In the two incoming detention camps Camps Far- ragut and Decatur the subdivisioning was necessarily carried much further than in the main training camps. In these camps not more than twenty-four recruits were ever, under any circumstance, found in close contact indoors. Camps Farragut and Decatur each comprised one regimental unit accommodating 1726 men. The barracks units, instead of being H-shaped and only six to a regimental unit as in the main training camps GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 19 were constructed singly, and there were thirty-six in each regimental unit. These single barracks were sub- divided into two non-communicable sections each com- prising a dormitory, a service room, and the required shower baths, wash basins, etc. Twenty-four men oc- cupied each section. There were no mess halls, either large or small in Incoming Detention simply a galley for each regi- mental unit. The food, when cooked and ready to serve, was placed in metal receptacles one for each kind of food and these- metal receptacles were nested in vacuum cans, which were then transported by motor trucks to the different dormitories. When finally served to the twenty-four men in the service room of each dormitory, the food was practically as warm as when it left the galley. The dishes and other culinary utensils used in each dormitory never left that particular dormi- tory but were washed and sterilized in a scullery located in a corner of the service room. The vacuum cans and the metal receptacles that fitted into them were thor- oughly sterilized in the main scullery before again reach- ing the galley. All of which, as already mentioned, had one big vital purpose, the prevention of contagion. So well was the problem handled that when a recruit in Incoming De- tention came down with any one of the diseases to which boys are so susceptible, not more than the twenty-three recruits sharing the dormitory with him had to be tem- porarily isolated as "contacts." About the time that the regimental units in Camps Perry and Dewey were completed the forces of the Public Works Department, all of whom were enlisted men, began the erection of a regimental unit in Camp 20 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Paul Jones. This was the first big construction job for which sailors themselves provided the labor. On December 26, 1917, Great Lakes had a population consisting of 24,744 men, several hundred of whom re- ceived subsistence and lived off the Station. Several hundred more were quartered in the Main Drill Hall. At the close of 1917, Great Lakes consisted of twelve regimental units, the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh, forming Camps Perry and Dewey: the Eighth and Ninth being the Incoming Detention camps Farragut and Decatur ; the Tenth, an Outgoing Detention Camp; the Eleventh, the Main Station; and the Twelfth the regimental unit in Camp Paul Jones constructed by the Public Works Department for the housing of its own forces. The winter of 1917-18 was one of the bitterest in the history of the Northern States. Cold weather closed down upon Great Lakes early in November, and blizzard followed blizzard. For weeks at a time the tempera- ture seldom rose above zero. Building operations were practically at a standstill, and the number of recruits received during the first couple of months of 1918 was comparatively light. In preparation for the great expansion which was to take place in 1918, certain important steps in reorganization took place. During January and February the population of Great Lakes was about 21,000 men. The outgoing drafts averaged not more than three hundred men per week. In February, 1074 recruits reported at Great Lakes ; in March 2358. With the approach of spring, building operations were GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 21 commenced on a huge scale, for an expansion twice as great as that which occurred during 1917 an expan- sion calculated to give Great Lakes a winter capacity of 40,000 men, housed in steam-heated barracks, provid- ing fifty square feet of floor space per man, or a capa-city of 80,000 men, if but twenty-five square feet of floor space was allowed per man, which was the case in the camps constructed in 1917. The Public Works Department, in cooperation with the Bureau of Yards and Docks, had drawn up plans for four new regimental units to be used for the training of apprentice seamen, and to be known as Camp Lawrence ; for three new Outgoing Detention umts, designated as Camp Luce ; for a great aviation school unit ; for a new Incoming Detention unit to be known as Camp Barry, and for a unit to be used as a school for the training of ensigns. The Aviation Unit was the first of the big construc- tion projects of 1918 to be started. Before work could be commenced on the actual construction of Camp Luce, fifteen or twenty buildings, the greater number of which were residences, had to be removed from the newly pur- chased tract of land. The work of moving these houses and remodeling them for use as officers' quarters was undertaken by the enlisted men of the Public Works De- partment. During the month of April approximately 6000 re- cruits were received at Great Lakes. In May the num- ber more than doubled, 15,553 being received. The number of recruits arriving during the month of June totaled 16,345. During May and June the thousands of tents, which 22 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION had been stored away for the winter, were again put to use to provide accommodations for the unprecedented rush of recruits. In the meantime, with the construction of the Aviation Unit and Camp Luce progressing rapidly by contract labor, the enlisted forces of the Public Works Depart- ment sailor carpenters, painters, electricians, plumbers and fitters, and the like were themselves doing a tre- mendous amount of construction work. At this time they had under construction two regimental units in Camp Paul Jones and were building a sufficient number of new barracks in Camp Decatur to double its capacity as an Incoming Detention unit. They also constructed Constitution Field, which was developed by them into one of the largest and finest athletic fields in the country ; erected special office buildings, scores of mess halls, storehouses, latrines, etc., built bridges and roads, made alterations and repairs all over the Station, and cleaned up the new camps as rapidly as they were finished by contract labor. One of the most notable bits of construction work ac- complished by the "sailor forces" of the Public Works Department during the summer of 1918 was the erec- tion, in the course of one week, of thirty-five temporary frame barracks in Camp Barry, thus providing an ad- ditional Incoming Detention Unit to relieve the conges- tion in Camps Farragut and Decatur. That the above mentioned building feat was the result of an urgent necessity may be gained from the fact that during the month of July the number of recruits re- ceived in Incoming Detention was 22,081. The three "big months" at Great Lakes were May, June and July during which 53,979 recruits were re- GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 23, ceived. Imagine, if you can, the tremendous amount of effort and unremitting labor required to handle such a great number of men. During July an average of seven hundred and fifty men per day was received in Incoming Detention, the busiest day being July 27, when a total of 1743 men reported. As rapidly as the recruits ap- peared, they were formed into companies of one hun- dred and forty-four men each and rushed through the formalities. Companies were outfitted both day and night. Their clothing, hammocks, mattresses, etc., were stenciled in the barracks they occupied, or, if they were quartered in tents, at assigned stenciling rooms. The inoculations were arranged for at the sick bays in each regiment. It is a singular fact that but one question was asked and only one answer required in outfitting a recruit, and that had to do with the size of his shoes. The outfitting of recruits in Incoming Detention was so well systema- tized that it became possible completely to outfit an entire company of one hundred and forty-four men in an hour. On July 29, the clothing room broke all records by com- pletely outfitting 2315 recruits. By August the big rush of recruits was over, only 8255 being received during the entire month. During September only 5944 re- cruits were received. Great Lakes' population reached its highest point on August 27, when there were 47,721 men on the Station. The average complement for September was but slightly below this figure, despite the fact that during July, August and September 24,500 men were transferred to sea. In the meantime the construction of the new regi- mental units had progressed rapidly. The huge Avia- 24 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION tion Unit the largest single regimental unit on the Sta- tion was occupied by the Aviation Regiment before the middle of July. This regimental unit contained eleven double-decked (two story) H-shaped barracks, and five double-decked I-shaped barracks; a machine shop five hundred feet long by 100 feet wide; an Instruction Building of the same size; a three hundred-foot building containing a forge, welding and carpenter shop; three power houses; two 24-block test sheds; an armory; an aviation stores building; a regimental headquarters building; the largest Y. M. C. A. building on the Station; a hangar; a canteen and small stores building; a dispen- sary; a Lutheran Brotherhood building; a garage; and a machine-gun rifle range. During the period in which the Aviation Regiment was moving into its new quarters and becoming settled, a complete regimental unit for an aviation camp to be located in France was assembled and transferred in three sections, totaling 1800 men. This aviation regi- ment consisted of aviation quartermasters and machin- ists' mates, regular machinists' mates, gunners' mates, yeomen, storekeepers, bookkeepers, riggers, draftsmen, bricklayers, stone masons, concrete mixers, laborers, firemen, truck drivers, coppersmiths, plumbers, and fit- ters, boilermakers, carpenters, sailmakers, blacksmiths, surveyors, cabinet makers, two companies of seamen, and a regimental band consisting of twenty-eight pieces. Of such trades is the Navy made up. The first of the regimental units to be completed in Camp Luce was occupied the latter part of July, and during the following month the two other units compris- ing this camp were completed. As these three regi- mental units were designed for outgoing detention pur- Thousands of Sailors form a living " Vive la France " Captain W. A. Moffett giving a Message to his Orderly The Main Entrance to Great Lakes Instructors in the Main Rigging Loft Captain Moffett and his Staff lead Liberty Loan Parade in Chicago A Destroyer of the Land Fleet GREAT LAKES' EXPANSION 25 poses, the barracks were constructed separately, and each of these barracks, which were double-decked, was divided into four non-communicable sections, the accom- modations being twenty-five men to a section. These sections had their own sculleries and mess rooms. The food was prepared in a central galley and delivered to the barracks in vacuum containers. Each of these Outgoing Detention Units contained thirty-four double-decked barracks ; a galley, storeroom, armory and power house; a dispensary and a sick bay; a Y. M. C. A. building; a Knights of Columbus Building, and a ship's store. These three regimental units provided Great Lakes with an Outgoing Detention Camp which could prepare 10,000 men for transfer to sea every three weeks. Camp Lawrence, comprising four regimental units for training apprentice seamen, was not started until August, and, therefore, was just nearing completion when the armistice was signed. The first companies of apprentice seamen were received in Camp Lawrence a few days before the war came to an end. Camp Law- rence was equipped to quarter and train approximately 10,500 men. The actual ending of hostilities, with Germany hope- lessly beaten, was the only thing that stopped Great Lakes' expansion. At that, it took several weeks to slow down after the signing of the armistice, so great was the impetus. Had the war continued into 1919, Great Lakes would have become a training camp of 100,000 men. But the physical development and expansion of Great Lakes is only the shell of the real achievement. The 96,779 men who were trained and sent to sea was the 26 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION great contribution. The splendid work accomplished at Great Lakes was universally recognized. The type of bluejacket it produced set a new standard for efficiency. The boys of the great Middle West were more than welcome aboard the fighting ships, for they were soon found to be the best trained of any sent to the Fleet. CHAPTER II GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION THE administration of a training camp such as Great Lakes became, with its constantly chang- ing population of close to 50,000 men, all of whom had to be clothed, fed, housed, trained and taught a variety of special subjects, was a task so complicated that it might easily have -staggered any ordinary ad- ministrative body. Not even in an army cantonment was the mutiplicity of detail as great as at a naval training station such as Great Lakes grew to be. In the army cantonments nearly all the men of a division commenced training at practically the same time, as university students com- mence study at the beginning of a school year. And, to all practical purposes, they progressed in the training as a body, finished training as a body, and the greater number of them passed on, the camp being refilled by a new quota of men. At Great Lakes, on the other hand, the population was one that can be designated as transient. Drafts of men left Great Lakes for the fighting ships every day and new men took their places. Great Lakes at all times represented men in all the stages of training, from the rawest recruits to men ready to go aboard ship to perform the special as well as general duties for which they were prepared. Every day men found to be particularly fitted for advanced training 27 28 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION were transferred from this or that training regiment to one of the many schools, all of which added detail to the work required of the administrative departments. Never for a moment during the war period did Great Lakes remain stationary. And it is with the adminis- trative body which kept Great Lakes running at top speed during the war period that this chapter deals. At the head of the administrative body was Captain W. A. Moffett, to whose organizing ability and energy the growth of Great Lakes was mainly due. As Com- mandant, Captain Moffett formulated the administra- tive policies of the Station, decided what was or was not to be done, and wielded absolute command subject, of course, to the supervision of the Bureau of Navigation at Washington. Assisting Captain Moffett as personal aides during 1917 were Lieutenant C. S. Roberts, U. S. N., and two commissioned officers of the Naval Reserve Force the latter being men selected by Captain Moffett from busi- ness life as particularly fitted for the work he needed them to do. The first of these aides was Charles S. Dewey, who was enrolled as a junior grade lieutenant in April, 1917, and was advanced to a full lieutenancy early in 1918, when he became Senior Aide to the Com- mandant. In July, 1917, Kenneth S. Goodman was en- rolled in the Naval Reserve Force as a junior grade lieu- tenant and became the third of Captain Moffett's aides, also being advanced to a full lieutenancy in 1918. At one time or another during 1918 the following officers of the Naval Reserve Force also acted as Aides to the Commandant: Lieutenant J. H. McGillan, Lieutenant (j. g.) J. P. Burlingham, Ensign W. E. Clow, Jr., En- sign J. J. Boyle, Ensign Joseph Husband, Ensign Morris GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 29 Phinny, Ensign L. P. Scott, and Ensign E. A. Hayes. These aides all served, not to impose their own judg- ments, but to express or convey the will of Captain Mof- f ett on many of the matters that came up daily for ad- justment. They prepared and sent out communications, signed orders, etc., always affixing "By Direction. }> Much of the routine work required of the Commandant by Navy regulations was thus taken off his hands. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE Closely related to the Office of the Commandant is that of the Executive Officer. This officer sees that the policies promulgated by the Commandant are properly carried out. In other words, if Great Lakes were a great business corporation instead of a naval training station, the Commandant would hold the office of presi- dent, and the Executive Officer that of general manager. Lieutenant L. N. McNair was Executive Officer at Great Lakes when war was declared. At that time, the Executive Officer handled all the records and orders re- garding enlisted personnel and had general supervision of the drilling and instruction of recruits, as well as the general direction and operation, under Captain Moffett, of the entire station. A few weeks after the declaration of war, however, the lack of officers resulted in Lieutenant McNair being given command of Camp Paul Jones, leaving the paper work and records of the Executive Office in charge of Lieutenant (j. g.) C. K. Muir, a retired officer who had been ordered to the Station the latter part of April. And for the time being the actual functions of Execu- tive Officer were assumed by Captain Moffett personally. In June, 1917, Commander W. N. McMunn, National 30 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Naval Volunteers, was assigned to duty as Executive Officer. In July, Lieutenant Commander C. H. Fischer, U. S. N. (Retired) was ordered to Great Lakes and re- lieved Commander McMunn as Executive Officer, the latter having had this duty in addition to his duties as Assistant Commandant of the Ninth, Tenth and Elev- enth Naval Districts. Under Lieutenant Commander Fischer the Executive Office resumed its regular func- tions. Late in December, 1917, Lieutenant Commander Fischer was found not physically fit for further active service by a board of medical survey and was ordered home by the Navy Department. In the meantime Lieu- tenant Commander, A. C. Wilhelm, U. S. N. (Retired) had assumed the duties of Drill Officer, which relieved the Executive Officer of a large portion of his duties in regard to the quartering, training and instruction of re- cruits. At the beginning of 1918 Lieutenant C. S. Roberts was assigned to duty as Executive Officer, and a reor- ganization was effected which divided the previous du- ties of the Executive Office among three newly created departments the Drill Office, Provost Marshal's Of- fice, and the Detail Office. The Executive Officer, be- ing thus relieved from these routine duties, was able to give more time to the development of the Station as a whole and to the coordination of the different depart- ments. During 1917 the officers assisting the Executive Of- ficer were Lieutenant (j. g.) R. S. Robertson, Jr., and Lieutenant (j. g.) B. C. Muir. The officers who assisted the Executive Officer at different periods during 1918 were Lieutenant Ralph M. Jaeger, Lieutenant S. R. GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 31 Canine, Lieutenant (j. g.) A. T. Carton, and Ensign Benny Johnson. THE DETAIL OFFICE When the Detail Office was created, January i, 1918, the offices which came under the supervision of the De- tail Officer, Lieutenant Walter P. Jost, consisted of the Station Record Office, the Central Office and the Re- ceiving Ship Record Office. By March, 1918, however, the demands received from the various Receiving Ships along the eastern seaboard had become so great that it was necessary to create still another office, which was called the Draft Department. And about the same time the Detail Officer assumed supervision of what had been known as the Insurance Section. This was an office organized in December, 1917, in order to comply with the Bureau of Navigation's instructions to have every man take out insurance and make a voluntary allotment, if he had any dependents. The Insurance Section was later given the additional duty of taking-up-for-pay all the newly enlisted men arriving on the Station, and its name was changed to that of Take-Up Section. The routine business handled by the Detail Office was as follows: Custody of all service records of enlisted personnel on the Station; making all changes in rating of men under training and attached to the Receiving Ship ; preparing paper and forwarding same for all out- going drafts; assignment to duty of men on Receiving Ship ; the granting of liberty and leave of absence to the men attached to the Receiving Ship ; the granting of all special money requisitions of the enlisted personnel on the Station; the preparation of the muster rolls by or- ganization of all the enlisted personnel on the Station; 32 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION the making of all entries in service records for the en- listed personnel; keeping record of location and duties of all the enlisted men attached to the Station ; prepara- tion of all orders to the paymaster regarding changes of pay and the granting of subsistence to men attached to the Station ; preparing orders for all men detached tem- porarily from the Station; taking final action on all re- quests for assignment to duty, transfer and special in- structions; preparation of all correspondence pertaining to health records, service records and pay accounts of the enlisted personnel for the Commandant's signature ; taking up for pay all newly enlisted men arriving on the Station; the routing and distribution of all correspon- dence on the Station. During the summer months of 1918 the population of Great Lakes steadily mounted toward the 50,000 mark, and with the increase in population the forces of the Detail Office had likewise to be increased. By the end of September the forces working under the supervision of the Detail Officer consisted of six commissioned of- ficers, eight chief petty officers, and three hundred en- listed men. Ensign H. E. LaMertha was Assistant De- tail Officer during May and June, 1918. Ensign Earl R. Britt relieved Ensign LaMertha. Other officers at- tached to the Detail Office during 1918 were Ensign John Lindsay, Ensign H. E. Neal, Ensign T. A. Prov- ence, Ensign John Shillito, Lieutenant H. C. Ridgley, Ensign J. Long, Ensign J. B. Morriss, Ensign S. V. Hayward, Ensign Leon Foley, and Ensign F. L. Schlagle. During June, July, August and September, 1918, the forces of the Detail Office often worked until the early hours of the morning to shove off drafts of men re- GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 33 quested by the Bureau of Navigation on short notice. The splendid spirit in which these men performed their duties was all that kept the Detail Office from being swamped. Regular quotas of men demanded of Great Lakes by the Bureau of Navigation during the summer of 1918 were as follows : 125 Seamen to Norfolk, Va., every Tuesday. 375 Firemen to Norfolk, Va., every Tuesday; 500 Firemen to Norfolk, Va., every Thursday. 72 Seamen to Receiving Ship, New York, three times a week. 20 Seamen Guards to Curtis Aeroplane & Motor Corp., Buffalo, N. Y., once a month. 75 Radio Electricians to Harvard University each week. 10 men to Sub-Chaser class, Columbia University, every two weeks. 80 Radio Electricians to Dunwoody Institute, Minne- apolis, once a week. 25 Firemen to Fuel Oil School, Philadelphia, every month. 12 Men to Sub-Listeners' School, Pelham Bay, N. Y., every third week. 26 Machinists' Mates (aviation) to Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, once a week. 12 Men to sub-Listeners' School, Pelham Bay, N. Y., every two weeks. 28 Signalmen to Hampton Roads, Va., every week. 50 Quartermasters to Naval Base, Norfolk, Va., every three weeks. 100 Seamen Gunners to Newport, R. L, once a month. In addition to the above drafts, the Bureau of Naviga- tion was constantly demanding, during 1918, special quotas of men of every conceivable branch of the Navy, 34 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION and these demands, one and all, were met. The Navy had to have this, the Navy had to have that; and be- cause Great Lakes was the Station that could best pro- vide the this and the that in man-power, Great Lakes was called upon. The great naval guns that were used in France in the final stage of the war were manned by crews trained at Great Lakes. THE DRILL OFFICE The establishment of the Drill Office as an independent department occurred January I, 1918, with Lieutenant Commander A. C. Wilhelm, U. S. N. (Retired) as its head. Lieutenant-Commander Wilhelm, as Tactical Brigade Commander, had military jurisdiction over the Aviation School, the Hospital Corps Training School, the Radio School, and the forces of the Public Works 'Department, and absolute jurisdiction over all the other regiments and schools. The duties of the Drill Office included: the instruc- tion, drill and discipline of all men under training; the routine and muster of all organizations of men under training; the cleanliness of buildings and grounds oc- cupied by men under training; the bag inspection of men under training; the granting of liberty and leave to the men under training; the preparing of men for drafts; the assignment of recruits received from Incoming De- tention to training regiments and schools; the assign- ment of men received from Hospital to companies; the transfer of men between regiments and to schools; the selection of men for special drafts; the organization of bands ; the supervision of special instruction ; the super- vision of records of the instruction received by each com- GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 35 pany ; the supplying of men for guards, working parties, and special details; the handling of funeral arrange- ments, firing parties, etc. ; the arrangement of train schedules for liberty parties; the handling of furlough fare certificates; the quartering of all men on the Sta- tion: the handling of honors rendered visiting officers; and the arrangements for the regular weekly and spe- cial reviews. Once each week regimental commanders gathered in the Drill Office to confer with Lieutenant-Commander Wilhelm and solve the many problems with which they were confronted. Lieutenant H. A. Spanagal was Assistant Drill Of- ficer early in 1918. He was succeeded by Lieutenant (j. g.) A. Somers. THE PROVOST MARSHAL'S OFFICE The Provost Marshal's Office was something new in the Navy, but the work it accomplished proved it to be an absolute necessity on a Station such as Great Lakes became, where thousands of recruits, the majority of them absolute strangers to military discipline, were thrown together. The duties of the Provost Marshal were numerous. He had charge of the Seaman Guard, all the gates, the brigs, and the "Ship Jumpers' Camp." He had charge of the handling of all prisoners, including deserters and General Courts-Martial prisoners and their transfer to eastern prisons and disciplinary barracks. He made ar- rangements for Mast, for the bringing of offenders thereto, and arranged the Mast report and the record of punishments awarded. He declared deserters, and acted in conjunction with the different agencies instru- 36 mental in the capture of such deserters. And he had jurisdiction over the Station's fire department, the men detailed for Officer-of-the-Day duties, and the Post Quartermaster, the duties of the latter consisting prin- cipally of keeping the records of the 7000 tents, 24,000 cots, and the thousands of ponchos with which the Sta- tion was equipped. The Seaman Guard consisted of about three hundred picked men from the apprentice seamen companies of the very best caliber obtainable. These men did guard duty on the Station, acted as guards on trains and elec- tric cars during rush hours, and handled traffic on the Station on visiting days or on other days when the crowds made it necessary. During the summer of 1918 hundreds of thousands of people visited Great Lakes on Review days. The throngs of visitors and the thou- sands of automobiles were handled by the Seaman Guard without a single accident. There were twelve men and one petty officer detailed to each of Great Lakes' four gates. The duty of these gatekeepers was the handling of liberty parties, the overhauling of all packages brought on to or taken away from the Station, and the controlling of all vehicle traffic through the gates. The fire department at Great Lakes consisted of three motor-driven fire engines, one hook-and-ladder truck, and a number of chemical wagons and hose reels. Each regimental unit had its own chemical wagons and hose reels. The fire engines and hook-and-ladder truck were for general use and were manned by experienced fire- fighters men who, before their enlistment in the Navy, had been members of metropolitan fire departments. Four Chief Petty Officers were detailed for Officer- of-the-Day duties, these men standing their watches in GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 37 turn. In addition, they supervised the upkeep of the brick buildings constituting the Main Station. The Of- ficer-of-the-Day had to be ready at all times to receive telephone calls, messages and reports, transmit them to the proper authorities, and take such action as he deemed advisable on any situation with which he was con- fronted. He was also responsible for the proper entries being made in the deck-log. Summary Court-martial, or "Mast," was held twice a week, and the number of men on report averaged about forty for each Mast. This was a remarkably low per- centage of petty infringements of discipline, consider- ing the fact that during the latter months of the war the number of men at Great Lakes hovered around the 45,000 mark. The Provost Marshal was Lieutenant Martin Frit- man, U. S. N. The Assistant Provost Marshal was Gunner Walter McGuire. OFFICE OF COURTS AND BOARDS Like many other departments at Great Lakes, the office of Courts and Boards resulted from the necessity of coordinating and systematizing the constantly in- creasing work involved in the Station's expansion to a war-time footing. This office was established immediately after the dec- laration of war, on the arrival at Great Lakes of Lieu- tenant-Commander J. M. Grimes, U. S. N. (Retired). Following the arrival of Lieutenant-Commander Grimes, and his appointment as President of a General Court-martial, Senior Member of Summary Courts- martial, Deck Court Officer, and President of the Ex- amining Board, court-martial work entered upon a new 38 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION phase. The office was organized under precepts from the Secretary of the Navy. There was no sudden en- forcement of every harsh war-time regulation against recruits who committed petty offenses, but the fact that the United States was at war and that infractions of naval discipline would be punished according to war- time standards was gradually impressed upon the men at Great Lakes. Deck Courts, which had been the usual tribunal for the trial of minor offenses, were gradually replaced by Summary Courts, and criminal offenses and serious breaches of discipline were tried by General Courts- martial. The office of Recorder of the Summary Court was responsible for the carrying out of the many duties con- nected with the prosecution of cases against offenders. The Summary Court Recorder had to make all prelim- inary preparation for the trials, and during trials had charge of the active prosecution of the accused, al- though in case the accused was not represented by counsel, he was obliged to bring out such facts by witness as would constitute a defense. He was also responsible for the perfection of a proper rec- ord of proceedings, which was finally forwarded to the Judge Advocate General of the Navy De- partment. Lieutenant William C. Carpenter was the first recorder of the Summary Court following the declaration of war. In July, 1917, he was succeeded by Lieutenant (j. g.) Robert L. Grinnell, who, in January, 1918, was also ordered to act as Judge Advocate of General Courts-martial. On May 13, 1918, Lieutenant Andrew P. Haynes, U. S. N., succeeded Lieutenant Grinnell as Recorder of the Summary Court. He ad- GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 39 ministered the duties of this office until his death from influenza in September, 1918. Ensign John F. Hast- ings, of the Naval Reserve Force, then became Recorder of the Summary Court. The examining of enlisted men for advanced ratings was one of the main activities of the Office of Courts and Boards. By far the heaviest portion of this work consisted of the examination of candidates for advance- ment in the petty officer ratings, although during 1917 this office supervised the examinations of some sixty- five candidates for the rank of ensign. Also, about sixty applications for examination in proficiency in the reading, writing and speaking of foreign languages were received by this office. A considerable number of these men passed the examinations and were sent away on foreign duty. During the early part of 1918 fifty men were examined to determine eligibility for entrance to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and several groups were given the academic portion of the entrance exam- ination. During the first few months of the war the examina- tions for petty officer ratings averaged not more than fifty per month. Then the rate began to increase each month until, in September, 1918, the number of exam- inations given totaled 914. Of this number of men examined, 803 succeeded in passing. During the last seven months of the war 3802 men passed examinations at Great Lakes for petty officer ratings. The examining Board as constituted during the sum- mer of 1918 consisted of Lieutenant-Commander J. M. Grimes, Senior Member; Lieutenant R. L. Grinnell, Recorder; and the following members Lieutenant John Ronan, Lieutenant B. J. Hinman, Jr., Ensign R. 40 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION V. Flory, Pay Clerk L. H. Ludwig, and Carpoiter J. E. Willis. THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT Upon the declaration of war, the Ordnance Depart- ment was equipped to provide ordnance material for ap- proximately one thousand men, but preparations had been made and a request sent to the Bureau of Ord- nance to increase equipment and ordnance material of various descriptions to provide for the training of about 15,000 men. When war was declared all the 3-inch, 6-pounder and i -pounder guns available at Great Lakes were ordered shipped to the eastern coast to be used for the arming of merchant vessels. However, when the Naval Mili- tia Organizations of the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Na- val Districts were mobilized, a considerable amount of ordnance material was left in the armories located in the various states. Every effort was made to obtain this ordnance material, and as a result Great Lakes was quickly provided with a couple of thousand additional rifles and drill guns, a number of pistols, and several 3-inch field pieces. In the meantime the Bureau of Ord- nance sent to Great Lakes about 10,000 rifles of the older models, 1000 Springfield rifles, and 1000 drill rifles patterned after the Springfield model. This brought the grand total to about 16,000 rifles and 400 pistols, with all the necessary equipment. At the outbreak of the war Great Lakes had only one armory, and that was partly used by the Medical De- partment as a sick bay. Just before the war closed, the Station had sixteen regimental armories equipped in all respects for properly taking care of all ordnance ma- GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 41 terial. These armories were also fitted up for the re- pairing of ordnance material. The facilities for carrying on small arm target prac- tice prior to the war consisted of three Ellis type, self- scoring targets located on the harbor breakwater. Im- mediately steps were taken to construct a 4Otarget small arms range. This range was put into commission the early part of July, 1917, and was constantly in use from that time on. In the autumn of 1917 the Navy Department acquired the Illinois State Target Range known as Camp Logan, about eighteen miles distant from Great Lakes, and during 1918 thousands of men from Great Lakes were given small arms practice there.. The Camp Logan range was equipped with two hundred targets. When the Gunners' Mates and Armed Guard schools were established in August, 1917, the facilities for carrying out the prescribed courses of training were hardly adequate. Immediate steps were taken to obtain the required ordnance material, which included guns, mines, torpedoes and machine guns of various kinds. None of the warships making up the Great Lakes' Train- ing Squadron mounted guns of the type used to arm the merchant marine. Therefore a battery of 3-inch, 50- caliber guns was mounted in a gun shed on the lake shore, and submarine targets were towed at varying dis- tances out into the lake for the men to shoot at. The students of the Armed Guard School practiced firing with these guns both day and night with excellent re- sults. The gun shed was provided with two great searchlights for night work. During the winter of 1917-18, approximately 1000 men attached to the Public Works Department were put 42 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION through an intensive course of instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery in order to fit them for duty with the large battery of 1 4-inch naval guns that was later used so ef- fectively on the western front in France. Among the thousands of men who were trained at Great Lakes it was only natural that a considerable num- ber of inventors should have declared themselves. One of the duties of the Ordnance Department was to inves- tigate and report on all inventions submitted to the Com- mandant. All of the following inventions were investi- gated, given careful consideration, and forwarded to the Navy Consulting Board for further investigation and consideration : A submarine lamp for diving pur- poses; a new type of diving apparatus; a method of using poison gas in sea warfare; a double-pointed projectile; an attachment that would allow a diver to be taken aboard while a submarine was under water ; a new type of range-finder attachment for small arms and for larger caliber guns and telescopes; a new type of sub- marine life preserver; a new type of torpedo net to be carried by merchant ships ; a new type of automatic re- leasing hook for life boats ; a shield for preventing sub- marine attacks; a gasoline gun; a monocular range finder; a two-piece projectile; a salvaging apparatus for merchant vessels ; a diamond microscope ; a mine-laying device for battle tanks; a depth bomb and magnetically controlled torpedo; a steel aeroplane propeller; a relay projectile containing three projectiles in one and claimed to travel one hundred miles ; an automatic boat-releasing hook; a non-ricochetting shell; a device for sealing hatches on merchant vessels after being torpedoed; a smoke and steam screen for aircraft defense for large GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 43 cities like London, Paris and New York; a submarine trailer; an anti-aircraft projectile with chain attached; and a small arms automatic distance indicator. THE BOATSWAINS' DEPARTMENT The rigging lofts, boat house, inner and outer har- bor basins, and all floating craft, such as steamers, mo- tor boats, cutters, sailing launches and whaleboats, came directly under the supervision of this department, of which Lieutenant W. C. Carpenter was the head. At the beginning of the war the Station had just one rigging loft, located in the top of the Main Instruction Building. The number of rigging lofts constantly in- creased, however, as each of the regimental units con- structed for general training purposes was provided with one for instruction purposes. Tackles and purchases of all descriptions, wire pen- nants, heavy straps for the handling of weights, and such rigging as was required on the Station were manu- factured in the rigging loft and handled by the rigging crew without difficulty. From September i, 1917, to October 31, 1918, the forces of the rigging loft manufactured 246,105 clews, 193,309 hammock lashings, 242,361 foot lashings, and 79,412 jackstays, thus providing the Station with an abundance of these necessary articles. During the winter months, the season of closed navi- gation on the Great Lakes, there was no opportunity for boat instruction in the water. During the greater part of 1917 and 1918, however, the different schools on the Station used the boats every day, except when a gale was blowing, for teaching the rudiments of small-boat 44 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION handling. During the winter months sailing launches and cutters, properly rigged, were set up in the instruc- tion buildings for study. THE ATHLETIC OFFICE Prior to the declaration of war the Athletic Associa- tion at Great Lakes was a small organization. At that time the Navy Department allowed Great Lakes only $400 a year for athletics, and the Association's only other sources of income were the dues from officers and men, along with a little revenue from the operation of a billiard room and bowling alleys in the basement of the Instruction Building. Therefore one of the first problems that had to be solved by the Athletic Officer, Commander John B. Kaufman, Medical Corps, U. S. N. (at that time a Lieu- tenant-Commander) was the raising of funds to carry on the work on a vast scale. The nest-egg for this fund was obtained in a rather unusual way. The Chicago Telephone Company had been called upon to lay a spe- cial telephone cable to meet the needs of the rapidly growing Station. But practically all the workmen on this job were aliens and for this reason could not be permitted on the Station. The Athletic Officer learned of the difficulty and made a proposition to the telephone company to do the job with sailor labor, providing the said company would pay the Athletic Association the same amount it would have had to pay its workmen. The company agreed and the Athletic Officer called for volunteers. As a result the job was done in less than five days and the athletic fund received five hundred dollars. With the above mentioned five hundred dollars as a GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 45 beginning the Athletic Officer built up a fund which made possible the buying of thousands of dollars' worth of athletic gear, the construction of indoor running tracks, regimental athletic fields and the like. Of the thousands of dollars spent by the Athletic Officer dur- ing the war period only ten thousand dollars was al- loted by the Navy Department. The great bulk of the money was obtained through such activities as the Main Laundry, the Ship's Stores, and the barber, tailor and shoe shops. And when the armistice was signed, the Athletic As- sociation had in the neighborhood of one hundred thou- sand dollars to its credit, including forty thousand dol- lars' worth of liberty bonds purchased by it to help Great Lakes go "over the top" in the Liberty Loan drives. In developing the Athletic Association into an organi- zation adequate to provide clean, healthful sports for thousands upon thousands of young sailors, the Athletic Officer gathered around him many of the best athletes in the Middle West. These men were placed in charge of departments, or used as instructors to stimulate interest in the different sports, which consisted, in the main, of baseball, football, basket ball, boxing, swimming, wrest- ling, and field and track events. Particular care was exercised in the selection of swim- ming instructors, as swimming was a part of the train- ing at Great Lakes, as well as a sport. Boxing and wrestling had always been fostered at Great Lakes. With the war-time growth of the Station, boxing and wrestling became one of the most wide- spread and popular branches of the sports. Profes- sional boxers and wrestlers were enrolled in the Naval Reserve Force and detailed to the different regiments as 46 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION instructors, with the idea of giving all the men who so desired an opportunity to become proficient. Regular boxing and wrestling contests were held, both intra- and inter-regimental, but all such bouts were limited to men who were strictly amateurs. In order to stimulate competition various cups were offered, the most important of these being the General Athletic Efficiency Cup, awarded to the regiment which made the best showing each month; the inter-regimental baseball, football and basketball championship cups; and the inter-regimental boxing and wrestling champion- ship cups. In addition to the first and second teams representing Great Lakes in baseball, football and basketball, each regiment and school was represented by a team in these three sports, and games were played every day during the respective seasons. The record of Great Lakes' achievement in athletics during the war will be given in a special chapter. The activities of the Athletic Association during the war were many and various. In addition to the organi- zation of Station and regimental athletics, this depart- ment operated the shoe shops, barber shops and tailor shops; directed all the amusements, such as vaudeville shows and motion pictures; supervised general pub- licity and the publishing of the Station's magazine, and still found time to direct several minor activities. The barber shops were taken over from civilian con- trol in July, 1917, and a large number of barbers were enrolled in the Naval Reserve Force. During the sum- mer of 1918 there were twenty-five well-equipped barber shops at Great Lakes, and two hundred and fifty barbers. The shoe and tailoring shops were also taken over GREAT LAKES' ADMINISTRATION 47 by the Athletic Department. Two large, thoroughly- equipped shoe shops were established, with a force of seventy-five cobblers capable of turning out, half soling and heeling, eight hundred and fifty pairs of shoes per day. The number of tailoring shops grew from one small room to twelve well-equipped shops, with a force of seventy men. The prices charged by the shoe and tailoring shops were less by half than those of civilian shops. Prior to the war the only entertainment afforded on the Station were occasional performances given by the- atrical clubs located in the immediate vicinity of Great Lakes. Step by step the entertainment problem was overcome. Moving picture outfits were obtained and reel plays and other views were shown practically every night at several different places. During the early sum- mer of 1918 a huge stage was erected in one of the drill halls in Camp Perry. On this stage, the best vaude- ville talent which visited Chicago performed for the sailors. Several three-act plays were also presented. A huge open-air amphitheatre was built in the ravine separating Camps Decatur and Farragut and vaudeville shows were given in it twice a week for the entertain- ment of the men in Incoming Detention. No admission was charged for any entertainment, theatrical or athletic, given on the Station. This ap- plied not only to the men in the service but to any of their friends who happened to be on the Station. CHAPTER III THE SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS PRIOR to the declaration of war the Supply De- partment at Great Lakes had only two officers Lieutenant H. B. Worden, who was the officer in charge, and a pay clerk. These officers had as their assistants three civil service clerks and four civilian laborers. The business of the department was carried on in a two-story brick building, a large part of which was taken up by office space. To keep pace with the ever increasing rush of recruits, the Supply Department had to be expanded rapidly. New systems of handling the business had to be de- veloped ; additional storehouse and office space had to be acquired; its complement of officers and men had to be enlarged. One of the greatest difficulties that had to be met and overcome had to do with the lack of trained help. At the outset of the war it was, of course, impossible to get men of naval training and naval experience to handle the supply work. In this department, as in others, the difficulty was overcome by going into the commercial world and enrolling men in the Naval Reserve force for such duty. Care was exercised in picking these men, and for the most part they were chosen from the large business houses and railroad offices in and near Chicago, and were men who had had considerable experience in 48 SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 49 lines that particularly fitted them for Supply Depart- ment work. The Supply Department, in particular, encountered difficulties during the early days of the war that were many and serious. With inadequate, untrained help, and practically no stowage space, this department had to supply the needs of a station that was expanding by leaps and bounds. Not only food, clothing, blankets and the like were demanded of the Supply Department for the thousands of recruits, but a thousand and one other things, ranging from electric locomotives to mon- key wrenches. Soon after war was declared the work of the Supply Department was reorganized into five separate and dis- tinct divisions, all under the direct supervision of the Supply Officer. The Purchasing Division of the Supply Department consisted of a commissioned officer, two pay clerks (Warrant Officers), four chief petty officers, and twenty- one enlisted men. Under the purchasing system which prevailed before the war bids for purchases were opened three times a week, and about twenty bids was a fair average for each opening. But during 1918 the Supply Officer had to consider not less than two hundred bids at each open- ing, and the increase in business required that bids be opened daily and even twice a day, and often on Sun- days and holidays. Before the war the Supply Depart- ment maintained a mailing list containing the names of about eight hundred bidders, which was adequate to meet all the needs. By the summer of 1918 this list contained the names of more than fifteen thousand re- liable bidders. 50 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION The following data indicates the growth of the Pur- chasing Division's business. The number of public bills written from January i, 1917, to March 31, 1917, the three months just pre- ceding the war were 468, and represented an expendi- ture of $114,690. The number of public bills written from July I, 1918, to Oct. i, 1918, a like period of three months were 5470, and represented an expenditure of $4,378,432. During November, 1917, the following fresh pro- visions were contracted for: Beef, 300,000 Ibs. ; Pork, 25,000 Ibs.; Potatoes, 400,000 Ibs.; Cabbages, 40,000 Ibs.; Onions, 25,000 Ibs.; Fruits, 229,000 Ibs.; Turkey, 15,000 Ibs.; Butter, 30,000 Ibs.; Eggs, 30,000 dozen. During November, 1918, the fresh provision contracts were for: Beef, 1,500,000 Ibs; Potatoes, 1,500,000 Ibs.; Cabbage, 125,000 Ibs.; Onions, 100,000 Ibs.; Fruits, 574,000 Ibs.; Turkey, 45,000 Ibs.; Butter, 120,000 Ibs.; Eggs, 75,000 dozen. THE NAVAL SUPPLY ACCOUNT DIVISION The work of this Division of the Supply Department was, prior to the declaration of war, handled by one civil service clerk and four civilian laborers. When the armistice was signed, the work of this division was be- ing performed by three commissioned officers and 265 enlisted men. The stowage space required before the war was only 20,000 square feet, including space for provisions and clothing. When the armistice was signed 120,000 square feet of stowage space was being used for the proper stowing of Naval Supply Account material alone, and a great storehouse, 524 ft. long by 124 ft. wide, was nearing completion. SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 51 It is interesting to make the following comparisons: The value of the Naval Supply Account stock carried prior to March i, 1917, was approximately $30,000. During 1918 it was necessary for this division to main- tain a stock valued at approximately $1,000,000. The value of the electrical stock alone was greater than that of the entire stock of supplies carried prior to the war. The stock of lumber carried during peace times was con- veniently stowed in two rooms having a combined floor space of 150 sq. ft. During the summer of 1918 the lumber yard of the Naval Supply Account Division cov- ered an area of 50,000 sq. ft., and contained more than 4,000,000 ft. of lumber. The value of receipts and expenditures of all materials prior to the declaration of war was approximately $6000 per month. The value of the receipts during 1918 totaled approximately $600,- ooo per month. A requisition for 500 hammocks and 500 mattresses was, prior to the war, considered a rather large order. At one time during the summer of 1918 one requisition called for 100,000 of these articles. The Receiving Division of the Supply Department handled the unloading, tallying and distribution of all materials received by the Supply Department, and, in conjunction with the Public Works Department, in- spected these materials. The number of railroad cars received and unloaded by this division from April 6, 1917, to October i, 1918, totaled more than ten thousand. The average number of shipments received per day during this period was eighty-one by railroad and eight by motor trucks oper- ating between Great Lakes and Chicago. The first operation in the receiving of material was the unloading of the railroad cars, which was done by a 52 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION force of about forty experienced tally men and a work- ing detail composed of three hundred men. Almost every conceivable kind of material was received, such as pipe of all kinds, brick, cement, machinery, lumber, cars of mixed merchandise, automobiles, locomotives in short, anything and everything that was needed prop- erly to operate a vast training station. The smaller materials had to be carried into the re- ceiving sheds after being tallied, and all containers opened and the contents counted. Then it had to be passed on to the inspection rooms, where inspectors of the Public Works Department carefully inspected and recounted the materials. Before this was done, how- ever, the Purchasing Division of the Supply Depart- ment had to furnish an inspection call, made from the Receiving Division report of delivery. On this inspec- tion call was noted any deviation in quality or quantity, and the material accepted or rejected accordingly. Prior to the war the work of the Receiving Division was accomplished by one civilian employee, aided by a few civilian laborers. In 1918 the forces of this divi- sion included two commissioned officers and seventy en- listed men, in addition to a working detail of three hun- dred men provided each day from the different training regiments. The Provisions Division of the Supply Department was organized to handle the provisions and clothing for the entire Station. At the beginning of 1918, however, the Station Disbursing Office took over the handling of clothing, thus leaving this division free to concentrate its energies. The supplies handled by this division were only such as are commonly known in the Navy as "dry" provi- SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 53 sions, such as sugar, beans, flour, canned goods of all kinds, coffee, hominy, jams, and the like everything, in fact, that a grocery store and meat market carries ex- cept fresh meats, eggs, butter, fruits and vegetables. The latter all perishable provisions were purchased in the open market by the Purchasing Division of the Supply Department, and upon being received were im- mediately turned over to the Commissary Department. The "dry" provisions, on the other hand, were supplies received from the Provisions and Clothing Depot in New York, or from producers and manufacturers under Navy orders and Navy contracts. An idea of the growth of the Provisions Division of the Supply Department may be gained from the fact that the amount of dry provisions received at Great Lakes during the first quarter of 1917 totaled 1,480,516 Ibs., valued at $143,068, while for the same period in 1918 the total of dry provisions received was 8,849,988 Ibs., valued at $876,260. The District Supply Division of the Supply Depart- ment was organized to supply the needs of the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Naval Districts. Its initial activi- ties were those of purchasing or leasing fifty motor boats to be used for harbor and coast defense patrol duty on the Great Lakes, and the establishing of section supply bases at Sault Ste. Marie, Detroit, Duluth, and Chicago. In addition to the above mentioned scout patrol bases, the District Supply Division continuously supplied the seven warships the U. S. S. Y antic, U. S. S. Isla de Luzon, U. S. S. Gopher, U. S. S. Hawk, U. S. S. Wolver- ine, and U. S. S, Sandoval assigned to duty on the Great Lakes for use in training recruits. 54 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Other district activities which made demands upon the District Supply Division for equipment and supplies included the Auxiliary Naval Reserve School located on the Municipal Pier in Chicago; the Dunwoody In- stitute at Minneapolis; the Naval Training Camp lo- cated at Detroit in connection with the production of "Eagle" submarine chasers; the Coast Inspector's Of- fice, and the District Administration offices at Great Lakes, included the District Communication Office and the outlying radio stations. The District Supply Division had a personnel consist- ing of one commissioned officer and twenty-one enlisted men. THE ACCOUNTING SECTION The Accounting Office was not under the jurisdiction of the Supply Officer, but so closely was it allied with the Supply Department, with which its work inter- mingled, that it can best be dealt with here. At all in- dustrial yards affiliated with the Navy, Accounting Of- fices have been established for several years, but Great Lakes was the first non-industrial Station to which it was thought necessary to assign an Accounting Officer. This, of course, was due to the remarkable size to which Great Lakes grew, and its supreme importance. The duties of the Accounting Officer consisted of maintaining accurate data on the costs of all projects; recording and reporting all maintenance charges, in- cluding civilian pay-rolls; keeping a record of all allot- ments of money for up-keep, improvements, new proj- ects, etc.; and preparation at any time to furnish the proper administrative officials with accurate data on these and allied subjects. He also was charged with maintaining a plant inventory and property account. SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 55 The Accounting Officer was Lieutenant Harry Hooton, Pay Corps, U. S. N. His working force con- sisted of Ensign R. S. Matison, Ensign R. L. Barger, and forty-seven enlisted men, many of them skilled ac- countants. From all the above facts, descriptive of the work of the Supply Department, it may be seen what a tremen- dous task it had to accomplish. As already mentioned, this department was operating with two officers, three clerks and four laborers just previous to the declaration of war. When the Armistice was signed, its forces con- sisted of ten commissioned officers, five pay clerks, forty- four chief petty officers, and 523 petty officers and un- rated men. During the latter part of 1918 the officers of the Supply Department included: Lieutenant-Commander Horace B. Worden, U. S. N., Supply Officer; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) R. E. Mulrohney, Assistant Supply Officer; Ensign Donald C. Burleigh; Ensign Alden B. Doyle; Ensign Roth S. Keller; Ensign E. L. Montee; Ensign H. B. Weaver; Ensign C. P. Slane; Ensign B. C. Brad- ner; Pay Clerk G. C. Baugh; Pay Clerk O. H. Boyens; Pay Clerk F. E. Glassman; Pay Clerk G. M. H olden; Pay Clerk C. E. Linstrand. THE STATION DISBURSING OFFICE When war was declared, the working staff of what was then known as the "Pay Office" consisted of three assistant paymasters, two pay clerks, two chief yeomen and ten enlisted men, and the department consisted of the Station Disbursing Office, the District Disbursing Office, the Commissary Office, and the Commissary Stores. But on May i, 1917, the District Disbursing 56 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Office was made an independent organization, and on May 5, 1917, the Commissary Office was created as an independent department for the administration of the general mess and commissary stores. When the Armistice was signed, the Station Disburs- ing Office alone had a working force consisting of two Lieutenant-Commanders, one Lieutenant, two lieuten- ants, junior grade, eighteen ensigns, seven pay clerks, sixteen chief yeomen, 534 yeomen and 55 storekeepers. At the head of the department was Lieutenant-Com- mander R. S. Robertson. His staff of commissioned officers consisted of: Lieutenant-Commander N. B. Farwell; Lieutenant H. Kuhrmeyer; Lieutenant (j. g.) G. E. Lord; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. E. Russey; Ensign R. L. Barger; Ensign M. S. Bethel; Ensign C. C. Chase; Ensign T. A. Callaghan; Ensign C. F. Cook; Ensign H. E. Culbertson; Ensign R. A. Eckstrand; Ensign M. R. Grady; Ensign E. V. Irwin; Ensign M. A. Johnson; En- sign D. A. McDougald; Ensign G. B. Pardee; Ensign C. S. Redhead ; Ensign L. A. Tibor ; Ensign C. C. Furr ; Ensign K. O. Hester ; Ensign W. A. Scott ; Ensign E. H. Hagel; Pay Clerk J. H. Becker; Pay Clerk P. L. Brothers; Pay Clerk J. J. Dillon; Pay Clerk M. E. Mc- Kay; Pay Clerk Charles Musil; Pay Clerk A. C. Schroe- der; Pay Clerk L. W. Sperling; Pay Clerk J. R. LaPado. At the beginning of the war, and, as a matter of fact, for many months, the Station Disbursing Office was continually in the process of being "almost swamped." It was no easy matter to handle the pay accounts, allot- ments and insurance of a constantly changing popula- tion of thousands upon thousands of men, and equipment was woefully lacking. And the pay accounts of the men was only part of this department's work it had SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 57 likewise to pay for all of the supplies, the materials used in the construction of the great wooden cantonments, and meet all public bills. To overcome the shortage in men requests were sent out daily to the different training regiments and to the Incoming Detention Camps for the kind of trained men who were needed, such as expert accountants, book- keepers and stenographers. Additional office space was gradually taken over until the department occupied the entire south wing, including the basement, of the Ad- ministration Building. At times the rush of work made it necessary to erect tents for office purposes on all the available ground space around the Administration Build- ing, and to fill the corridors of the Administration Build- ing with men working at desks composed of packing boxes and boards placed on radiators. Gradually, the organization of the Station Disburs- ing Office was built up and a system created that could take care of the enormous amount of work which the expansion of Great Lakes entailed. When the number of men training at Great Lakes passed the 25,000 mark, the chief drawback discovered in the payroll system used up to that time was the length of the period required to transfer the rolls at the begin- ning of each quarter. Because of the lack of trained payroll men, it took from ten days to two weeks to trans- fer the payroll. Therefore, motor-driven addresso- graph and graphotype machines were installed, and these were provided with special features to permit the use of the payroll forms. Stencils were made for each name on the rolls and these were filed numerically. As new names were added to the rolls, new stencils were made. As men were transferred, their stencils were re- 58 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION moved from the files. At the end of a quarter it was necessary only to run the stencils in the live file through the addressograph, then to enter the dates, rates, amount of pay and balances, and the new rolls were ready for operation. Stamps were obtained for all ordinary pay rates and for the usual notations that had to be made on the rolls. By the use of this equipment, work was so simplified that it was found the payrolls could be trans- ferred and made ready for the business of the new quar- ter in a day and a night. In connection with the above named equipment, a visible index was installed, showing the names arranged alphabetically. In each case the full name of the man, his pay number and rating, and date of enlistment was shown in this index. It should be of interest to the men who passed through Great Lakes to know how their transfer to sea was handled. Upon receipt of an order from the Detail Office to transfer a draft of, say, five hundred men, the yeoman in charge of the visible index inserted the pay numbers of the men to be transferred. This list was then turned over to the addressograph section, where the stencils for the list were pulled, filed numerically, and run off. Three copies of the list were then furnished to the chiefs of the payroll section. The names on such a list were spaced about three inches apart in the pay- roll section, and under each name was entered the date to which the payment was made, the rate of pay, the bal- ance due or balance over-paid, all allotment information, and any other notations necessary to go on the transfer. While this work was being done, the addressograph sec- tion ran off in triplicate the usual transfer forms, and these forms were turned over to the transfer section for SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 59 typing. When the forces of the payroll section had completed the work of closing the accounts of the men on the draft, the strips on which they entered the neces- sary information were also turned over to the transfer section and the transfers were then completed. Compulsory allotments for enlisted men of the Navy and Government insurance also provided a tremendous amount of work for the Station Disbursing Office. The amount of insurance taken out by the men who passed through Great Lakes totaled more than $100,000,000. The value of the clothing issued to the men received at Great Lakes from April 6, 1917, to September 3Oth, 1918, was $8,832,047. The amount of money paid to men carried on the pay- rolls of the Station Disbursing Office from April I, 1917, to December i, 1918, amounted to $6,259,075. All money expended for the construction of new camps, the rental of leased land, the provisioning of the Station, the stocking of the Ships' Stores, and for trans- portation, was handled by the Station Disbursing Of- fice. The total amount thus spent during the period from April I, 1917, to November i, 1918, was $19,- 851,647. The largest item was for the construction of the new camps, the amount approximating $10,078,016. The other big item, which came to approximately $5,- 178,941, was for the provisioning of the Station and the stocking of the Ships' Stores. THE RECEIVING SHIP DISBURSING OFFICE On the first of January, 1918, the officers and enlisted men more or less permanently attached to Great Lakes as its operating personnel, and known as the Ships' com- pany, were transferred into the Receiving Ship. This 6o THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION resulted in the establishment of the Receiving Ship Dis- bursing Office, with Lieutenant C. R. Stevenson, Pay Corps, U. S. N., as its head. The pay accounts transferred to this office from the Station Disbursing Office at that time were 5260 in number. Of this number, 5000 were enlisted men, two hundred were officers, and sixty were nurses. Just previous to the signing of the armistice, the number of pay accounts carried by the Receiving Ship Disbursing Office was close to 9000, of which 8000 were enlisted men, 750 were officers, and 200 were nurses at- tached to the Hospital. The officers attached to the Receiving Ship Disburs- ing Office included Lieutenant C. W. Stevenson ; Ensign L. W. Bishop; Ensign S. L. Jones; Pay Clerk R. W. Shea; Pay Clerk M. H. Thies. THE COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT The duties of the Commissary Department were in- corporated with those of the Station Disbursing Office until May I, 1917. On that date Lieutenant F. H. At- kinson, of the Pay Corps Division, U. S. N., was as- signed to duty as Commissary Officer and took charge of the General Mess and the Commissary Store, the lat- ter being a regular grocery and meat market at which of- ficers and men who had families living in the vicinity of Great Lakes could purchase supplies at cost. Previous to the declaration of war the Commissary forces at Great Lakes consisted of one Chief Commis- sary Steward, ten cooks, and five bakers. Soon after April 6, 1917, the number of recruits enrolled as Lands- men for Ships' Cooks had passed the three hundred SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 61 mark. These men were instructed as rapidly as pos- sible for duty as cooks and bakers. During the summer of 1918 there were approximately one thousand men assigned to duty in the Commissary Department. Practically all of these men had had to be trained in the Navy method of preparing foods. The policy of transferring the cooks, bakers and Com- missary Steward, who were best fitted for duty aboard ship to such duty, made it necessary to have a large num- ber of Landsmen for Ships' Cooks in the process of be- ing trained at all times. From May i, 1918, to Novem- ber i, 1918, more than six hundred Commissary Stew- ards, Cooks and Bakers were transferred to sea. During 1918 numerous changes were made in the sys- tem of operating the many huge galleys and mess halls. Lieutenant Atkinson asked for the assignment of a num- ber of ensigns of the Pay Corps to act as his assistants. The ten officers who reported were given a thorough course of instruction in the Navy methods of cooking and baking and were then sent to Chicago to learn how to inspect meats and produce, and to become thoroughly acquainted with market conditions. On finishing the instruction courses these officers were assigned to the different camps one to each camp with the purpose in mind of eliminating waste and making improvements in the methods of preparing and serving food to the men. The quality inspection of all fresh provisions received at Great Lakes during the first few months of the war was made by medical officers. Later, however, this work was done by two Chief Commissary Stewards, one stew- ard being an expert on the inspection of meats, butter, cheese and eggs, and the other an expert on fruits and vegetables. 62 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION The food consumed at Great Lakes during the six- months period between April i, 1918, and October i, 1918, amounted to 12,237 tons, valued at approximately $2,600,000. Of this food, seventy-three percent was fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. Of the fresh meats, eighty-one percent was beef, and of the fresh vegetables, ninety-two percent was Irish potatoes. An average of 33,663 men per day were fed at Great Lakes for the six- months period in question, at an average cost per meal of fourteen cents. The Pay Corps officers attached to the Commissary Department were: Lieutenant-Commander F. H. At- kinson, Ensign J. R. Parkhurst, Ensign P. C. Berkley, Ensign L. B. Berman, Ensign R. C. Capelli, Ensign E. B. Cook, Ensign J. M. Jones, Ensign Aner Erickson, Ensign Paul N. Chalfant, Ensign W. E. Kraft, Ensign H. S. Scheimman, Ensign J. M. Speissegger, Ensign B. H. Smith. THE SHIPS' STORES DEPARTMENT This department was something new in the Navy, for never before was there a "Ships' Store" on shore. In the fall of 1917, Lieutenant James D. Boyle, Pay Corps, U. S. N., was ordered to Great Lakes to take charge of this new department and a Ships' Store was established in each of the regimental units. By the late summer of 1918, the Ships' Stores De- partment consisted of a main office, three large store- rooms, and twenty Ships' Stores, and its ope-rating force had grown from thirty to one hundred and seventy men. The stock carried by these stores included candies, cakes, cigars, cigarettes and tobacco, pipes, fountain pens, soap, shaving cream, dental cream, razors, sta- The Supply Storage in the Main Drill Hall The Supply Officer, Lieutenant-Commander H. B. Worden, and his Staff A Company Mess Hall The Firemen's Classroom A Regimental Street of Barracks The Machinists' Mates Class SUPPLY DISBURSING DEPARTMENTS 63 tionery, tooth brushes, shoe brushes and notions of all sorts required by a great camp of men. The amounts of such goods required by the Ships' Stores Department from the time of its establishment up to November i, 1918, shows how big the demand was. The candies carried approximated 1,000,000 Ibs., with a value of about $300,000; cigars, 1,322,000, valued at $61,000; cigarettes, 52,970,000, in packages ranging from ten to one hundred in each, valued at $335,173; cakes, 615,000 Ibs., valued at $118,800; soap, 795,000 bars; shaving cream 100,000 packages, valued at $20,000. Buying in such large quantities, it was possible to get reductions in prices. The benefit of such close buying accrued directly to the men, as the goods were sold over the counter at cost, plus ten percent. The ten percent profit was also used for the benefit of the men. In accordance with instructions covering all Ships' Stores, the ten percent profit goes into a fund known as the Crews' Entertainment Allotment, and can be expended only for the health, comfort and entertain- ment of the crew. The fund thus made at Great Lakes was largely used for the development of athletics and amusement. The following is a partial list of the purchases made from this fund: Much miscellaneous stage equipment, in- cluding eight complete motion picture outfits; 10,000 bleacher seats for the Main Athletic Field; lumber for indoor running tracks, hurdles, etc.; backstops for the Station and the Regimental baseball fields; 350 baseball suits complete, 500 pairs of baseball shoes, 12 sets of bases, 250 gloves, 50 bats, and 24,000 baseballs; 180 footballs; 396 football uniforms, complete with pants, 64 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION jerseys, helmets, shoulder pads, shoes, etc.; basket ball equipment, including 180 complete suits and 120 balls; wrestling, boxing and swimming material, including 150 outfits for each sport, and 400 sets of boxing gloves in all about $65,000 worth of material. CHAPTER IV THE STATION BUILDERS ALL the departments at Great Lakes carried a tre- mendous load during the war period, overcom- ing in one way or another problem after prob- lem which at first seemed insurmountable. Of all the departments that of Public Works was probably most harassed by an ever increasing multi- tude of projects which had to be completed on given dates, no matter how great the handicap or the volume of work already being carried. If Captain Moffett wanted a regimental unit, or a huge drill hall, or five thousand wooden decks for the tented camps, he got them on the dates set. The construction of thirty-five barracks in Camp Barry in the course of one week, which has already been described in this history, was only one of hundreds of examples that might be drawn upon to show the efficiency of the Public Works Depart- ment. Briefly, the duties of the Public Works Department were to draw the plans for Great Lakes' wartime ex- pansion, down to the minutest detail ; supervise all con- struction, whether done by civilian contractors or by enlisted men; see to the upkeep of buildings, grounds and public works; operate the power house, the heating systems, the water supply, the sewage disposal; and to operate the carpenter, machine and paint shops. When Great Lakes experienced its first real attack of "growing pains," the problem of labor was one of no 65 66 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION mean proportion. To provide accommodations for the thousands of bluejackets during their embryonic period necessitated a tremendous amount of building. At first practically all this building work was done by civilian labor, but labor conditions in general were none too healthy at that time and the civilian forces were hardly adequate. The small communities in the vicinity of Great Lakes did not harbor a large industrial popula- tion. It was necessary for the contractors to bring the greater part of their workmen from Chicago each day, offering high wages, making arrangements for special trains, paying railroad fares and giving other induce- ments to get a large body of men together. Such a procedure was found impracticable for the work of maintaining the Station and for small con- struction jobs. This work increased by leaps and bounds as Great Lakes expanded, and so the Public Works Department was forced to utilize enlisted labor in order to keep pace with the demands. It was in this way the Public Works Regiment came into being. The need of its services rapidly increased as the civilian contractors completed the new canton- ments, for the Public Works Department was called upon to take over these camps and make many minor adjustments and improvements that had not been cov- ered by contract work. In order to accomplish this the regular training regi- ments were called upon to transfer to the Public Works Regiment all men who had had experience in the build- ing trades or who had enrolled as Landsmen for train- ing in the artificer branches. Scouts were placed in the Incoming Detention camps to hunt out recruits who had had artificer experience. THE STATION BUILDERS 67 It may be well to state here that at no time was it the intention to use enlisted labor in competition with civil- ian labor working on contract projects. The larger construction work, with the exception of the two regi- mental units in Camp Paul Jones, the regimental unit in Camp Barry, the addition to Camp Farragut, several large office buildings, and the grandstand and bleachers of the Main Athletic Field, was all done by civilian con- tractors and civilian labor. But for every big contract job there were twenty-five smaller jobs that, because of their nature, could be handled better and more expedi- tiously by enlisted men. The Public Works Regiment was, of course, a train- ing as well as a working organization. Efficiency in construction depends upon organization more than upon men; on leadership more than on numbers. A well or- ganized group of one hundred mechanics, efficiently su- pervised, will accomplish more than five times their num- ber of equally skilled mechanics unorganized and under poor leadership. The purpose of the training in the Public Works Regiment was not so much to teach the artificer trades to "green" men as to assemble artificers, discover the abilities of each, select the natural leaders, work the men at their trades under these leaders, and teach them military drill and discipline. The endeavor was to have these men ready at all times for transfer to other sta- tions or naval bases in this country and abroad, and to the fighting ships. The average time the men were retained at Great Lakes was from three to four months, during which period, as already stated, they were used effectively on construction jobs and Station mainte- nance work. 68 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION When war was declared, the Public Works Depart- ment consisted of about fifty civilian employees, mostly laborers, under the supervision of Mr. L. A. Pease, the engineer in charge of the Power House. There was no officer of the Civil Engineering Corps of the Navy on duty at Great Lakes at that time, and Lieutenant Tracy McCawley was Public Works Officer, along with his duties as head of the Intelligence Department. Lieutenant McCawley was immediately detached, how- ever, and Mr. L. A. Pease was temporarily appointed Public Works Officer. At this time the land surround- ing the Main Station was covered with timber, brush and crops. Early in May, 1917, the Public Works Department had grown until its forces included several hundred en- listed men, quartered wherever space could be found. The Main Power House was literally a hotel. Men were allowed to sleep in the offices at night and stow their bedding out of sight during the day. The first real quarters assigned to Public Works men was a small tent colony just north of the Administration Building. With the beginning of construction operations on a big scale a small group of skilled men, numbering about forty, was added to the Public Works force. These men were used mostly for surveying, drafting and in- spection work. At this time A. N. Smith, Civil Engi- neer, U. S. N., was sent from Washington to take charge of construction and relieve L. A. Pease as Pub- lic Works Officer. A short time later Commander George McKay, Civil Engineer, U. S. N., relieved A. N. Smith. From this point on the growth of the Public Works THE STATION BUILDERS 69 Department was very rapid; in fact, so rapid that every proposed outline of organization became obsolete be- fore it could be put into efiect. In the fall of 1917 the Public Works Regiment started to construct barracks for its own use in Camp Paul Jones, but before these barracks were complete and ready to be occupied by the 850 men they would accommodate, the regiment was composed of 1500 men. In April, 1918, one year after the declaration of war, the Public Works regiment had a complement of 2150 men. It was made up of three battalions of five companies each, and a Headquarters Company. The latter was composed of the division heads and other officers and rated men of the headquarters forces. In so far as was possible the men of the various trades represented were kept together in forming the companies and battalions. One battalion for instance, was formed of companies made up of carpenters and shipwrights; another of machinists, plumbers and fit- ters; and still another was made up of firemen. This made it possible for the battalion and company com- manders to familiarize themselves with the kinds of work to which they had to detail their men, and greatly simplified the keeping of records. If a gang of car- penters, painters, electricians or plumbers failed to ap- pear on a job as ordered, it was a simple matter accu- rately to place the blame. The head of the Pulic Works Department during 1918 was Commander Walter H. Allen, Civil Engineer, U. S. N. Early in 1918 the business of the Public \Vorks Department was divided into three main di- visions, each of which was further subdivided into sec- 70 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION tions. The three main divisions were designated as the Executive Office, the Construction Office, and the Regimental Office. The Executive Office directed the Station mainte- nance work, such as the operation of the powerhouse and heating plants, power distribution, telephone installa- tion, and all transportation on the Station by motor trucks or horse-drawn vehicles; the clerical work, such as correspondence, cost accounting, requisitions for sup- plies, and employment of civilian labor; and the hand- ling of all project work, such as plans and specifications for new construction, estimates, surveys, etc. The Construction Office had charge of all new con- struction work, whether done by contract labor or by the enlisted men. When the work was being done by contract labor it maintained a thorough inspection and pushed it through to completion. If the work was to be done by the enlisted forces, it obtained the necessary men from the regimental office, laid out the work and directed the construction. The Regimental Office had charge of the enlisted personnel of the Public Works Department in all mili- tary matters. It was held responsible for the detailing of men to do the different construction jobs; for the preparing of drafts of men to be sent to other stations or aboard the fleets; for the obtaining of new men to replace these drafts; and for the discipline, housing, feeding, and military instruction of all the enlisted men attached to the Public Works Department. The Public Works Department was later reorganized into five main divisions, known as the Contract Divi- sion, Projects Division, Station Labor Division, Clerical Division and Regimental Division. The Station Labor THE STATION BUILDERS 71 Division was subdivided into five sections the Building Section, Ground Section, Main Power House Section, Transportation Section, and Mechanical Section. The Projects Division was subdivided into eight sections the Architectural Section, Sewer and Water Section, General Engineering Section, File and Blue Print Sec- tion, and Specification and Estimating Section. The Contract Division was made up of an Office Section, an Electrical Section, and two sections of field, road, lum- ber, sewer and water inspectors- The subdivisions of the Clerical Division including Correspondence, Ac- counting, Requisition, Inspection and Survey, Tele- phone and Real Estate sections. The Public Works Regiment reached its highest point in number of men on November 5, 1918, when the forces of the Public Works Department numbered fifty-five officers and 6211 enlisted men, formed into eleven bat- talions. The organization of the Public Works Department at Great Lakes on a military basis was so successful as to prove that it might well become a recognized military department of the Navy. With such an organization, trained mobile units were made available for construc- tion in any part of the world, and especially for train- ing stations, and naval and aviation bases. The forces of artificers so organized at Great Lakes were capable of doing duty either afloat or ashore. In addition to sending thousands of artificers to the fighting ships, this Public Works Department found it possible to take from its regiment large details of trained men and send them away under their own officers and petty officers, with designers to plan any kind of construction work, a clerical force to handle the paper work and construction 72 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION records, material inspectors, etc. ; in fact, complete units capable of naval station construction in all its branches. Shortly after the United States declared war upon Germany the Public Works Department at Great Lakes was called upon by Captain Moffett to supply skilled artificers for duty aboard the fleets and at naval bases in European waters. There was a big demand for skilled mechanics of all branches. The men sent out from Great Lakes on these drafts were all good me- chanics, but knew nothing of the application of their trades aboard ship. Therefore, early in 1918, Lieutenant (j. g.) A. L. Pease, chief of the Power Maintenance Division of the Public Works Department, and Lieutenant (j. g.) W. E. Bringhurst foresaw the advantage to be gained by schooling men along the lines of their respective trades before sending them to sea. The details of a school were worked out by Lieutenant Bringhurst and sub- mitted to the Public Works Officer, Commander Walter H. Allen. The proposition was then taken to the Com- mandant, who sent it to the Bureau of Navigation for approval. The outcome was the establishment of the Artificers' School, with Lieutenant Bringhurst as Com- manding Officer. Classes in the Artificers' School were officially started in July, 1918, with an attendance of 100 students. These men received instruction in Electricity, Plumbing and Fitting, Ship Fitting, and Marine Machinery. The Plumber and Fitter Class was the first to be graduated, after an intensive course of eight weeks. This class was composed largely of rated men. The line of work given them included the care of the different piping sys- tems on board ship, both salt and fresh water, also THE STATION BUILDERS 73 ventilation. The different details taken up included the repair of fire mains and flushing lines, valve construc- tion and repair, and the bending of steel, copper and lead piping. A side course in ship fitting was also given, as the rating of Ship Fitter is closely associated with that of Plumber and Fitter. The subjects taught in this course included the making of repairs to dam- aged hull plating, the construction and application of hard and soft patches, steel calking, and rivet driving and spanning in water and in oil-tight work. The electrical course of the Artificers' School ex- tended over a period of fifteen weeks, divided into five sections of three weeks each. The first section pro- vided instruction on steam turbines, internal combustion engines, and all such steam auxiliary devices as con- densers, circulating pumps, steam separators, boiler feed pumps, traps, and manifolds. The second section- provided instruction in the theory of electricity and magnetism, and the study of dynamos and motors. The instruction received in the third section consisted of the practical operation of dynamos and motors and motor control for ordnance gear. In the fourth section was taught the theory of the alternating current and battery, and the practical operation of all intercommunication apparatus. The fifth section in- structed the men on lighting, signaling, the searchlight, and electrical ship propulsion. To be eligible for entrance in the Artificers' School, a man had to know one of the trades taught. The school was not intended to teach its students a trade, but to provide him with training in the Navy's way of apply- ing his trade. During September and October, 1918, a total of 1450 74 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION men were receiving instruction in the Artificers' School, and classes were being held both day and night. The officers of the Public Works Department were: Commander W. H. Allen, Officer in Charge; Lieutenant Willard Doud, Executive Officer; Lieutenant W. C. Davis; Lieutenant E. H. Clark; Lieutenant John Mc- Phee; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. E. Beard; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. K. Merrill; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. C. Monroe; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) W. E. Bringhurst; Lieutenant (j. g.) L. A. Pease; Lieutenant (j. g.) Jules Urbain; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) H. L. Voight; Ensign C. B. Andrews; En- sign A. McDonald ; Ensign C. L. Rogers ; Ensign E. L. Schunck; Ensign P. E. Schunck; Ensign Cyril Talbot; Ensign C. I. Gebhardt; Ensign C. A. Gilmore; Ensign W. I. Thompson; Gunner C. R. DonDurant; Gunner E. T. Gould; Chief Carpenter C. J. Lishman; Machin- ist E. A. Chambers; Machinist James P. Chrisman; Machinist W. A. Dullach; Machinist A. C. Goodnow; Machinist A. W. Kyle; Machinist J. M. Rundberg; Ma- chinist A. F. Studzinski; Carpenter Howell Barnes; Carpenter J. E. Barto; Carpenter A. E. Brandt; Car- penter J. J. Femley ; Carpenter A. G. Garrett ; Carpenter H. W. Hoehnke; Carpenter W. H. Hough; Carpenter C. A. Klein; Carpenter P. E. Korman; Carpenter E. L. Nelson; Carpenter C. W. McCumber; Carpenter M. E. Pugh; Carpenter Albert Reisz; Carpenter J. B. Sul- livan; Carpenter Max Weivhelt; Carpenter John E. Willis. CHAPTER V THE HOSPITAL AND REGIMENTAL DISPENSARIES THE Navy's Medical Service at Great Lakes con- sisted of two separate and distinct branches the Medical Department of the Training Sta- tion itself, and the U. S. Naval Hospital, which may be designated as the "Hospital Group." To prevent serious illness is one thing; the care of the seriously ill another. Broadly speaking, the activ- ities of the Medical Department of the Station were directed to preserve the health of men and take care of their minor illnesses, while the Naval Hospital assumed the care of all cases of serious ill-health. The Naval Hospital, or hospital group, was located in a natural quiet zone, as it was cut off from the Main Station and the numerous training camps by two deep, thickly-wooded ravines. Prior to the war, the Hospital Group comprised the main hospital building, a laundry building, and the resi- dences of three medical officers. The main building, a massive brick structure splendidly equipped, contained four wards, each of which accommodated thirty beds; a thoroughly equipped operating room ; the offices of the medical staff; the main galley and mess hall; a labor- atory, dispensary, and special diet kitchen; and numer- ous storerooms. Each of the wards had a large sun parlor. On the day that war was declared the hospital con- tained one hundred and eighty patients, some of whom 75 76 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION were being accommodated in the laundry building and in one of the storerooms. There were no contagious units. The erection of three contagious units was begun in May, 1917, and completed two months later, providing accommodation for seventy-five beds, twenty-five in each unit. Six additional contagious units, somewhat larger, with a barracks building and galley and mess hall for the attendants, were started in July, 1917, and com- pleted in September, providing two hundred and fifty additional beds for contagious patients. The construction of the main portion of the emer- gency hospital group was commenced in August, 1917, and completed the following December. At the begin- ning of 1918, therefore, the Hospital Group comprised the main hospital building; ten H-shaped ward units, each of which contained two large wards; nine contag- ious units ; three subsistence buildings in which food was prepared for service in the wards and mess halls; a group of dormitories, with galley and mess hall, for the nurses; a group of barracks for the hospital corps- men, a garage for the motor ambulances, a power house, laundries, refrigerating plant, incinerator plant, etc. These emergency buildings were all of wooden construc- tion, but had a brighter, more homelike appearance than the buildings in the numerous training camps. They were painted white, with green trim around the windows and doors, and the wards and dormitories had porches which made them appear more like cottages than barracks. All these buildings were double-walled, thus providing an air space that made for warmth in winter and coolness in summer; the floors were double, DISPENSARIES 77 assuring warmth under foot; and the radiation (steam was used for heating) was sufficient to allow for open windows even in the coldest weather. This emergency construction, which gave the Hospital Group a capacity of 1400 beds, cost $1,500,000. An additional $300,000 was spent during 1917 for new hospital equipment. During the spring and summer of 1918 additional quarters were constructed for the nurses; three deep artesian wells were drilled to give the Hospital Group a better quality of water than that obtainable from Lake Michigan ; and two large observation wards were built, along with numerous other smaller buildings. And in September, 1918, Camp Ross which had been used up to that time as a Detention Unit was taken over as an addition to the Hospital Group. This added about fifty buildings to the Hospital Group, giving it a total ca- pacity of about 2800 beds. The number of patients cared for from April 6, 1917,. to November 10, 1918, were 15,900. Of this number about four thousand were measles, German measles, and mumps patients. The hardest strain the Hospital Group had to bear came in the autumn of 1918, as the result of the influenza epidemic. The number of in- fluenza patients transferred to the Hospital Group dur- ing the months of September and November was 2484. During the final months of the war, the staff of the Hospital Group consisted of about eighty medical of- ficers; 165 nurses all of whom were qualified members of the regular Navy or Naval Reserve Corps; and 270 Hospital Corpsmen, graduates of the Hospital Corps Training School at Great Lakes. The commanding of- ficer of the Hospital Group during the entire war period 7 8 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION was Captain H. E. Odell, Medical Corps, U. S. N. His Executive Officer was Commander H. F. Hull, Medical Corps, U. S. N. THE REGIMENTAL DISPENSARIES As already stated, the health of the men at Great Lakes was looked out for by the Medical Department of the Station itself. This department was in charge of the Main Dispensary, the Psychiatric Unit, the Regi- mental Dispensaries; had general supervision of the medical and sanitary conditions on the Station ; and con- ducted the physical examination and the culturing of all incoming and outgoing recruits. The duties of the staff of medical officers attached to this department were many and various. One of the most important was the practice of preventive medicine. This staff vaccinated the men to prevent smallpox; im- munized them from typhoid fever by injections of anti- typhoid serum ; applied the Schick test to determine im- munity to diphtheria, and took throat cultures for the purpose of discovering and isolating chronic carriers of cerebrospinal fever. It combated the fly and mosquito peril by providing for the proper handling of garbage, by draining or oiling all still water swamps and pools in the vicinity of the Station, and by treating manure piles to kill the fly egg and maggot. It inspected all the milk and soft drinks and water used on the Station and in the vicinity, providing for sanitary handling of them. It inspected the mess halls, galleys, sculleries and barber shops for sanitation. And, in addition, it at- tended to all the minor illnesses of the men on the Station, sending them to the Hospital Group only where the cases were serious or liable to become so. It also DISPENSARIES 79 cared for the sick who were living off the Station, and this included the families of the men as well as the men themselves. A month before the declaration of war the Medical Department consisted of two medical officers, one den- tal surgeon, three chief pharmacists' mates and eight pharmacists' mates. The latter part of March, 1917, two additional medical officers reported for duty. The overcrowding of men had already become appreciable and a tent colony was started to accommodate recruits. Sick calls were held in the sick bay in Incoming Deten- tion, where there were only eight beds for a daily sick call of two hundred men; and in the Main Sick -Bay, adjacent to the Drill Hall. A report, dated March 13, 1917, stated that the Main Dispensary had only ten beds and no other space for observation of patients without the exposure of one hundred and fifty men at sick call. Three days later there were thirty patients in the Main Dispensary, all beds were occupied and the remainder of the sick were accommodated on their own mattresses on the deck. A small armory adjoining the dispensary had been furnished with six beds and was used as an isolation and observation ward. The Naval Hospital was at this time unequipped for the handling of contagious diseases, so a barracks in Incoming De- tention was used to accommodate such cases when they were mild or convalescent. During the three months following the declaration of war conditions improved steadily. Each tented camp had its own dispensary and sick bay, likewise in tents. Medical Inspector C. M. DeValin reported in May to assume charge of the Medical Department. In June the staff consisted of thirty-six medical officers. seven dental officers, two pharmacists, and forty-nine hospital corpsmen. A shortage of blankets and blue clothing, together with unusually rainy weather, prevented the use of all the tents, and this resulted in considerable overcrowding in the barracks. Overcrowding was especially danger- ous because men could not be kept long enough to undergo a detention period covering the incubation of mumps, measles and scarlatina. On May 14, 1917, a Sanitation Division was organ- ized with Lieutenant D. E. Hillis at its head. During the summer this organization exercised supervision over the water supply, sewerage and garbage disposal, sterili- zation of mess gear, and all sanitary activities on the Station. During June, July, August and September, 1917, all the enlisted men were quartered in tents. This out- door life gave them a bronzed and healthy appearance. They usually gained about ten pounds in weight during their first two weeks of this life. The last three months in 1917 were marked by the occupation of the new wooden cantonments. Each of the Regimental Units composing the new camps had its own dispensary and sick bay and an isolation building. The staff of the Medical Department consisted at this time of fifty-four medical officers, thirteen dental sur- geons, two pharmacists, and 180 hospital corpsmen de- tailed to the medical headquarters, the twelve regimen- tal dispensaries, the psychiatric unit, the laboratory, and the recruiting office. In November Surgeon Owen G. Mink became Senior Medical Officer to relieve Medical Inspector DeValin. In the plans for the new Regimental Units, built in DISPENSARIES 81 1918, provision was made for enlarged and improved dispensary units and isolation cubicles. With the disappearance of snow and the advent of milder weather in the spring of 1918, it was again pos- sible to relieve congestion and crowding by the use of tents for quartering the men. Coincident with this, the general supervision of sanitation was resumed by the Sanitation Officer and his staff, as in the previous sum- mer. For this work the Station was divided into seven districts, in each of which a group of hospital corpsmen made daily inspections and carried out sanitary meas- ures under the direction of the Sanitary Officer and his assistant, who covered the entire Station daily. In ad- dition to the usual activities for improving Station Sani- tation, further protection was secured by the advisory regulation of the civilian restaurants and other business places to which the men had access in the surrounding civil communities. The outstanding medical feature of the third quarter of 1918 was the epidemic of influenza which struck Great Lakes in September. The policy of treating the majority of the patients in the regimental dispensaries and transferring to the Hospital Group only the serious cases and those in which pneumonia developed was fol- lowed throughout the epidemic. By this means a great overcrowding of the hospital group was avoided and early treatment was made more certain. During the critical period barracks adjoining the dispensaries were used to house the sick. The services of the hospital corpsmen were supplemented by volunteers from the Hospital Corps Training School and from the different departments and regiments. A great many of these volunteers had had some experience in caring for the 82 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION sick and all of them rendered valuable assistance. Y. M. C. A. secretaries and Red Cross workers also contributed largely to the successful handling of the situation, the Y. M. C. A. huts being turned over for use as wards. In addition to the care of the Navy person- nel and families sick in the vicinity of the Station, as- sistance was also given civilians in neighboring cities and towns by the loan of hospital corpsmen to the hos- pitals. The epidemic affected about one-fifth of the population of Great Lakes, with a mortality of nineteen per thousand. When Great Lakes reached the crest of its expansion, the medical officers, thirty-seven dental officers, several pharmacists, and 440 hospital corpsmen, the number of regimental dispensaries had increased to eighteen. It may be of interest to know just what the procedure was at Great Lakes in case of illness. When a man became indisposed, he appeared at sick call, or his case was reported to the medical officer in charge of the dis- pensary of the Regimental Unit in which he was quar- tered. If the indisposition was not serious, or conta- gious, the patient got no further than the sick bay of this dispensary, but was kept there for treatment. If the nature of the case was suspicious, the patient was im- mediately placed in one of the sections or cubicles of the isolation building, where he remained until the na- ture of his indisposition became clear. In either in- stance, however, the moment the case developed alarm- ing symptoms the patient was placed in an ambulance and hurried to the Hospital Group. Once there, the jurisdiction of the staff of the Medical Department ceased, and the medical staff of the Hospital Group took hold of the case. The next step was to place the patient DISPENSARIES 83 under the care of a medical officer especially qualified to handle the particular case, and, if the condition of the patient was serious, to assign a special nurse to con- stant duty at his bedside. Under such conditions and there was no exception to this rule the parents or wife of the patient were immediately notified by official tele- gram, and further telegrams were sent as long as the patient's condition remained desperate. Close relatives of the patients were allowed every opportunity to be with them in the hospital wards, except in dangerously contagious cases. The Medical Staff of the Hospital consisted of the following officers, just prior to the signing of the arm- istice: Captain H. E. Odell, Commanding Officer; Com- mander H. F. Hull, Executive Officer; Commander J. M. Minter, Sub-Executive Officer; Lieutenant Com- mander C. H. Auf hammer, Sub-Executive Officer; Lieutenant-Commander N. H. Clark, Sub-Executive Officer; Lieutenant-Commander C. W. Carr, Sub- Executive Officer; Lieutenant W. A. Brams, Sub-Ex- ecutive Officer; Lieutenant W. E. Carson; Lieutenant R. W. Holbrook; Lieutenant R. L. Larson; Lieutenant J. F. McCullough; Lieutenant F. B. McNierney; Lieu- tenant J. S. Plumer; Lieutenant F. A. Reickhoff ; Lieu- tenant N. W. Shelley; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. H. Adams; Lieutenant (j. g.) F. J. Albers; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. D. Anderson; Lieutenant (j. g.) T. O. Anderson; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) C. E. Beede; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. F. Ballaire; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. E. Broderick, Lieuten- ant (j. g.) G. E. Burman; Lieutenant (j. g.) Harry Burns; Lieutenant (j. g.) K. S. Caldwell; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. B. Childs; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. N. Colbert; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. L. Colby; Lieutenant (j. g.) S 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION B. O. Dysart; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. L. Fleck; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) F. G. Folken; Lieutenant (j. g.) M. E. Fulk; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. W. Gamble; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. E. Gaston; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. J. Grieves; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. P. Hall; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. H. Harris; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. W. Hall; Lieutenant (j. g.) G. A. Hass; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. C. Hocum; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. P. Holland; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. C. Ives; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. J. Jongeward; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. J. Kooiker; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) R. J. Leutsker; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. L. Liberman; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. J. Link; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. R. Loar; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. R. Losey; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. M. Lott; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. F. Lundquist; Lieutenant (j. g.) B. W. Malfroid; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) J. B. Marks; Lieutenant (j. g.) L. R. Melinkoff ; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. J. Mercey; Lieutenant (j- &) T. B. N. Murphy; Lieutenant (j. g.) Donald McCarthy; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. J. McCurdy; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) R. W. McNeally; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. B. McWilliams; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. H. Orcutt; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) George W. Palm; Lieutenant (j. g.) Isom A. Rankin; Lieutenant (j. g.) William B. Parent; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) George B. Quinn; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. W. RateclifT; Lieutenant (j. g.) Arthur G. Rieke; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. B. Sanford; Lieutenant (j. g.) Burton V. Scott; Lieutenant (j. g.) John M. Slattery; Lieutenant (j. g.) Jerome F. Smersh; Lieutenant (j. g.) Albert M. Snell; Lieutenant (j. g.) Alfred J. H. Treacy; Lieutenant (j. g. ) James H. Wallace; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) John M. Whalen; Lieutenant (j. g.) Homer Woolery; Pharmacist W. F. Bly; Pharmacist Charles E. Miller; Pharmacist Claude E. Worden. DISPENSARIES 85 The medical officers attached to the Medical Depart- ment of the Station itself, just prior to the signing of the armistice, were : Commander Owen J. Mink, Senior Medical Officer; Lieutenant Commander James D. Bob- bitt; Lieutenant Commander David S. Hillis; Lieuten- ant Warren E. Bradbury; Lieutenant Robert C. Brad- ley; Lieutenant Drew Luten; Lieutenant Francis I. Ridge; Lieutenant Clarence V. Spawr; Lieutenant (j. g.) Samuel J. Alden; Lieutenant (j. g.) Ward C. Alden; Lieutenant (j. g.) James F. Anderson; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) E. G. Archibold; Lieutenant (j. g.) Chas. W. Barrier; Lieutenant (j. g.) Delbert R. Blender; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Oscar E. Blank; Lieutenant (j. g.) James P. Bowles; Lieutenant (j. g.) Cyrus C. Brown; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Lloyd A. Burrows; Lieutenant (j. g.) Verne B. Calloman; Lieutenant (j. g.) Clarence A. Chandler; Lieutenant (j. g.) Roger M. Choisser; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Harold P. Cole; Lieutenant (j. g.) John P. Coughlin; Lieutenant (j. g.) Joel I. Denman; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Frederick J. Fakins; Lieutenant (j. g.) Moury I. Ellis; Lieutenant (j. g.) Robert M. Ent- whistle; Lieutenant (j. g.) Clement Fisher; Lieutenant (j. g.) Paul J. Flory; Lieutenant (j. g.) Max W. Flo- thow; Lieutenant (j. g.) Andrew H. Frankel; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) James K. Gordon; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. Ellis Hodes; Lieutenant (j. g.) Hardy V. Hughens; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Myron E. Kahn; Lieutenant (j. g.) Aaron E. Kanter; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. Ivan King; Lieutenant (j. g.) Chas. A. Koeningsberger ; Lieutenant (j. g.) Gustave A. Larson; Lieutenant (j. g.) Charles Lieber; Lieutenant (j. g.) Martin R. Lorenzen; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Francis V. Mallory; Lieutenant (j. g.) Hubert F. Meacham; Lieutenant (j. g.) Harvey W. 86 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Miller; Lieutenant (j. g.) Harry W. Moore; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) Leo T. McNicholas; Lieutenant (j. g.) Trygve Oftedal; Lieutenant (j. g.) Patrick H. Owens; Lieutenant (j. g.) Fred R. Reed; Lieutenant (j. g.) Edwin F. Robb; Lieutenant (j. g.) Eugene F. Sayers; Lieutenant (j. g.) Robert L. Schaefer; Lieutenant (j. g.) Robert F. Schanz; Lieutenant (j. g.) Jeremy J. Sharp; Lieutenant (j. g.) Emil J. Stelter; Lieutenant (j. g.) John W. Stuhr; Lieutenant (j. g.) Roland B. Taber; Lieutenant (j. g.) James C. Walker; Lieutenant (j. g.) John M. Walker; Lieutenant (j. g.) Hiram B. West; Pharmacist Ernest C. Brooks; Pharmacist George R. Hansen; Pharmacist Carson A. Nelson; Pharmacist Harry L. Rogers; Pharmacist William L. Stewart. The officers of the Dental Corps attached to the Med- ical Department were: Lieutenant Commander E. E. Harris ; Lieutenant Commander A. F. McCreary ; Lieu- tenant C. A. Chandler; Lieutenant H. S. Hursh; Lieu- tenant H. C. Miller; Lieutenant W. B. Nash; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) A. B. Applebee; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. H. Barnfield; Lieutenant (j. g.) Samuel Barr; Lieutenant (j. g.) B. H. Barton; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. H. Bleeg; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. W. Bourquin; Lieutenant (j. g.) F. E. Campbell; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. G. Carmichael; Lieutenant (j. g.) Maurice Cohen; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. E. Coverley; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. G. Dampier; Lieutenant (j. ?.) G. A. Dezois; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. B. Duncan; Lieutenant (j. g.) F. J. Edelstein; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) L. A. Francis; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. S. Forth; Lieutenant (j. g.) M. H. Furman; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. W. Gamble; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. E. Gib- bons; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. H. Hubbard; Lieutenant Captain H. E. Odell and Lieutenant-Commander H. F. Hull, with Medical Officers attached to the Hospital The Interior of a Hospital Ward The Board of Medical Survey Ensign P. B. Riley, Commanding Officer of Outgoing Detention, and his Assistants " Still " Practice with Field Guns Waiting for the Call to " Shove Off " DISPENSARIES 87 (j. g.) E. Q. Heely; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. P. Holland; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. B. Johnson; Lieutenant (j. g.) M. P. Kane; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. J. Kennedy; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) E. J. Kiesendahl; Lieutenant (j. g.) Ed- mund Laughlin; Lieutenant (j. g.) Leon Levy; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) T. J. McCarthy; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. S. Maxwell; Lieutenant (j. g.) Mortimer Mayer; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) K. W. Messner; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. L. Norris; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. I. Northup; Lieutenant (j. g.) J. R. Palkin; Lieutenant (j. g.) August Pecaro; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. P. E. Reed; Lieutenant (j. g.) C. W. Rodgers; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. W. Rupert; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) C. O. Sandstrom; Lieutenant (j. g.) Emanuel Scher; Lieutenant (j. g.) Samuel Segal; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) L. F. Snyder; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. C. Green; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. L. Souter; Lieutenant (j. g.) Bernard Spiro; Lieutenant (j. g.) M. G. Swen- sen; Lieutenant (j. g.) O. J. Tagland; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. R. Tahblinng; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. S. Talbot; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) W. R. Taylor; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. C. Varner; Lieutenant (j. g.) Louis Wolf; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. J. Zajicek; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. J. Bailey; Lieutenant (j. g.) P. G. Brown; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. L. Burleigh; Lieutenant (j. g) N. E. Drake; Lieutenant (j. g.) L. V. Feike; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. D. Hipsh; Lieutenant (j. g.) F. R. Hittinger; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. L. Kalen; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. B. Keffer; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) J. A. Kelly; Lieutenant (j. g.) Irl Knight; Lieutenant (j. g.) W. F. Kramer; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. N. Lindbeck; Lieutenant (j. g.) R. J. O'Donnell;. Lieutenant (j. g.) W. F. Quinn; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. G. Ralph; Lieutenant (j. g.) Walter Rehrauer; Lieuten- ant (j. g.) C. E Reynolds; Lieutenant (j. g.) A. L, 88 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Schwalb; Lieutenant (j. g.) T. W. Spear; Lieutenant (j- &) C. W. Stegmaier; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. P. Tag- gart; Lieutenant (j. g.) F. E. Turnbaugh; Lieutenant (j. g.) Louis Wainman; Lieutenant (j, g.) J. A. Walt- ers; Lieutenant (j. g.) V. D. Whitaker; Lieutenant (j. g.) H. C. Wickham; Lieutenant (j. g.) E. H. Zimmer. CHAPTER VI THE "DETENTION" AND APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS THE section of Great Lakes known as "Incoming- Detention," at first consisting of one regimental unit and finally of four such units, was in many respects one of the most interesting sub-divisions of the Station during the war period. And particularly was this so to the recruit himself. It was in Incoming Detention that more than 125,000 of the youth of the Middle West were introduced to the Navy's "hurry-up" program for converting civilians into man-of-warsmen, for transforming men of peace- ful pursuits into fighting sailors. They entered Incom- ing Detention in droves, a shambling, uncertain, be- wildered crowd of the great undisciplined. In Incoming Detention they passed through the rookie stage, the period of greatest change ; the "Hit-the-deck !" period during which they learned in no uncertain way that the Navy had a vocabulary all its own and a use for it. It was in Incoming Detention, in an exceptionally busy "take-it-or-leave-it" kind of men's furnishings emporium, that they got their first outfit of sailor clothes an emporium in which the "salty guys" who "dished out" the clothing knew all there was to know about proper fit, and in which the only mirror was the grin of commiseration on a companion's face. But one question was asked and only one answer allowed in the 89 90 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION outfitting of a recruit, and that had to do with the size of his feet. In those feet he could stand 5 ft. 3 in., or 6 ft. 6 in., with a waist line of 32 or 46 in., without the difference being of any great moment. The alterations required were few and of minor detail, consisting mostly of the shortening of trousers, which kept ten tailors continually busy. It was in Incoming Detention that the recruit became homesick and got over it, where he made everlasting friendships, and laid deep plans (Oh, Boy!) for that first twelve hours of "shore leave." It was likewise in Incoming Detention that he was first introduced to the Ki-yi brush and the coal pile where he scrubbed his whites until his shoulders ached and then wore that lily-white uniform directly aboard a coal pile and had to scrub all over again. The main purpose of Incoming Detention was, of course, to segregate the new men for the twenty-one day period during which would develop any contagious dis- ease they might have come in contact with before arriv- ing at Great Lakes. Health, physical and mental, was the foundation upon which all the rest discipline, seamanship, gunnery was built. So in Incoming De- tention the recruit also got his first dose of the Navy's way of assuring his good health, individually and col- lectively. From the moment the recruit arrived in Incoming De- tention he was under the constant supervision of a par- ticularly large and efficient medical staff. The watch- word was "Prevention." Cigarettes, chewing tobacco, chewing gum, all matches that were not of the "safety" variety, bowie knives, pistols, and any supply of patent medicines or "home cures" were confiscated the moment APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 91 the recruit arrived. He was allowed, however, to re- tain and use his pipe and smoking tobacco. The next health step was a bath, which was part of the daily routine, and a haircut if it was needed. Fol- lowing these preliminaries he appeared at the medical headquarters and received a thoroughly physical ex- amination. Then he got the first of the three injections (shots) of anti-typhoid serum, was vaccinated, and given the Schick test for immunity to diphtheria. After he was through with these very important preventive measures, his throat was cultured to determine whether or not he was a chronic carrier of cerebro-spinal fever. When the medical examiners got through with him, he was turned over to the dental surgeons for such emer- gency work as the extraction of all decayed roots, a thorough spring house-cleaning of his teeth, the treat- ment of unhealthy gums, and the remedying of all acute conditions. His entire set of teeth was also charted for repair work. By such means the health of the boy who entered the Navy was protected to an extent that is seldom carried out in civil life. From the moment the recruit arrived in Incoming Detention he was constantly drilled in meas- ures of health. He was warned that cleanliness is god- liness in the Navy, and that any infraction of the health rules laid down by the medical staff would result in- pun- ishment. The detention period, as Lieutenant (j. g.) John Sharpe, Officer in charge of Incoming Detention under- stood it, was of the utmost importance in determining whether a man would be a benefit or a detriment to the Navy. So it became his purpose to instill strict disci- pline from the very beginning, to start the recruit on his 92 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION way with a proper conception of his duties both to him- self and to the service. Therefore the recruit got the preliminary steps of his training in Incoming Detention, as well as his clothing and his inoculations. Infantry formations and drill were started in many instances im- mediately a company was formed and even before the men were outfitted. The primary purpose of a man's enlistment was his ultimate perfection for service afloat, and this was fostered from the first day on, not only by discipline and drills, but by labor of various kinds, in- cluding the coal pile. Lieutenant Sharpe also understood that the detention period was the "lonesome" period, so a great amphi- theatre was constructed in the ravine separating Camps Decatur and Farragut. During the summer months outdoor entertainments of every conceivable nature, from rookie boxing bouts to grand opera and the Rus- sian dancers, were provided. Some of the highest class acts in vaudeville were billed, and the enthusiasm dis- played by the lonesome rookies was ample compensation. Great songfests were also held under the direction of Herbert Gould. Another source of entertainment was the institution of a zoo, which started with the presentation to the Officer in Command of two big brown bears, John and Susie. The zoo grew until it contained three bears, two deer, three American eagles, eight goats (mountain variety), three badgers, twenty-five rabbits, two ferrets, two owls, two guinea pigs, a possum and a hawk. Lieutenant (j. g.) John Sharpe, U. S. N., was the of- ficer in charge of the Incoming Detention Camps. The regimental commanders who assisted him were: C. E. Munson, Gunner, U. S. N.; M. A. Sandberg, Boatswain, APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 93 U. S. N. ; Ned P. Baugh, Chief Quartermaster, U. S. N. ; and A. J. Hardy, Chief Gunner's Mate, U. S. N. THE APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS The training organization at Great Lakes during the war period consisted of a division, brigades, regiments, battalions and companies. The Commandant was Di- vision Commander, and the Executive Officer was Divi- sion Adjutant. The Drill Officer was Brigade Com- mander, and as such was responsible for all men under training. Commissioned and Warrant Officers were assigned as Regimental Commanders, and Warrant and Chief Petty Officers as Regimental Adjutants. Bat- talion Commanders were Warrant or Chief Petty Of- ficers, and the company commanders were men selected from the seaman branch and given special course of study in the Petty Officers' School. Apprentice seamen formed the bulk of the men trained at Great Lakes. These men were all given their train- ing in the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Regi- ments. The apprentice seamen were received by these regi- ments from Incoming Detention in companies of 144 men. Upon receipt of information from the Receiving Group that one of these regiments was to receive a new company, a company commander was ordered to stand by to take charge of it. Assisted by his two Section Chiefs, he assured himself that the jackstays for swing- ing hammocks and tricing up sea bags were secure ; that the barracks were supplied with the proper number of sneeze screens ; that doors and windows were fitted with screens in proper season; that the barracks were thor- 94 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION oughly cleaned and ventilated, and that the necessary cleaning utensils were at hand. The new company was marched over from Incoming Detention by an Apprentice Petty Officer who had in his possession a duplicate muster list and the transfer cards of the men. The baggage of the men was transported by motor trucks. One muster list was given to the Company Commander for his information, and another muster list and the transfer cards were taken up by the receiving yeoman, who immediately filed the cards alpha- betically by company. In addition to this a supplemen- tary card muster was maintained at Regimental Head- quarters. The new company was received by the Regimental Adjutant, the Battalion Commander, the Company Com- mander and his Section Chiefs, and the Receiving Yeo- man. The men were marched up and halted in front of their respective barracks, where they were mustered and the necessary Station and Regimental Regulations were read to them. The company was then divided into two sections, and the necessary details were made up as fol- lows : One sentry in each section, four reliefs a total of eight men per twenty-four hours ; two captains of the head one in each section of the barracks; seven mess cooks relieved weekly; two jacks-of-the-dust relieved weekly. The training in the Apprentice Seamen regiments covered a period of three months, as a general rule. There were times, however, when the demands for men were so great that apprentice seamen had to be trans- ferred to sea before the entire period was completed. In the ordinary course of events the men were given APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 95 ten days' leave when they finished their three months' training. The principal subjects taught the seamen were military drill and seamanship. The latter prob- ably made the greater appeal to the recruit from the Middle West, as it smacked of the sea. The former, al- though as vitally important in the making of a man-of- warsman, was not so distinctive. When one thinks of tying knots, splicing ropes, and manning boats, one nat- urally thinks of the sailor. It is the backbone of all that is nautical. Every seaman at Great Lakes received a thorough course of instruction in tying all the kinds of knots used at sea. He learned when an overhand knot should be used and when a round turn was appropriate. He could differentiate between a Marlin Hitch, a Clove Hitch, and a Rolling Hitch. He learned to converse in the terms of rope. Before he finished his course in marlinspike seamanship he knew how to tie thirty-seven knots and to make twenty-four kinds of splices. The "Hemp Course" qualified the apprentice seaman to reproduce the following knots, hitches and bends, and splices: Overhand knot; figure of eight knot; square knot; single Becket bend; double Becket bend; bowline; bowline on a bight; running bowline; ring bowline; round turn and two half hitches; round turn; fisher- man's bend; Marlin hitch; glove hitch; rolling hitch; Marlin spike hitch; studding sail tack bend; studding sail halyard bend; timber hitch; longshoreman's hitch; catspaw in end of a line; catspaw in bight of a line; Blackwall hitch; single and double; reeving line bend; sheep shank; sling a cask; bale sling; rig a parbuckle; single Carrick bend; double Car rick bend; knot a rope yarn; pass a stopper; pass a strop; mouse a hook; clap a 9 6 jigger on a rope; belay a boat fall; take a turn with a hawser; three-strand eye splice; three-strand short splice ; four-strand short splice ; back splice ; three-strand lone splice; four-strand long splice; chain splice; wall; crown; single Mathew Walker; double Mathew Walker; man rope knot; stopper knot; whipping (plain); whipping (sailmaker's) flat seizings; round seizings; racking seizings; throat seizings; worm a rope; parcel a rope; serve a rope. The importance of knowing how to man the boat, coupled with the shortage of cutters for use in the har- bor and lake, resulted in the construction of a number of unique land boats for use in the apprentice seamen regiments. This gave the men in these regiments an additional opportunity to try their hand at the oars. They were taught how to enter and leave the boats, and how to execute the different commands, such as "Stand by the oars," "Shove off," "Out oars," "Give way together," "Toss oars," etc. Signal work is very important at sea. For the pur- pose of signaling, signal bridges were built on the roofs of the regimental headquarters buildings. Each bridge was equipped with a mast and yard arm for hoisting signal flags, and were clearly visible above the tree tops. Every morning, at eight o'clock, the signal men of each regiment climbed to the bridge to receive the morning orders, which were semaphored, wigwagged, or sig- naled with flags from the Administration Building. This actual work with the signal flags lent zest to the instruction in signaling, and was watched with keen interest by every man in training. The daily routine of training in the apprentice sea- men regiments was as follows: APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 97 5:00 a. m. Reveille (Hit the Deck) Lash up ham- mocks and haul taut. 5:15 a. m. Bathing. 5 :45 a. m. Send out morning details, police barracks and grounds. 6:30 a. m. Physical drill. 6:45 a - m - Officers' call. 6:50 a. m. Assembly for Muster, Inspection and Mess. 7:30 a. m. Sick call. 7:45 a. m. Inspection of living quarters and grounds by Company Commanders. 7:50 a. m. Officers' Call. :oo a. m. Assembly and drill call, first drill period. 9:00 a. m. Retreat from drill. 9:15 a. m. Drill call, second period. 10:15 a. m. Retreat from second drill period. 10:30 a. m. Drill call, third period. 1 1 :25 a. m. Retreat from third drill period. All companies to march to drill hall for doctor's inspection. 1 1 :3O a. m. Reports at Mast. ii :58 a. m. Officers' call. 12:00 Noon Assembly for mess. 12:30 p. m. Policing living quarters and grounds. 12:58 p. m. Officers' Call. i :oo p. m. Drill call, fourth period and muster for working parties. 2:15 p. m. Retreat from fourth drill period. 2:30 p. m. Drill call, fifth period. 3:30 p. m. Retreat from fifth drill period. Scrub clothes. 5 :28 p. m. Officers' call. 5:30 p. m. Assembly for mess (summer months). 6:30 p. m. Assembly for mess (winter months). 98 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION 7:00 p. m. Muster and hammocks for guard company. 7:45 p. m. Officers' call. Inspection of quarters by Battalion Officer of the Day. 7:50 p. m. Assembly and muster. 8:00 p. m. Hammocks. 8:55 p. m. First call for tattoo. 9 :oo p. m. Tattoo. 9:15 p. m. Taps. The Instruction Building in each of the apprentice seamen regiments contained five large class rooms an ordnance room, signal room, rigging loft, and two general instruction rooms, one of which was used par- ticularly for instruction in first aid work. All of these class rooms were especially fitted up for instruction work. The following description of the instruction rooms in the First Regiment will suffice for those in all five of the apprentice seamen regiments. The Rigging Loft was equipped with four 5O-ft. jackstays for practical instruction in tying knots, hitches and bends; a large number of three and four-strand tails for instruction in splicing; a framework with car- locks for dry-oar instruction during the winter months when real boats could not be used; a naval standard compass; leads and tools for practical seamanship work; a davit with boat falls and numerous blocks and tackles for the purpose of teaching the men how to hoist and lower boats and to belay. In addition, the walls of the Rigging Loft were covered with paintings and drawings of ground tackle; parts of forecastle with capstans, anchors, bitts ; markings of the cable, lead and leadline ; chains for leadsman, sounding machines of various types; different logs and life buoys; a compass with points and degrees ; a sketch of bearings and lights ; the APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 99 buoyage system in U. S. waters; rules of the road; all types of boats under oars and sail; and the rigs of square-rigged vessels. The Rigging Loft work con- sisted of making knots, bends, and splices; the use of the lead, log and compass ; steering, running lines, hoist- ing and lowering boats, throwing heavy lines, hauling in hawsers, and the duties of the lookout. The Signal Room was used for the study of all types of signals used in the Navy, including day, night and sound signals. The walls of this room were decorated in colors with all signal flags, both Navy and Interna- tional; the ensigns of all nations; the semaphore and blinker system of signaling, showing how the letters of the alphabet are formed ; speed signals ; and a panorama of a battleship's bridge to give the recruit an idea of how the signaling is accomplished. The Ordnance Room had its walls covered with com- plete drawings of turrets, guns, mounts, magazine and handling rooms; various types of breech plugs, shells and ammunition; enlarged sketches of guns, showing method of construction and details of the built-up sys- tem ; telescopes and range-finders ; sketches of the differ- ent parts of a Bliss-Leavitt torpedo, shown in detail; naval defense mines ; different types of fuses and prim- ers; powder-bag charges for all calibre of guns; sil- houettes of various positions to be taken by the men in firing the rifle, and a large oil painting showing a rapid fire gun and crew in action. It was also equipped with wall boards on which were placed the disassembled parts of small arms; tripods for aiming drill and Colt and Lewis machine guns. All the drawings and sketches were used to illustrate lectures. The ordnance classes taught the men how gun crews are stationed; how to ioo THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION handle and use fuses, primers and all sorts of ammuni- tion ; a knowledge of the different types of guns, mount- ings, etc.; and the nomenclature of guns, rifles and revolvers. The paintings and drawings on the walls of the Gen- eral Instruction Room showed completely the arrange- ment of the compartments of a modern battleship; a longitudinal cross section of the U. S. S. Nevada; silhouettes of all other types of naval vessels; complete illustrations of uniforms, collar insignias, sleeve marks,, shoulder straps, hatgear and rating badges of officers and enlisted men of the Navy, Army and Marine Corps ; the markings of steam, air, oil, fresh and salt water pipes of naval ships; and tables containing regulations, general orders, and the rendering of various salutes and military honors. The First Aid Instruction Room had drawings upon its walls illustrating the methods of rendering first aid to the injured; large charts of the human anatomy, such as the skeleton with the names of the principal bones in the body; a chart illustrating blood circulation; draw- ings showing how to apply the tourniquet to arrest hemorrhage in various parts of the body; drawings il- lustrating the use of bandages for shell and shot wounds; the methods of conveying wounded men; re- suscitation of the apparently drowned; the rescue of helpless men from the water, showing method of breaking various death grips ; and charts showing vari- ous poisonings and the treatments therefor. The textbooks used for instruction purposes in- cluded the "Blue jackets' Manual," the "Deck and Boat Book," the "Recruits' Handy Book," "Modern Sea- manship," and the "American Ordnance Book." APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 101 The men in the apprentice seamen regiments re- ceived particular instruction in the handling and care of small arms, and were put through the regular Navy course of rifle shooting at the rifle range. A weekly report was sent to the Drill Officer showing the number of hours devoted in each company to the following subjects : Boats, marlinspike seamanship, first aid, artillery, company drill, general drill, signals, range, physical drill, battalion formation, heavy marching or- der, and position, aiming and gallery. The number of hours devoted to instruction in the different subjects during the three-months course, as shown by the records of the First Regiment, was as fol- lows: Company drill, 165 hours; Battalion drill, 20 hours ; First aid, 9 hours ; Loading and firing, 9 hours ; Rifle Range, 9 hours; Heavy marching order, 6 hours; Ordnance, 13 hours; Boats, 30 hours; Marlinspike sea- manship, 50 hours; Discipline and duty and ship rou- tine, 34 hours; Signals, 34 hours; Bag inspection, 20 hours; Hammock inspection, 20 hours; Physical drill, 39 hours. Mast was held every morning at 1 1 130 o'clock before the Commanding Officer of each regiment. All men were allowed to present their requests for special leave, change in rating, transfer to various schools, etc. This gave every man an opportunity for fair treatment. Visitors were allowed in the apprentice seamen regi- ments on Wednesday afternoons and on Sundays. The men in training were given twelve hours of liberty each week-end. After the review each Wednesday after- noon the men were allowed the liberty of the camp. The First Regiment was organized as a unit for the training of apprentice seamen in May, 1917, and during 102 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION the spring and summer of that year was located in tents, forming part of Camp Paul Jones. Exclusive of the Main Station Regiment, which later became the Fourth Regiment, this was the first regiment established fol- lowing the declaration of war. During the war period it trained approximately 17,000 men. The regimental commander was Lieutenant (j. g.) A. O. Schory. His adjutant was Ensign Rudolph Winzer. In the late summer of 1918 Lieutenant (j. g.) Burmain A. Grim- ball, Ensign Cedric O. Eaton, Ensign David R. Knape and Ensign V. F. Wright were also attached to the First Regiment. The Second Regiment, organized in May, 1917, and located in Camp Paul Jones, was at first a firemen regi- ment, but, as these men were transferred to sea and apprentice seamen came in, its character changed. From the early summer of 1917 to the close of the war its activity had to do with the training of apprentice seamen. Approximately 16,000 men passed through this regiment. Lieutenant H. Vanderwerp, U. S. N., R. F., was its first regimental commander. In Septem- ber, 1917, Ensign R. T. Whitney, U. S. N., R. F., re- lieved Lieutenant Vanderwerp, and a couple of months later Lieutenant (j. g.) J. Reid, U. S. N., at that time a gunner, became regimental commander. Just before the armistice was signed the Battalion Commanders were Ensign S. P. Swynenburg and Ensign J. C. Wil- kins. The Third Regiment, organized at the same time as the First and Second Regiments, and located with them in Camp Paul Jones until all three moved into Camp Dewey in the fall of 1917, also trained in the neighbor- hood of 16,000 men. Its first regimental commander APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 103 was Lieutenant Fisher, of the National Naval Volun- teers. In July, 1917, Lieutenant Fisher was succeeded by Ensign Halpine, with Ensign Eschom U. S. N., R. F., as his adjutant. While in command of the Third Regi- ment, Ensign Halpine was advanced in rank to lieuten- ant, junior grade. In September, 1917, Lieutenant Halpine and Ensign Eschom were detached, and Ensign Peck assumed command, with Ensign Walter P. Hanson as his Adjutant. On November 15, Ensign W. P. Jost, National Naval Volunteers, assumed command. Early in January, 1918, Ensign Jost was detached from the regiment to take charge of the Detail Office in the Ad- ministration Building, and Gunner W. J. Roseman suc- ceeded Ensign Jost. In May, 1918, Gunner Roseman was advanced to the ranking of ensign, and a few months later was made a lieutenant junior grade. Boatswain W. J. Mielka was Adjutant. Lieutenant (j* ") James C. Humphrey was attached in the sum- mer of 1918. The Fourth Regiment became one of the apprentice seamen regiments of Camp Perry in October, 1917. This regiment was known as the Main Station Regi- ment or Main Brigade during the first several months of the war. The Fourth Regiment trained approxi- mately 18,000 men. Lieutenant (j. g.) L. J. Sutton was Regimental Commander, Ensign F. G. Saunders, Regimental Sub-Commander, and Gunner J. A. Kruz- burg, Regimental Adjutant. The Fifth Regiment was organized in November, 1917, with Gunner Walter McGuire, U. S. N., R. F., as Regimental Commander. On January 10, 1918, Lieu- tenant (j. g.) Laurie C. Parfitt, U. S. N., relieved Gun- ner McGuire as Regimental Commander. Lieutenant io 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION (j. g.) Leslie K. Orr was Regimental Adjutant, and Ensign Arthur A. Sayre and Ensign O. Y. Shute were Battalion Commanders. The average daily comple- ment of this regiment by months, from November 1917 to November 1918, was as follows: November, 428; December, 1095; January, 1468; February, 1420; March, 1345; April, 960; May, 1241; June, 1904; July, 1925; August, 2118; September, 1500; October, 1490. OUTGOING DETENTION "Shoving off" from Great Lakes to man the fighting ships was a procedure which held more than ordinary interest to the average recruit; the very air of the Out- going Detention camp was charged with an indescrib- able something that was not to be found elsewhere. To be transferred to this camp meant that the young man- of-warsman would soon find himself aboard ship, the first big step of his career as a sea fighter accomplished. Outgoing Detention was in many respects the emo- tional center of Great Lakes. Mothers, fathers, sis- ters, sweethearts, wives were allowed in this camp every day of the week from morning until 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon, which gave them ample opportunity to visit the sailors before their departure. Every man who "shoved off" from Great Lakes had first to pass through Outgoing Detention. They were sent to this camp singly or in groups, and were required to stay there for a period sufficient to allow complete medical observation and isolation. "Jack" was ushered into Outgoing Detention with his sea bag and hammock, and a station duplicate card verifying his name, rating, organization, etc. He was thoroughly examined by the medical staff, and, if the APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 105 slightest defect was discovered, he was returned to his regiment as unfit. If in perfect physical and mental condition, he was assigned to a company, and his sea bag and hammock were inspected. In the event that he lacked any of the various articles that make up a complete sea bag, he was at once outfitted with them, and he had to see to it that every piece of his wearing apparel was properly stenciled. Infantry and artillery drill; the marking and re-marking of clothing, with lib- eral time given for scrubbing ; medical inspections every day ; and bidding good-by to relatives and sweethearts sometimes a different one every day constituted the main program while in Outgoing Detention. After the men had been given what was considered a sufficient period of isolation, they were written up on a draft. The number of men in these drafts ranged anywhere from one to one thousand. The moment a man was written up on a draft the Transfer Depart- ment of the Detail Office got busy and cheeked up his account, and health and service records. The number of drafts "shoved off" during 1918 was 2495, made up of 71,440 men, an average of about thirty-three men to a draft. The majority of the seamen trained at Great Lakes were sent to the naval operating base at Hampton Roads. The men for general detail were sent to Philadelphia. During one of the exceptionally busy periods in May, 1918, a request was received for 1700 men for immediate service aboard ship, 1200 of whom were to be second class seamen. Within twelve hours after the order was received the 1,700 men were on their way east. During 1917 and the first six months of 1918, Out 1 - going Detention known as the Tenth Regiment, was io6 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION located in Camp Ross, which was hardly adequate for the purpose, as it consisted of only one regimental unit. Early in the spring of 1918, however, construction was commenced on three Outgoing Detention units to be known as Camp Luce, and, when the first two of these units were completed, Camp Ross became an additional Incoming Detention Unit. The first of the Outgoing Detention units to be com- pleted in Camp Luce was known as the Sixteenth Regi- ment. It was ready for occupancy the latter part of July, 1918, when five hundred men were moved into it from Camp Ross. During the two months and a half that this regiment was in operation before the armistice was signed, more than 14,000 men were passed through it into the Seventeenth Regiment, which was the final Outgoing Detention unit. The length of time spent by the men in the Sixteenth Regiment varied according to the demands made upon Great Lakes by the Receiving Ships on the eastern sea- board. Some men spent as much as a month's time in the regiment, while others had as short a stay as four days. Week-end liberty was granted up to the time the men were written on a draft. The Regimental Commander was Gunner Claude Miller, U. S. N., who had been one of Ensign P. B. Riley's assistants when the latter was Regimental Com- mander of Camp Ross. The actual "Good-by, Jack" unit of Outgoing Deten- tion was the Seventeenth Regiment, established on Au- gust 14, 1918. This unit was absolutely self-contained, having its own sick bay, dental office, laundry, ships' store, armory, galley, post office, barber shop, etc., which made it unnecessary for any of the men to leave it for APPRENTICE SEAMEN REGIMENTS 107 any purpose whatsoever. A spur of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was run into this camp so that the men could be entrained without having to march any distance. No liberty was granted to the men after they were received in the Seventeenth Regiment, but they were allowed to see visitors every day. The Seventeenth Regiment was organized into thirty- four companies, which included the regimental band of eighty pieces, two permanent guard companies, and a company made up of the operating force. During the three months this Outgoing Detention unit was in operation before the signing of the armistice it received and transferred approximately 27,000 men to general service. This was an average of three hundred men per day, and a considerable accomplishment considering that during much of this time a state of quarantine existed, due to the influenza epidemic which reduced transfers to a minimum. The first Regimental Commander of the Seventeenth Regiment was Lieutenant (j. g.) M. T. Wilkerson, U. S. N., who was transferred to the Officer Material School a few weeks later to act as an instructor. Lieu- tenant (j. g.) J. G. McFarland, who was in charge of the Gunners' Mates School until October I, 1918, suc- ceeded Lieutenant Wilkerson. The regimental drill officer was Ensign F. C. Scheid, U. S. N. Ensign P. B. Riley, U. S. N., who was officer in charge of Camp Ross when that camp was the Out- going Detention unit, became commanding officer of Camp Luce. His adjutant was Ensign W. A. Krueck, U. S. N. CHAPTER VII THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS PRECEDING chapters tell of the astounding growth of Great Lakes as a whole the result of super-organization, super-training under condi- tions frequently disheartening, and almost superhuman tenacity of purpose. When war was declared and word was passed to Great Lakes to "Go !" Great Lakes fairly sprinted. An aggressive spirit of "Go!" and "Grow!" backed by a remarkable ingenuity in the improvising of ways and means of overcoming obstacles, permeated the entire Station. And nowhere was this more strongly evinced than in the special schools organized to turn out Com- pany Commanders, Coxswains, Quartermasters, Gun- ners' Mates, Armed Guards to man the merchant ma- rine, Radio Operators, Artificers, Signalmen, Hospital Corpsmen ; Aviation Quartermasters, Machinists' Mates and Armorers; Ensigns for the Naval Reserve Force, and Aviation Officers. Intensive courses of study were given in all these schools, the courses varying according to the nature of the work, and, in some cases, to the aptitude of the students. In each school the underlying policy was to teach the "why" as well as the "how." There is no question but that these schools gave the "gob" at Great Lakes a wonderful chance for rapid 108 THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 109 advancement. The opportunity fairly stared him in the face from the moment he arrived on the Station, and no sooner was he out of Incoming Detention than he became eligible to compete for and obtain admittance to any one of the special schools. The only qualification the recruit required to find the opportunity for advancement handed out to him on a silver platter was a willingness and an ability to learn a little more quickly than the majority of his shipmates. But it must not be supposed from all this that the men at Great Lakes ran up against anything easy. In fact the situation was just the opposite. The men who got through successfully had to work with a sincerity, a steadfastness of purpose, and a bulldog tenacity that would fill any university faculty in the country with envy. They were able to succeed only because their instructors were particularly enthusiastic and capable; because the very nature of the work requiring physi- cal as well as mental exercise made for clear-headed- ness, and because the rule at Great Lakes was "early to bed and early to rise." The ordinary reward was advancement to a petty of- ficer rating which ordinarily would have required sev- eral years of service on board ship. But this was not all. For the young man who entered Great Lakes, not with the idea of seeking special preferment, but with an itch to give the best he had in him where most needed, obtained an opportunity, after becoming a petty officer and demonstrating exceptional ability as such, to study and obtain a commission as an ensign. Previous to the declaration of war there were only two special schools in existence at Great Lakes the Signal and Radio School, and the Hospital Corps no THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Training School. The first school established because of the war emergency was the Instruction Camp for Company Commanders. All the special schools, with the exception of the Of- ficer Material School, were formed into regiments. The Hospital Corps Training School and the Yeoman School comprised the Sixth Regiment; the Radio School, the Seventh Regiment; the Armed Guard, Gun- ners' Mates, Coxswain, Quartermaster, and Signal schools, the Eleventh Regiment; and the Aviation schools, the Fifteenth Regiment. THE INSTRUCTION CAMP FOR COMPANY COMMANDERS This school, established soon after the declaration of war because competent petty officers were scarce and invaluable, was under the direct command of Lieuten- ant Ralph M. Jaeger, who later became assistant to the Station's Executive Officer. His assistant instructors were Gunner "Jack" Kennedy one-time champion boxer of the Atlantic Fleet and Boatswain M. T. Wilkerson, both of whom were later advanced to com- missioned officer ranks in the regular Navy. The course of instruction in this school, the purpose of which was to fit men to act as Company Commanders for the training of the recruits who were passing through Great Lakes, did not cover any set period of weeks or months. As soon as a student in this school proved that he had absorbed the instruction, and, in turn, had become capable of giving instruction, he was placed in charge of a company of apprentice seamen. The subjects he had to master and then teach to the re- cruits were: Infantry drill; physical drill with and THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS in without arms ; nomenclature of the rifle, automatic pis- tol, and field piece ; the manual of guard duty ; the bugle calls; the handling of boats under oars and sail; mar- linspike seamanship; deck seamanship; a thorough working knowledge of the compass, log and lead; the sending and receiving of signals; range practice with the rifle and the automatic pistol; position and aiming drills; the operation of a 3-inch field piece, and first aid. The Instruction camp for Company Commanders was discontinued early in 1918, as a sufficient number of men had been trained for this work. During the period of its activity, however, it turned out several hundred competent Company Commanders, more than a hundred of whom qualified later for commissions as ensigns. THE GUNNERS' MATES SCHOOL The Gunners' Mates School was organized in Au- gust, 1917, by direction of Captain W. A. Moffett, on orders from the Bureau of Navigation. Its purpose was to train men from the various regiments for Petty Officer material. In order to be eligible for this school a man had to be in the Seaman Branch of the Service, although Machinists' Mates and Firemen, third class, showing particular mechanical ability, were allowed to take the course. A Gunners' Mate on a modern war- ship, with its complicated gun mechanism and electrical installation, had to be a fairly good mechanic and show marked ability in a mechanical line. The course of instruction in this school covered a period of two months, and included the following sub- jects: First week, care and preservation of ordnance material, small arms, and machine guns; second week, guns, mounts, and breech mechanism; third week, ii2 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION sights, sighting, sight installation, bore sighting, and telescopes; fourth week, turrets and turret mounts, in- cluding electric apparatus used in turrets; fifth week, ammunition its manufacture, care and preservation, and stowage in magazines on board ship; sixth week, projectiles, weights of bursting charges, fuses, primers and safety precautions, hang-fires and misfires; seventh week, torpedoes, mines, gun cotton and other explosives used in the U. S. Navy; eighth week, fire control and review of first seven weeks. When the school was organized, it was practically impossible to obtain a sufficient supply of regulation Navy books such as Ship and Gun Drills, Ordnance and Gunnery, and other standard books. In order to overcome this difficulty the Ordnance Officer, Lieutenant John Ronan, U. S. N., collected data and compiled and had printed, with the approval of the Commandant and the Navy Department, an ordnance text book known as "Ordnance Instruction Book, Gunners' Mates School, Great Lakes Naval Training Station, 1917." Two thousand copies of this book were printed at the time. The book was later revised, and an additional 2000 copies printed. The book was likewise adopted by the Navy Department for use at other naval training sta- tions. The students in the Gunners' Mates School were also given practical work in the assembling and disassem- bling of guns, mounts, small arms, machine guns, tor- pedoes, mines, counter mines, mine sweeping, and also the use of the depth charge and smoke-producing ap- paratus. During the summer months half of the period of instruction was on board the vessels of the Great Lakes THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 113 Training Squadron, where target practice was carried out under regular service conditions. From the time the school was established to the sign- ing of the armistice more than 1800 men were gradu- ated and sent to the fighting ships as Gunners' Mates. The Gunners' Mates School was under the general supervision of Lieutenant John Ronan, the Ordnance Officer. The chief instructors were Lieutenant (j. g.) J. G. McFarland and Ensign Paul S. Drake. THE ARMED GUARD SCHOOL The Armed Guard School, also under the super- vision of Lieutenant John Ronan, was established in December, 1917, to train complete gun crews for the arming of transports and the merchant marine. In order to be eligible for this school a man had to be in the Seaman Branch of the Service and have com- pleted three months training on the Station. To qual- ify for the position of Gun Captain, Gun Pointer, or Sight Setter, a man had to show exceptional ability. The other stations, such as shell man, powder man, and loaders, required men of good build and strength. The course of instruction covered a period of one month and included the following subjects : First week, care and preservation of ordnance material, small arms and machine guns; nomenclature, assembling and dis- assembling; target practice with small arms and ma- chine guns; second week, guns and gun construction; breech mechanism and gun mounts; firing mechanism, locks and attachments; recoil system; methods of over- hauling and preparing battery for firing; training and elevating gears; loading drill, dotters, sub-caliber at- tachments, check telescope drills, sights and sight set- n 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION ting; third week, ammunition, its manufacture, care and preservation; inspection and stowage of ammuni- tion on board ship; fuses and primers; projectiles; depth charge and smoke producing apparatus; how to set combination shrapnel fuse; gun-cotton and other explosives used in the U. S. Navy; fourth week, fire control ; use of range finder and spotting glasses ; actual target practice with three-pounder and three-inch bat- tery from gun shed on shore of Lake Michigan; wrinkles of anti-submarine warfare. In addition to the above, each man was required to thoroughly familiarize himself with the silhouette out- lines and descriptions of German submarines of various types. This included submarines on the surface, partly submerged, awash, and fully submerged with the peri- scope showing, particular stress being given to detecting the wake of the submarine by day and by night. It was also required that each man be familiar with and able to detect the wake of a torpedo traveling through the water. Men were qualified in this course according to their ability as gun captains, gun pointers, and other gun sta- tions. An entry was made in their enlistment records, before they left Great Lakes showing their qualifications. Men with qualifications as gun captains, gun pointers, and sight setters, were issued gunnery records, which entitled them to extra pay in the rating they were given. Actual target practice, both by day and by night, was engaged in by all the men who went through the course. The guns were located in a gun shed on the shore of Lake Michigan, and targets representing sub- marines were placed out in the lake and shot at. After completing the course of instruction in this Bluejacket Signalmen on the Bridge of a Regimental Headquarters' Building Practice in the " Dry Land Boats " " Deck Seamanship " Practice Gunners' Mates Practising Loading Ready for Cutter Practice Cutter Drill THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 115 school, the men were grouped in gun crews of eight each and sent to the Armed Guard bases along the eastern seaboard. From these points they were trans- ferred to vessels of the fleet for further intensive train- ing before being assigned to Armed Guard duty. The gun crews trained at Great Lakes proved their ability in many instances in actual combat with German submarines. More than 1,600 men were graduated from the school during the war period. The chief instructors in the Armed Guard School were Gunner Charles Avery, and Gunner J. L. Hiatt. THE COXSWAIN SCHOOL The Coxswain School was organized in August, 1917, with Ensign George Fagan as Officer in Charge, and Boatswain F. H. Quandt, later a lieutenant junior grade, as Chief Instructor. The course of study covered two months, and in- cluded such subjects as: The handling of small boats under all conditions and circumstances; tactical exer- cises in small boats ; beaching or landing through a surf ; the duties of a Coxswain as given in the Boat Book ; the cleanliness of boats; the steering effect of the propeller; the carrying out of anchors; a knowledge of storm sig- nals, distress signals, and signals for pilot ; the lowering and hoisting of boats under various conditions of weather ; a practical knowledge of deck seamanship, in- cluding a knowledge of mooring ship; the sending and receiving of wig-wag and semaphore signals; marlin- spike seamanship; and complete instruction in infantry and artillery drill. The school was divided into three companies. The beginners were placed in Company C for a period of n6 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION three weeks, after which the best of them were ad- vanced to Company B, and finally to Company A. Dur- ing the summer months the classes were conducted in the open air. The equipment used for instruction con- sisted of the cutters and various other small boats in the Great Lakes' harbor, and special kinds of tackle and other equipment located in the school classrooms and in the rigging lofts. In the spring of 1918 a three-weeks' cruise on the training ships of the Great Lakes' Squad- ron was added to the two-months' course of study on shore and in small boats. The Coxswain School graduated 1275 men and trans- ferred them to sea. THE QUARTERMASTERS' SCHOOL The Quartermasters' School was established in Au- gust, 1917, to take picked men from the apprentice sea- men companies and give them advanced instruction in the duties of a quartermaster on board ship. Lieuten- ant (j. g.) F. M. Kelley was in charge of the school the greater part of its existence. To gain entrance to this school a man had to have a fundamental knowledge of all the signals used in the Navy, be able to box the compass, and to know the lead line. Preference was given to high school graduates. The period of the course was eight weeks, and the students received instruction in the following subjects: The general duties of quartermasters; the log and the entries therein; the work of a lookout; the hailing of boats at night ; a general knowledge of the duties of the officer of the deck; weather and storms; storm signals; flags, signals and ceremonies; chronometers and the duties of a quartermaster in connection therewith; the THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 117 barometer ; use of the drift lead and sounding machines ; and how to conn and instruct seamen at the wheel. During the summer months the men in this school were all given three weeks of instruction on board the Great Lakes Training Squadron. The graduates were 850 in number. THE SIGNAL SCHOOL This school was established three months before the declaration of war as the Signal and Radio School. On May i, 1917, however, a separation took place, and the radio branch became a distinct organization. With the declaration of war the number of signalmen in training jumped from forty to two hundred. As no quarters were available in barracks at that time, the school was located in tents at one corner of the main drill field. Classes were held in the open. Blinker tubes were rigged on the drill field for use both day and night. The mast on the north side of the drill field was used for flag hoist drill. On October i, 1917, the school was moved into bar- racks in the Seventh Regiment. One end of each bar- racks was used as a classroom, and blinkers and buzzers were rigged in each. Charts showing all code and spe- cial meaning flags were made and used in classwork. The course at that time extended over a period of three months, and covered all the different methods of signal- ing used in the Navy. Early in 1918 the Signal School was transferred back on to the Main Station, and the course was changed to eight weeks, to conform with the orders of the Bureau of Navigation. To qualify for duty the men of this school had to be n8 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION able to receive five words of blinker and ten words of semaphore a minute. Classes were held both during the day and at night, in blinker, semaphore and flag sig- naling. More than 1000 signalmen were turned out by this school during the war period. Lieutenant (j. g.) A. G. Somers was the first head of the Signal School. At that time he was a Chief Quartermaster. Early in 1918 Lieutenant Somers was relieved by J. R. Harrison, C. Q. M. THE YEOMAN SCHOOL The Yeoman School was organized in August, 1917, in order to provide the service in general with men fa- miliar with the duties and routine of a Yeoman. When this school was started, there were no quar- ters or equipment available, so the men who were stand- ing by to receive Yeoman training set to work to build their own school. They erected a row of tents just south of the Administration Building, and equipped these tents with home-made desks and benches. The first class of Yeomen, 109 in number, was graduated from these tents on October 10, 1917. From that time on the Yeoman School grew steadily, graduating more than lOoo competent Yeomen. The course of instruction in the Yeoman School con- sisted of practical work in all branches of clerical duty ashore and afloat. The period of the course was four months, consisting of twenty-four days instruction in each of the five classes, namely the Commanding Class, Executive and Navigation Class, Ordnance and Engi- neering Class, the G. S. K. Class, and the Pay Class. In the Executive and Navigation Class the men were thoroughly instructed in the duties of an Officers' yeo- THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS .119 man, which compares to a private secretary in civil life, and studied Navy Regulations, Courts and Procedure, and General Instructions. Enough navigation was taught to make the men familiar with all terms and forms with which they were liable to come in contact, and the vast amount of clerical work incident to keeping the records of men aboard ship was gone over. . . The Pay Class familiarized the men with pay rolls, vouchers and the many details incident to keeping the books of the Pay Department in good order. Every man in this class had to open and close sixty-two ac- counts. In this class the men were taught enough en- gineering to make them familiar with engineering f orms and terms. t In the G. S. K. class (general storekeeping) the men had to learn how to check all stores coming aboard,, keep a record of disbursements, make inventories, etc. . , The Ordnance and Engineering Class familiarized the men with the forms and terms used in these departments of a ship's activities. The Yeoman School at Great Lakes covered a little more detail than like schools operated at other Naval Training Stations in that the Great Lakes' School fa- miliarized its students with the duties of Navigation and Engineering Yeomen. t Ensign Robert H. Lenson, who, as a Chief Yeoman, organized the school, was its head during the war period. HOSPITAL CORPS TRAINING SCHOOL Surgeon John B. Kaufman, now a Commander, ar- rived at Great Lakes to establish the Hospital Corps Training School in January, 1917. The school was opened a month before war was declared, with a class of twenty hospital apprentices. In April, 1917, about three hundred hospital apprentices were assigned to the school, and from that time on the number of those un- dergoing instruction steadily increased. On August 2, 1918, the school had a total of 2053 apprentices under instruction. By this time the school required a regi- mental unit for its accommodation, and one of the huge drill halls in Camp Perry was being used for instruc- tion purposes. Bacteriological and chemical laborator- ies., were equipped for the instruction of forty men at a time in the identification of different infections, blood cdts, and urinalysis. A pharmaceutical laboratory, said to be the largest of its kind in the country, allowed 144 men at a time to be instructed in the different pro- cedures in practical pharmacy. The course of instruction in this school covered a period of six months. The method of teaching was a system of lectures alternating with practical instruc- tion and demonstration, with examinations monthly. The subjects taught included: Hygiene and Sanita- tion; Anatomy and Physiology; Pharmacy; Chemistry and Bacteriology ; Materia Medica ; First Aid and Minor Surgery; Nursing. The course in hygiene and sanitation included a series of lectures which began with descriptions from a hy- gienic and sanitary standpoint, of water and air, and gradually advanced until they expounded the central principles governing the hygienic and sanitary condi- tions under which the men of the Navy live, aboard ship and in the field. Under this subject necessarily came the study of foods and mess management, so the chem- ical analysis of foods was taught in this course. The course in Anatomy and Physiology embraced lee- . THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 121 tures supplemented by demonstrations. This course, with the exception of work in the anatomical dissecting room and physiological laboratory, approached that of the first year in a medical college. The courses of Pharmacy and Mater ia Medica were, perhaps, taught more fully than any of the others, for it was only at the school that an opportunity for obtain- ing a knowledge of these subjects was afforded the men. It was presumed that the men enlisting as hospital ap- prentices had had no previous instruction in these sub- jects, and the courses were so outlined as to begin with fundamental principles and slowly add thereto until, within the period of six months, the complete courses had been covered. The men were taught to make tinc- tures, spirits, waters, emulsions, and to compound pre- scriptions. Specimens of all the articles in the pharma- copoeia were displayed in study cases for the instruc- tion of the men, and lectures of a general nature de- scribed their uses. In First Aid and Minor Surgery the men also began with first principles, followed by instruction that qualified them to meet practically all emergencies. The course embraced thorough instruction in the application of bandages, splints, tourniquets, and the technique of minor operations. In so far as possible the students were given practical exercises. During sham battles a certain percentage of the participants were instructed to fall wounded. The hospital apprentices followed the battle line, inquired of the fallen men the location of their supposed wounds, and then applied the bandages and splints in a thoroughly professional manner. The subject of chemistry was taught in an elementary way, only such things being given as were vitally neces- 122 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION sary. In the bacteriological laboratory the students were taught how to use and care for the microscope, and make the many kinds of tests required for the identi- fication of infections, blood cells, urinalysis, etc. Practical experience in nursing was obtained by being detailed to duty in the hospital and regimental sick bays at Great Lakes, and at other naval training stations throughout the country. The head instructors of the different branches were: Lieutenants W. E. Thomson, J. G. Davis, A. H. Ben- hard, C. P. Dean and G. L. Grain, and Pharmacists L. E. Bote, C. H. Deane and L. R. Mason. The school graduated 2853 hospital apprentices, first class, during the war period. These graduates were sent to the fighting ships and to naval bases after a pe- riod of nursing in naval hospitals. Many performed admirable service on the transports which brought the wounded soldiers back from France. The fight against the influenza epidemic at Great Lakes in the autumn of 1918 provided a graphic page in the history of the school. For more than a month the hospital corpsmen in training worked day and night to combat the epidemic and stood up gamely under the strain. THE RADIO SCHOOL When the need for radio operators to take over the various radio stations in the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Naval Districts became apparent, steps were taken to enroll in the Naval Reserve Force such men as were available. As the warships of the Great Lakes' Train- ing Squadron were placed in commission, and demands began to be made for radio men for the merchant ma- rine, it became apparent that the radio men available THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 123 would not, in any measure, fill the demand. Accord- ingly, a recruiting campaign was carried on, whereby a great number of men were enrolled for instruction in radio work. These men reported to Great Lakes and were placed under the instruction of the radio opera- tors at the Great Lakes' radio station. But as the num- ber of radio apprentices increased, the error of this ar- rangement became apparent, and early in May a radio school was organized under the direction of Ensign D. A. Nichols, of the Naval Reserve Force. During the summer of 1917 the Radio School grew in size until it had four hundred men under instruction, the radio apprentices enlisting in the Naval Reserve Force being under the instruction of Ensign Nichols, and those enlisting in the regular service receiving in- struction from Radio Gunner W. A. Sullivan. In November, 1917, the school was moved into a por- tion of one of the new regimental units in Camp Perry, Ensign Nichols was detached and sent to Europe, Radio Gunner Sullivan assuming charge. By January, 1918, the number of men receiving radio instruction had grown so large that it was necessary to devote the entire regi- mental unit to its purposes, and plans were formulated for partitioning one of the huge drill halls into code in- struction rooms. The entire plan of the school was re- organized in February, 1918, when Ensign M. B. West assumed charge, on a basis that allowed each man. to advance in his work, not as a member of a class, but as his individual progress warranted. By the time this reorganization was completed the school had a capacity for simultaneously instructing 2580 men. Boatswain H. R. Gibson was Regimental Commander. The majority of the men available for instruction in i2 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION the school at this time had had no previous experience in radio work, so the requirements for entrance were simply that the applicant show, by reason of education or experience along similar lines, that he was good material for radio work. Later, however, after considerable preliminary study, it was decided to adopt a psychiatric examination for all the men entering the Radio School. This psychiatric examination was formulated from data secured by ex- amining, first, a number of men who had completed the course with satisfactory results; second, a number of men who were progressing well in the school, and third, a large number of men who had failed to make satisfac- tory progress. The result of this psychiatric examina- tion was such that less than six percent of the men who completed the radio course at Great Lakes failed in the more advanced course given them at Harvard Uni- versity. The course of training consisted of instruction in the Continental-Morse code, the students having to acquire a speed of approximately twenty words a minute; and instruction in the principles of electricity and magnetism, including motors, generators, and the principal parts of the various pieces of apparatus used in radio work and in connection with it. The length of the course of instruction was inde- terminate, being governed solely by the individual prog- ress made by each man. As soon as a man failed to make satisfactory progress, he was examined psychi- atrically, and then given another opportunity or trans- ferred, according to the results. No advancement in rating was given at Great Lakes, except in the cases of men assigned to duty as instruc- THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 125 tors. These men were given such ratings as their as- signment and ability made desirable. The final examinations consisted of both the press and code groups, sent at varying speeds in order to de- termine the actual operating ability of the individual. The greater number of the 4259 men graduated were transferred to Harvard University for further study, after which they were assigned to the fighting ships, transports and merchant marine. THE AVIATION SCHOOLS The Aviation Regiment at Great Lakes, consisting, during the final months of the war, of four schools hav- ing a total enrollment of nearly 5000 men, had its be- ginning in June, 1917, in two tents at the foot of the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The fight to bring Aviation to Great Lakes was be- gun by Captain Moffett at the outbreak of the war. The Navy Department was not easily convinced. After two months Captain Moffett was authorized to enlist a few men for aviation and do what he could without an appropriation of money or equipment. Lee Hammond, an experienced aviator, was enrolled in the Naval Reserve Force as a lieutenant, junior grade, and Great Lakes' aviation unit was started as a flight school with two officers, ten enlisted men, and no equip- ment. The Great Lakes' Aeronautical Society was formed by prospective students, and money was donated to purchase machines and equipment. The first ma- chine, an antiquated Curtiss flying-boat, was received early in July, 1917. Gradually, this little school accumulated seven ma- chines of various types and worth, the number of men 126 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION in the unit was increased, and training flights became a daily occurrence. Of the fifteen students who got their first flight training in this unpromising school not one failed to secure a commission. In the autumn of 1917, the Navy Department author- ized the establishment at Great Lakes of a school for Machinists' Mates (aviation) and preparations were made to house this school in Camp Perry, with one of the drill halls as an instruction building. The move to Camp Perry was made early in December, and for a few weeks the eighty men then composing the aviation unit devoted their time to organization work. Men who were anxious to get into aviation work were trans- ferred from the seaman regiments and enrolled from civil life, until the number so obtained reached the 2000 mark. In March, 1918, the School for Machinists' Mates became a reality. At about the same time Cap- tain Moffett went to Washington and obtained an ap- propriation of more than $600,000 for a great aviation camp. Meanwhile, without authorization and with what material could be borrowed or improvised, a school for aviation quartermasters was created. And al- though this school continued to operate without author- ization until August i, 1918, it was the Navy's principal source of quartermaster material (aviation) during all that time. The aviation quarters in Camp Perry were poorly adapted to the necessities of aviation, but the training of Machinists' Mates and Quartermasters continued un- der difficulties until the middle of July, 1918, when the schools were moved into the great, especially designed regimental unit constructed to the north of the Main Station for Aviation purposes. A week after the Avia- THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 127 tion Unit was installed in its new quarters the School for Aviation Armorers was started. The flight school from which the Aviation Unit orig- inally developed was not revived in 1918, but the old quarters at the foot of the bluff that looks out over Lake Michigan became a Naval Air Station during the sum- mer months of 1918. In the hangars were kept three of the latest types of seaplanes and flying boats, cared for by a crew of graduate Machinists' Mates and Quar- termasters. Lieutenant Hammond and other officers of his command made flights every day for experimental purposes. An aerial mail service was also inaugurated between Great Lakes and Chicago. Because of the pressing need of aviation officers for ground service a fourth school was added to the Avia- tion Unit about the first of September, 1918, namely the Aviation Officers' Ground School. Thus, from the two officers and ten men of July I, 1917, the Aviation Unit grew until it consisted of nearly 5000 men, including 65 officers, 130 chief petty officers, and 450 instructors. In the offices alone one hundred and twenty-five men were required to handle the oper- ating detail. During the final few months of the war the Machinists' Mates School had 1440 men under con- tinuous instruction; the Quartermasters' School, 480 men ; the Armorers' School, 600 men ; the Aviation Of- ficers' Ground School, an average of 80 men. The lat- ter were all men of mature age, usually thirty years or over, and the purpose of their training was to fit them for the various executive positions at Naval Air Sta- tions, both in the United States and in Europe. Up to the latter part of March, 1918, the Aviation Unit had not a single motor on the block, nor a single 128 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION piece of machine shop equipment. When the armistice was signed, the equipment of the unit consisted of ninety Curtiss, forty-eight Liberty, seventeen Hispane-Suiza, fourteen Sturtevant, and a small number of Gnome, Hall-Scott, Renault, Greene, Wisconsin, Thomas, and Duesenburg motors; two Curtiss HS-i boats, one Cur- tiss H-2 boat, two Curtiss F boats, two Curtiss N-9 boats, and a Sturtevant boat. The Armorers' School possessed sixteen Lewis standard machine guns, sixteen Lewis aerial machine guns, twenty-three Marlin air- craft machine guns, three Davis non-recoil 3-pound guns, and one Davis non-recoil aero machine gun, to- gether with a large amount of minor equipment. The great machine shop was equipped with sixty-two milling machines, sixty-three lathes, thirty-three drill presses, thirty-two shapers, seven power saws, seven universal grinders, one woodworking machine, one automatic knife grinder, one turret screw machine, one planer, and a vast quantity of smaller machinery. The purpose of the School for Aviation Quartermas- ters was to turn out men qualified to keep in repair the wings, wing structures, and pontoons of the Navy's fleet of aerial ships. To graduate, these men had to become proficient in the work of patching the wings, replacing broken struts, rigging up the wiring, and overhauling the pontoons or boat portion of the machines; have a working knowledge of the construction of heavier-than- air flying machines ; and be familiar with the principles of flying. The course covered a period of ten weeks, the first two weeks of which were devoted to such sub- jects as infantry drill, the study of naval regulations, and guard and detail duty. The School for Aviation Machinists' Mates gradu- THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 129 ated men qualified to care for and repair aeroplane mo- tors. Special training was given in the care and repair of Liberty motors. Not only did the students in this school have to learn quickly to detect engine troubles and apply the remedy, but to use the many kinds of shop machines and tools required for the upkeep of aeroplane motors. The course covered a period of three months. At the time the School for Aviation Armorers was es- tablished there was no settled policy as to the training of such armorers. The need of men with such training was just being fully realized, as the service was only then beginning to feel the lack of competent men to care for the various types of armament peculiar to aerial warfare. The course of study determined upon was extremely intensive and covered a period of two months. As an example of this, each man, when reciting, was required to stand at attention immediately his name was called, and the instructors were trained to ask a multitude of questions which could be answered briefly, rather than have the student go into detail in the manner of recita- tion. The result of this method was to keep the interest and attention of the class on edge at all times. The subjects studied by the Aviation Armorers in- cluded the Marlin and Lewis machine guns, the Clark bomb, the Springfield rifle, the Colt 45-calibre pistol, the Davis 3-pound gun, Very's signal pistol, bombing gears and sights, and mechanical and hydraulic types of syn- chronizing gears. Also a course of training in the use of shop tools. The first students in the School for Aviation Armor- ers were men detailed by the Bureau of Navigation from the rifle ranges in the east, and from the Lewis Machine- 130 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Gun School, and the Savage Arms Company. All the other students were men picked from the Incoming De- tention units at Great Lakes. The Aviation Unit at Great Lakes turned out a total of 3350 graduates, of whom the Machinists' Mates were 2158 in number; the Quartermasters, 850; the Armor- ers, 300; and the Ground Officers, 41. Popular opinion bestowed upon the actual flyers all of the excitement of the aerial branch of the service, but the falconers of old considered it a great sport to take their birds out and watch them battle high in the air with some feathered foe. The aviation ground men were as vitally interested in the success of their charges as were those sportsmen of old. The success of the battle depended quite as much upon the condition of the machine as it did upon the skill of the flyer. The officers attached to the Aviation Unit during the late summer of 1918 were: Lieutenant Lee Hammond, Commanding Officer; Lieutenant C. S. Baker; Lieu- tenant (j. g.) E. H. Barry; Lieutenant (j. g.) F. B. Christmas; Lieutenant (j. g.) D. P. Forbes; Lieutenant (j. g.) P. K. Wrigley; Lieutenant (j. g.) Malcolm R. McNeill; Ensign D. B. Billings; Ensign F. F. DeClark; Ensign F. S. Dorhman; Ensign G. D. Dumas; Ensign H. H. Fitch; Ensign S. P. Mahoney; Ensign H. B. Groom; Ensign R. M. Modisette; Ensign P. G. B. Morriss; Ensign G. M. Peltz; Ensign W. C. Shilling; Ensign F. H. Starr; Ensign L. A. Vilas; Ensign R. L. Whitman; Boatswain Walter Brown; Gunner P. S. Drake; Machinist C. E. Edwards; Machinist H. A. Kjos ; Machinist H. W. Loyd ; Machinist J. S. Marley ; Machinist L. J. Pitzer; Machinist C. A. Sneddon; Ma- chinist Ray D. Wilson. THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 131 THE OFFICER MATERIAL SCHOOL It might be said that the Officer Material School at Great Lakes had its beginning with a class of forty men, consisting of a number of warrant officers, chief petty officers, and men of lower ratings, which received in- struction in building 303, Camp Dewey, during the months of January and February, 1918. This class was under the supervision of Lieutenant-Commander Ogden T. McClurg. The course given the students consisted of Navigation, Ordnance, Seamanship, and Drill. The class was recommended for commissions by Captain Moffett at the completion of the course. This class re- ceived commissions as ensigns in the Naval Reserve Force, class 4, in March, 1918, and the majority of the men were assigned to duty in the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Naval Districts. The last six months of the war, however, found many of these men occupying berths as officers on ships of the fleet. On April 17, 1918, seventy-five enlisted men, chosen by regimental commanders and heads of departments on the Station as prospective candidates for the Annapolis Reserve Course, were formed into a class and given a three-weeks' course of preparatory instruction. Lieu- tenant F. C. McCord was placed in charge of this class. His assistant instructors were Lieutenants Arthur Rob- inson and Paul Hendron. Early in May, Lieutenants C. J. McReavy and Perry R. Taylor were attached. The original intention was that the fifty men who passed highest in this class should be sent to Annapolis, but, when the call came, the quota allowed Great Lakes accommodated only thirty-four. The thirty-four men chosen were commissioned as ensigns in the Naval Re- 132 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION serve Force, class 4, on May 31, and sent to Annapolis for the four months' course which would qualify them for temporary commissions in the regular Navy. At about the same time the Bureau of Navigation au- thorized the establishment of a regularly constituted Officer Material School at Great Lakes, and the thirty- nine men of the class of seventy-five who studied for entrance to the Annapolis Reserve School, but who failed to be sent there, were the first students enrolled in this new school, and comprised the first and second classes. Beginning with June, 1918, a new class, composed of twenty men selected from the different regiments and departments at Great Lakes, and eight men selected from the other District organizations, entered the school each month. No candidates were received directly into the school from civil life. It was necessary for men wishing to enter this school to enlist in the regular Navy or the Naval Reserve Force, serve at least two months at Great Lakes or in the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Na- val Districts, be recommended for the school by their regimental commander or commanding officer, and pass a competitive examination. The minimum age for candidates was twenty years and eight months ; they had to be physically qualified to perform all the duties of a line officer afloat; and they had to be high school graduates or the equivalent, and know trigonometry. The course of study covered a period of sixteen weeks, and the intention was to graduate one class of twenty- eight men each month. The subjects studied qualified the students for deck duties only, and consisted of Navi- gation, Ordnance, Seamanship, and Regulations and Na- val Customs. Instructors in Officer Material School At Work on a Flying Boat A Miniature Flying Machine Designed by the Students One of the Famous "Singing Squares" Presentation of the Colors A Review on a Pageant Day THE SPECIAL SCHOOLS 133 Graduates of the school were recommended to the Bureau of Navigation for commissions as ensigns in the Naval Reserve Force, class 4, for duty at sea or in the Naval Districts, or for an intensive course of instruction at Annapolis. Lieutenant F. C. McCord was placed in charge of the school, which was at that time located in Camp Dewey, in quarters that were so thoroughly inadequate that plans were developed for the construction of a specially designed group of school buildings. On June I, 1918, Lieutenant C. J. McReavy relieved Lieutenant McCord as head of the school. During the summer months re- markable progress was made in spite of the handicap of inadequate quarters. The first class to graduate from the school consisted of nineteen men, three of whom were commissioned two weeks before their course was completed, as they were needed for overseas duty. The remaining sixteen men received their commissions in August. The first of September the organization of the school was further perfected by the establishment of an execu- tive and disciplinary department, with Lieutenant Perry R. Taylor in charge. A new system of school regula- tions incorporating a demerit clause which took account of such offenses as turning the head in ranks, unpol- ished shoes, and the like, was instituted. The result was a gratifying "tightening up." The second class to be graduated consisted of twenty students. These men received their commissions Sep- tember 30, 1918. The group of buildings constructed for the particular purpose of the Officer Material School was completed about the middle of September, but, due to the influenza 134 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION epidemic, the move to the new quarters was not made until October 2. The new unit consisted of an Administration Build- ing and Instruction Building, four barracks buildings, and a mess hall. The Administration Building con- tained the offices of the school, the officers' quarters, a wardroom, and a dining room. In the Instruction Building were located four large classrooms, a rigging loft, and the offices of the instructors. The barracks buildings each contained twenty-eight rooms, each of which was occupied by two students, and a recreation room. On the roofs of all the buildings in the unit were mounted signal bridges and masts for use in the course on signaling. Each one of these bridges repre- sented a ship. The officers and instructors attached to the school when the armistice was signed were as follows : Com- manding Officer, Lieutenant C. J. McReavy, U. S. N. ; Executive Officer, Lieutenant Perry R. Taylor, U. S. N. ; Officer in Charge of Navigation Department, Lieutenant T. M. Leovy, U. S. N. ; Assistant Navigation Instructor, Ensign Thor Norberg; Officer in Charge of Ordnance Department, Lieutenant (j. g.) D. R. Knape, U. S. N. ; Assistant Ordnance Instructor, Lieutenant (j. g.) H. E. Coe, Jr., U. S. N. ; Officer in Charge of Seamanship Department, Lieutenant (j. g.) M. T. Wilkerson, U. S. N. ; Assistant Seamanship Instructor, Ensign K. Scott. CHAPTER VIII PAGEANT DAYS AND SPECIAL REVIEWS THOUSANDS of visitors thronged Great Lakes on pageant days. They came in long train- loads, on electric cars, and in automobiles. They came singly and in groups, from far-distant as well as nearby towns and cities; great delegations of them came from all the larger communities of the Mid- dle West. Every Wednesday afternoon they flowed in a steady stream through the guarded gates, then lost themselves in the great wooden camps and in the multiplicity of tented streets, finally to become massed around the main parade ground to witness a series of drills and battle maneuvers the like of which was not duplicated any- where else in America. And whatever the impulse that brought them, whether of curiosity, a desire for excitement, or some deeper personal urge, these visiting thousands became en- veloped in an atmosphere that lifted them off their feet. It was magnificent, the sight that greeted their eyes; the spirit that permeated it all. There was nothing like it anywhere, on so large a scale. Imagine the scene that spread out before the visiting thousands on Wednesday afternoons during the sum- mer of 1918. Imagine it! Forty-five thousand of the youth of the Middle West perhaps a fourth of them just out of high school, and the majority of them under 135 136 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION twenty-one Standing By for Inspection, or Passing in Review on the great drill field. Down the field they come, battalion after battalion of them, swinging along to the martial music of America's greatest band; their white uniforms spotless, their rifles glinting in the sun ; their faces bronzed and cheery. And more than the martial music of the bands, the booming of cannon, and the pageantry of marching men, it was, I think, the pervasive spirit of all those young faces that so tremendously moved the visiting thousands to enthusiasm. Great Lakes was undoubtedly the show place of the Middle West during the war period, and probably the biggest military attraction in the entire country. There was not one Wednesday review held during the sum- mer months of 1918 at which the number of visitors fell below 30,000, and during July and August the number rose above 40,000. On one of the Pageant Days in August, 46,000 visitors entered the gates of the Main Station. On this day the automobiles allowed to pass through the gates numbered 4200. On such days the railroads and electric lines connect- ing Great Lakes with Chicago were taxed to the utmost. The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad started run- ning special trains long before noon, and even then could not take care of the traffic. Thousands of people could get no further than the train shed in Chicago, so great was the congestion. The interurban electric roads ran double and triple-headers as close together as they could be operated, and the Chicago elevated lines ran long trains of its cars all the way to Great Lakes over the lines of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad. For hours on these days the roads between PAGEANT DAYS AND SPECIAL REVIEWS 137 Chicago and Great Lakes were as thick with automobiles as any great city thoroughfare. The throngs of visitors came early and stayed late. Thousands of them had to wait hours before they could get near a train or electric car. For miles the auto- mobiles had to move at a snail's pace so great was the congestion on the highways. Yet every week found the crowds greater. It is estimated that several hundred thousand people, thousands of whom came hundreds of miles, visited Great Lakes and carried away with them a clear idea of what Navy efficiency means. The regular Pageant Day feature was the Passing in Review before the Commandant and his staff, and any particularly distinguished visitors, of the thousands of white-clad bluejackets. After the review several drills were given, the most popular of these being the physical drill under arms, the men executing the differ- ent movements in cadence with the music. Another ex- ceptionally popular feature was the "singing squares.'* In this formation a battalion of four companies formed a hollow square, with the regimental band in the middle, and marched past the reviewing stand, singing. On special Pageant Days a sham battle followed the regular review. A bugle sounded. Three heavily armed tanks propelled themselves across the parade ground, followed by a motorcycle battery of machine guns. Company after company of white-clad sailors advanced in wave formation, their heads hooded in gas masks. From the grove of trees to the west a battery of camouflaged three-inch field pieces opened up with ear- splitting detonations. The cannon projecting through the gun ports of the tanks answered, the advancing sail- ors fired in volleys ; gas bombs were exploded along the i 3 8 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION entire line of advance, throwing out thick clouds of yel- low smoke. The noise of battle became deafening, the bursts of sound from the machine guns and the rattle of musketry filling the gaps between the detonations of the larger guns. High overhead two flying boats circled and swooped. Here and there a sailor dropped, to be cared for a few minutes later by the men of the hospital corps, who rendered first aid and carried them from the field. Then the battle was over and the thousands of spectators scattered to hunt up relatives or friends among the bluejackets, or to re-gather in the great ra- vine amphitheatre to watch the boxing matches. The sides of the ravine were built up into tiers of seats and accommodated close to fifteen thousand spectators. Many notable men, both American and European, visited Great Lakes during the war period and watched the bluejackets pass in review on the regular weekly Pageant Days or on special occasions. Among them were : Colonel Roosevelt ; Rear Admiral L. C. Palmer, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation; Rear Admiral Al- bert Ross, the first Commandant at Great Lakes; Rear Admiral Cameron McRae Winslow ; Secretary Daniels, who visited that Station twice; Rear Admiral Harris, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks ; Rear Admiral W. C. Braisted, Surgeon General of the Navy; ex-Presi- dent William Howard Taf t ; Captain Roald Amundsen, discoverer of the South Pole ; William G. Me Adoo, Sec- retary of the Treasury; Dr. Henry Van Dyke, at one time United States Ambassador to the Netherlands; Surgeon-General Gorgas, U. S. A. ; Admiral W. S. Ben- son, Chief of Naval Operations; Count Vincenzo Macchi di Cellere, the Italian Ambassador ; General Em- ilie Gughelmotti, Italian Military Attache ; Captain Gui- PAGEANT DAYS AND SPECIAL REVIEWS 139 seppe Bevione, Chairman of the Italian Chamber of Deputies; the Duke of Devonshire, Governor General of Canada; Captain Arthur Snagge, British Naval At- tache to the United States ; Colonel Hammersley, Mem- ber of British Parliament ; Captain H. A. Clive, British Army; Mr. Colville Barcley, C. B. E., M. V. D., Acting British Minister during the absence of the British Am- bassador, Lord Reading; Major-General J. G. Mc- Lachan, D. S. O., British Military Attache at Washing- ton; Brigadier-General W. A. Whitehead, C. M. G., Head of British-Canadian Recruiting Commission; Prince Axel of Denmark; Governor Frank O. Lowden of Illinois ; Ira Nelson Morris, American Ambassador to Sweden. What many of these men had to say about Great Lakes should be of interest to every man connected with it. The following comment of Admiral Benson, the highest officer in the Navy, made when he visited Great Lakes in November, 1918, should be particularly grati- fying: "After seeing the work being done here I am leaving with renewed confidence in the ultimate success of the work laid out for the Navy to perform. "It is impossible to say too much in praise of Captain Mofrett and the way he is conducting the Station. I am speechless. The spirit that pervades this Station is so fine that it is hard to put it into words. Every ele- ment fits in exactly in the teamwork of the whole. Every man seems to have an intelligent appreciation of what we are trying to accomplish and with that failure is impossible. Every man feels his individual responsi- bility. That is shown by the work being done on this Station. "I was over in Camp Farragut last night and saw the i 4 o THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION men there. They have taken hold of things already. They show what the young men of America can do. Mr. Sharpe is doing great work with the new men. That is just one of the things that fits in the general scheme that is carried on here. "The band is the most inspiring thing I have ever listened to. It is doing a great war work. I believe it is doing more to arouse the spirit of the people than any other one element. It carries the spirit of Great Lakes to all the cities it visits on its Liberty Loan and other tours. "Great Lakes has always had the reputation of send- ing the best men to the Fleet. It has maintained that reputation even when the men were sent out without the full period of training. I know it will keep that reputation." The Italian Ambassador was particularly impressed with what he saw at Great Lakes. Probably no greater compliment was paid the Station than "The Spirit of America is concentrated here at Great Lakes." "I came here expecting to see a great naval station," he continued, "but I didn't realize its greatness until after I saw what you are doing. I was greatly sur- prised when your Commandant told me that the men leading the companies were ordinary sailors. In Italy we would have three, four, five commissioned officers with each company. But that is the way you are doing things here. "It is hard for me to put into words what I think of Great Lakes. I am so surprised at the great war preparations here that I don't know just how to express my wonder. But now I know at least one reason why the United States has been so successful in getting men to France. It is because you are turning out such fine fighting men." PAGEANT DAYS AND SPECIAL REVIEWS 141 The efficiency of Great Lakes was epitomized by Cap- tain Arthur Snagge of the British Navy as follows: "If Great Lakes is the largest Naval Station in the United States it is easily the biggest in the world; no English Station can compare with Great Lakes in size at all. What strikes me is the obvious interest, the ob- vious keenness to learn in these men. Great Lakes is the most complete thing of its kind I have ever seen. I can appreciate this training station after my eight years' experience as head of the Naval Physical Train- ing Headquarters Station at Portsmouth, England." "Great Lakes is going to make the people of the Mississippi Valley feel that they have a frontage on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans," declared Dr. Henry Van Dyke, in addressing the bluejackets. "I am happy to be here in this, the greatest Station of the finest Navy in the world. I feel that this Station is go- ing to do something more, something in addition to training men for active service in our splendid Navy. It is going to inspire the spirit of patriotism right here in the central location of our country." "I haven't the words in your American language to express how wonderful it all is," said Captain Roald Amundsen. "It is more than wonderful." Secretary Daniels had the following things to say when he addressed the men at Great Lakes : Great Lakes always sent the best men to the Fleet, and since the war it has sent even better men. A gentle- man asked me some time ago where the Great Lakes Station was located. I told him that it was located in the hearts of the American people, and that in its men the country had reposed a confidence which would be fully justified. You already know that whenever the 142 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION captains and commanders in the Fleet wish men who are clean of limb and clear of head, able instantly to do any work they are called upon to do, that the training at Great Lakes is a certificate of efficiency. There was a fiction some years ago that the Navy was found on the Atlantic and Pacific, but the world has come to know now that the greatest Naval establish- ment in America is here in the heart of the Middle West. A few days ago I had the pleasure of meeting a dis- tinguished visitor from Great Britain, the Archbishop of York. He said to me "When I return to Great Britain, the deepest impression I will carry with me, and the one I think speaks highest for American efficiency, will have to do with the 30,000 youths at Great Lakes." I have taken occasion to examine the records of the various training stations and of the young men who come into the Navy. I have found from statistics that the young men who come from Great Lakes have in their bodies and in their spirits the things that make a sailor meet every need. In cleanness of living, and absence from disease that scars body and mind, the recruit from Great Lakes surpasses those from any other Station in our Navy. CHAPTER IX THE GREAT LAKES' "LIBERTY" BAND IT was only appropriate that Great Lakes, the largest Naval Training Station in the world, should have the most wonderful military band in America a band that won country-wide fame. It was not surprising that this great band of fourteen hundred musicians, the average age of whom was nine- teen years, should have proved, when it toured the coun- try in several detachments, to be the most effective or- ganization in all the United States for the arousing of a deep, sincere patriotism of the kind that makes sacrifices as well as applauds. Perhaps at no time was the power of music over the minds and pocketbooks of Americans so keenly demon- strated as during the Second, Third and Fourth Liberty Loan campaigns. A great number of "boosters" of na- tional prominence were at the disposal of the loan man- agers, eloquent speakers harangued the public on every street corner and in every place of entertainment, but it remained for the Great Lakes bandsmen, leading great patriotic parades, to add the final punch. During the Second Liberty Loan campaign, the Great Lakes Naval Band, which at that time numbered about three hundred and fifty musicians, toured the principal cities of the East, with the result that in many instances districts oversubscribed their apportionment nearly 143 i 4 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION double, while every community visited by the band in- creased its subscriptions. On October 12, 1917, Baltimore, Md., held two his- tory-making Liberty Loan rallies, during both of which the Great Lakes Naval Band effectively aroused the peo- ple to an enthusiastic acceptance of the duty required of them. Inspired by this band, the 18,000 people, who attended each of the two rallies, subscribed $20,348,200. Thus Baltimore, helped by Great Lakes, accomplished what its newspapers described as the biggest triumph in its history. The story was the same wherever the Great Lakes' Naval Band played during the Second Liberty Loan campaign. This great band made its first appearance in New York as a big feature of New York's "Red Cross" week, in October, 1917. Fifth Avenue wasn't big enough for it. It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that, in mak- ing the plans for the Third Liberty Loan campaign, Secretary McAdoo asked Secretary Daniels for the use of the Great Lakes bandsmen. Captain Moffett as- signed detachments of the band to practically every Fed- eral Reserve District, except those that bordered on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. More than six hundred members of the band were en route at one time during this campaign. Detachments of the great band, made up as follows, were assigned to five of the Federal Reserve districts : Third Federal Reserve District, headquarters, Phila- delphia: one detachment of sixty pieces, under Band- master Wm. Brown. This band toured eastern Penn- sylvania and New Jersey. Fourth Federal Reserve District, headquarters, Cleve- THE GREAT LAKES' "LIBERTY" BAND 145 land: one detachment of fifty-four pieces, under First Musician F. G. Scheon. This band toured Ohio, west- ern Pennsylvania and part of West Virginia. Seventh Federal Reserve District, headquarters, Chi- cago : a detachment of one hundred and fifty-five pieces, including a fife and drum corps of thirty pieces. After playing in Chicago and two or three of the larger cities as one band, this detachment was broken up into five bands and toured Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. Eighth Federal Reserve District, headquarters, St. Louis: a detachment of one hundred and twenty-five pieces, under Bandmaster V. J. Grabel. This band played before 200,000 people in St. Louis, and later was broken up into five bands to tour Missouri, Arkansas, Northern Mississippi, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. Tenth Federal Reserve District, headquarters, Kan- sas City: one detachment of fifty pieces, under Band- master H. A. Foelker. This band toured Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and northern New Mexico. In addition to the regular district assignments, bands of fifty pieces were sent out for trips of short duration, playing in Duluth, Minn.; Grand Rapids, Saginaw and Detroit, Mich. ; and in two or three Wisconsin cities. The Battalion Band, composed of three hundred pieces, accompanied by Lieutenant Sousa, and with Monk Tennant, the "Peacock of the Navy," as drum major, appeared at St. Louis, Lexington, Ky., Cincin- nati and Chicago. During the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign more than 1 200 musicians of the Great Lakes Band toured the i 4 6 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION country, appearing in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Da- kota, Montana, Missouri, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennes- see, Kentucky, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Battalion Band, with Lieutenant Sousa in charge, covered 3000 miles, appearing in Cleveland and Colum- bus, Ohio; Washington, D. C; Baltimore, Md. ; Phila- delphia, Pa.; New York, Brooklyn, Portchester, New Rochelle, Ossining, Peekskill, Yonkers, Troy, Albany and Buffalo, N. Y. ; Patterson and Hoboken, N. J. ; New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and Norfolk, Conn. ; De- troit, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, Mich. ; and Chi- cago, 111. The demand for the music of this band was so great that it was forced to play morning, afternoon and eve- ning, and at times it made three cities in one day. One bandsman, who claimed that he kept an accurate count of the number of miles marched in the above mentioned twenty-five cities, figured that the bandsmen covered ap- proximately four hundred miles. After an evening concert the musicians would go aboard the train and wash their clothes, so as to maintain Great Lakes' repu- tation for neat appearance. The big day during the Fourth Liberty Loan cam- paign was October 12, when "Liberty Day" was cele- brated throughout the country. On this day 1200 mem- bers of the Great Lakes band participated in the parades held in the various cities. The Battalion Band led the parade in New York in which President Wilson partici- pated. The parade in Chicago was led by a band de- tachment of two hundred pieces, in charge of Senior THE GREAT LAKES' "LIBERTY" BAND 147 Bandmaster R. Tainter, and seven hundred Great Lakes bandsmen, in detachments of from thirty to sixty pieces each, appeared in parades in practically all the other large cities in the country, excepting New Orleans and San Francisco. The Great Lakes Naval bands made an everlasting impression wherever they appeared. The fine appear- ance of the young musicians as they swung along in their natty blue uniforms, set off with white leggings and hats, the kind of music they played, and the zest with which they rendered it, moved the vast crowds who heard them with a great, surging thrill. There was something in the playing of the Great Lakes' bandsmen that other bands seemed to lack. An editorial tribute in the Chicago Tribune expressed it as follows: "In this office, situated on a principal corner of the city, there is a long and checkered experience with American band music. We make, therefore, with some personal emotion, our acknowledgments to the bluejacket band which has been taking part in the Lib- erty Loan drive. It is a part of the huge Great Lakes Naval Band and an honor to it. When it is heard ap- proaching, there is no doubt as to what band is coming. There is a swinging, martial spirit which is all its own. It is real martial music, of which in this pacific country there is very little. We hope that the Great Lakes Naval Band has given the campaign band a new standard and a new view of life. If it turns out to be so, we shall owe another great debt to Great Lakes." At the beginning of the war the Great Lakes Naval Band consisted of about fifty musicians, under Senior Bandmaster Richard Tainter. By the end of May, 1917, the band had increased to two hundred and forty- 148 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION two musicians, and John Phillip Sousa, the "March King," had been enrolled as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve Force. Lieutenant Sousa was attached to Great Lakes as commanding officer of the band, and took active charge of the larger detachments, notably the Battalion Band, during the Liberty Loan and Red Cross campaigns. His last tour with the band was to Toronto, Canada, just before the armistice was signed, from which city he was compelled to go to his home at Port Washington, Long Island, on account of illness. At the height of its growth the Great Lakes Band consisted of fifteen hundred musicians, formed into a Battalion Band of three hundred pieces, and fourteen large regimental bands. This group of musicians ap- peared a number of times in regimental formation on the main drill field at Great Lakes, the entire personnel play- ing at the same time with success. Imagine it! Fif- teen hundred finely trained young bandsmen, with the "Peacock of the Navy," at their head, advancing down the drill field in solid formation. A torrent of stirring martial music enveloped you as might a sudden storm ; a mighty, energizing volume of music that thrilled you through and through. Detachments of the Great Lakes Band were heard by hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country, but nowhere were the blue- jacket bandsmen heard playing as one unit except at Great Lakes. One day in August, 1918, sixty-eight mu- sicians of the Music Militaire Pranqaise, the greatest of French military bands, visited Great Lakes. This French band was greeted by the largest band ever as- sembled a band composed of nearly fifteen hundred horns and drums and fifes and tubas, playing "We are coming." THE GREAT LAKES' "LIBERTY" BAND 149 But it was not because Great Lakes wanted to have the biggest band in the world that so many musicians were enrolled. It was because Captain Moffett realized the value of martial music as an energizer, as a means for loosening pent-up enthusiasm and making it spill over. Detachments of the Great Lakes Naval Band were in enormous demand during the war period as marching bands, concert bands, and as orchestras. A record was kept that showed hundreds of engagements. The peo- ple of St. Louis seemed to be particularly desirous of having members of the Great Lakes band playing in and about their city. They had one or more bands en- gaged in some kind of war work during practically the entire war period. During 1918 the demand upon Great Lakes to provide bands for the Fleet and for Naval bases was consider- able. The largest single order was for nineteen com- plete bands to be placed upon the transports bringing the soldiers home from France. From November 10 to November 25, 1918, one band per day was shoved off from Great Lakes, so that a continuous chain of bands, one day apart, extended from this Station to the eastern coast and far out into the Atlantic. A total of 3056 musicians were enrolled and trained at Great Lakes during the war period. Approximately 2250 of these musicians were transferred to the fleet and to Naval bases. About forty bands were sent aboard ship. Early in the spring of 1918, owing to the large num- ber of orchestral musicians who desired enrollment, it was decided to form a band unit that could on occasion be transformed into a real symphony orchestra. This i 5 o THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION orchestra contained young musicians who had played in various symphony orchestras of the country, including those of Minneapolis, Chicago, Pittsburg, Philadelphia and Detroit. As the Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra it became widely known. The leader of this orchestra was Bandmaster Felber, formerly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The following is Lieutenant John Philip Sousa's de- scription of his activities as leader of the Great Lakes "Liberty" Band: "In the report of the English Commission appointed to determine the things most important in winning the war music was placed only after food, clothing and shelter. "The first to recognize the necessity and attractive- ness of the concert band, a combination of wood-wind, brass and percussion for purely indoor concerts was Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, who, to use his own words, 'came from Ireland and was born in Boston nineteen years later.' He merged the military band of the 22nd N. Y. N. G. into the Gilmore Concert Band that toured this country from coast to coast and was the musical Messiah bringing the glad tidings to the many that Wagner, Liszt, Verdi, Rossini, and other great compos- ers were realities and not musical myths. "In recalling the work and effect of music during the war there is probably no one in America more entitled to the thanks of our people than Captain W. A. Moffett, Commandant of the Great Lakes Naval Station during the war period. This officer, combining the qualities of an organizer and administrator, a diplomat and a lover of music, realizing the great importance of music in stimulating recruiting, in entertaining, in the pomp and circumstances of military life, and in bringing to the The "Rookie" Band Lieutenant Sousa and a Section of the Great Lakes Band A Detachment of the Great Lakes Band Heading a Parade in Chicago Secretaries of the Y. M. C. A. going through Military Formations M. H. Bickham, General Y. M. C. A. Secretary The Corps of Chaplains THE GREAT LAKES' "LIBERTY" BAND 151 surface all that is patriotic in us, stands among the lead- ing figures of the war. "At our entrance into the war, he began recruiting musicians for the Navy, and after he had attached to his station some one hundred and odd players, he asked my friend, John Alden Carpenter, the well-known com- poser, and one of his officers, Lieutenant James McKes- son Bower, to ask if I would not come to Great Lakes and talk over band matters with him. I left New York immediately and went to Great Lakes, where the Gap- tain and myself had an interview on the necessity of music during the war. He asked me if I would not ac- cept a commission as lieutenant of the line and take charge of the musical forces. I accepted, and I might add, I was offered by the Commandant two promotions during the twenty months I was there but refused them because I felt a lieutenant could do the work just as thoroughly as an officer of higher grade. Captain Mof- fett and myself began formulating our plans and re- cruiting as rapidly as possible. I found the musicians at the station had all sorts of instruments, of all sorts of makes and pitch, but after the forces had been re- cruited to six hundred, the Commandant asked the Navy Department for an appropriation to purchase instru- ments of one pitch and of a standard make. The Hon* orable, the Secretary of the Navy, granted this request and we were given forty thousand dollars for instru- mental equipment. "Although band units and individual players we're continually sent overseas or to the fleet or other stations, the recruiting was so persistent that during the war we had at all times a thousand or more players in training. Our first consideration was the organization of the Band battalion. "The Band battalion consisted of seventeen files of sixteen men each and one file of drums of twelve; the first and second file numbered thirty-two field trumpets 1 52 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION in 'F'; the third and fourth, thirty-two trombones; the fifth, sixth and seventh, forty-eight cornets; the eighth and ninth, thirty-two horns and altos ; the tenth, eleventh and twelfth, twenty-four euphoniums and twenty-four basses ; the thirteenth, ten small drums ; one bass drum, one cymbal ; the fourteenth, sixteen saxaphones ; the fif- teenth, sixteenth and seventeenth, forty-eight *B' clario- nets; the eighteenth file divided among piccolos, flutes and oboes and 'E' clarionets. "In the formation of the battalion the soprano brass was placed on the right flank and the soprano reed on the left flank. The drums came between the heaviest brass and the heaviest reeds. "Apart from the band musicians and field music, we had a color-guard, with a beautiful set of colors pre- sented us by some ladies of New York; guidons, a gift from the New York Hippodrome Organization ; hospital stewards, master-at-arms, one bandmaster for each divi- sion of seventy-five, drum-major and three commis- sioned officers in charge of the military, the musical and the medical departments of the battalion. "We also organized regimental detachments of fifty- six men, a double unit of the Delaware type, under the command of a bandmaster and a drum-major. We had at the station at times as high as seventeen of these bands. "The instrumentation of the regimental bands was made to conform very largely to that of the Band bat- talion. It will be noted that in the instrumentation the first consideration was given to volume and carrying power with the idea that as the military band's work of necessity must be largely outdoors, it is of more ad- vantage to have volume than it is to have variegated coloring." CHAPTER X GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD WHEN the United States entered the World War, Great Lakes, with its comparatively small number of men, was hardly considered as an athletic factor in the Middle West, other than as a possible opponent for some of the smaller colleges. Over night Great Lakes expanded from a few hun- dred men to many thousands, and with this increase came some of the best athletes in the country. No finer set of athletes was ever assembled not the mere beef and bone which is called an athlete in some quarters, but the alive, alert, sensitive, American athlete, all nerve and sinew, with speed and intelligence equally developed with bone and brawn. During the war period Great Lakes set the pace in athletics, producing wonderful teams and individual athletes. Athletics became one of the dominating train- ing ideas, a sure method of developing the "fight" in- stinct that produces the winning punch. Captain William A. Moffett, Commander John B. Kaufman, Athletic Director, and Lieutenant "Jack" Kennedy, in direct charge of boxing and wrestling, were the three men most responsible for Great Lakes' athletic development. Captain Moffett and Com- mander Kaufman encouraged the participation in ath- letics of all the men on the Station by making the dif- ferent games and sports a part of the training course. 153 i 5 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION This "sports-for-all" idea gave every man an equal chance to partake of the benefits of health- and muscle- building recreation. Regimental Athletic Directors were appointed in the various regiments and a systematic program of sports framed that was certain to raise the fighting efficiency of the men. Plans were immediately made to select representative teams to play other training camps and athletic organizations-. That this was not an easy proposition at the beginning may be judged from the fact that when the first call for baseball candidates was sent out by the Athletic Officer in May, 1917, there were, by actual count, 921 aspiring youths who applied for a position on the Station nine. For several days Felix Chouinard, at one time with the Chicago White Sox, bemoaned the fact that he had been selected by the Ath- letic Officer to organize a representative baseball team. By adopting the regimental sport system, however, it soon became possible for Athletic Director Kaufman to place his finger on the men he wanted for his teams. Experts in all lines of athletics were enrolled to admin- ister the finishing touches to the Great Lakes athletes. Track, baseball, football, boxing and wrestling, and swimming experts of the Middle West were obtained. With their cooperation Great Lakes started to rise to a position in the athletic world which became the envy of every Army and Navy camp in the country. In each case men were found whose experience in civil life qualified them to direct the various branches of athletics. Great credit should be given to such pioneers in the athletic history of Great Lakes as Carl Hellberg, Frank Hill, Andy Ward and Eddie Fall in Track; Phil Chouinard in Baseball; Addison Stillwell, GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 155 Pat Smith, Hugh Blacklock, Kitty Gordon, Phil Ray- mond, Phil Proctor, Homer Johnson, Jimmie Conzel- man, Hildner, Loucks, Andrus and Harold Erickson in Football; and Bill Johnson, George Halas, John Felm- ley, David Peppard, Bill Allen, and Loyd Covney in Basketball. The record for the 1917 baseball season was not one over which the sailors could waltz in ecstasy, but there was enough accomplishment to satisfy the athletic di- rector that Great Lakes had the stuff of which cham- pions are made. The members of the Station baseball team in 1917, every one of whom had the real Navy fighting spirit, were : Manager Phil Chouinard, Vince and Charley LaBarge, Herbert Gibson, Tanner, Bar- tholomew, Ripperton, Kleffman, Stair, Goodman, Kohl- man, Eissler and Speaker. Of these 1917 players, Chouinard, Ripperton, Gibson, Kohlman and Stair sur- vived the constantly moving drafts to sea. During the 1917 baseball season, scores of games were played between the regimental teams, but no regular inter-regimental league was formed, owing to the con- gested and transient condition of the Station. Players who were picked for a unit team on one day would be on their way to sea the next. Despite this, however, the sports-for-all idea was given a thorough trial and was not found to be wanting in a single particular. When the leaves turned brown and the autumn sun took on the shape and hue of a pigskin in the late after- noons, Commander Kaufman sounded the call for foot- ball candidates. Again the coaching problem loomed large, just as it had in baseball. Then the presence of Lieutenant Emmett Angell, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F., who had been directly interested in athletics at 156 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION various universities of the country for over ten years was discovered. He was called in from one of the training ships of the Great Lakes Squadron and given the grid mentor's post, with Lieutenant Holly, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Mr. Herman Olcott, of the Com- mission on Training Camp Activities, as his assistants. Coach Angell had thousands of men to pick from, but, strange to relate, the majority of the men who came out for the team were absolutely "green." Then Pat Smith, captain-elect of the University of Michigan team, ap- peared along with three other Maize and Blue warriors, and around these stalwarts was built the Great Lakes football team of 1917. Phil Proctor of the University of Nebraska was another powerful prospect, who later developed into one of the season's stars. After two weeks of loose practice, hindered by the inability of the mentor to obtain real football material, the team went to Milwaukee to combat Marquette Uni- versity. It was beaten 14 to 7, and to this defeat was attributed its later successes, because it made every player a fighter. Following the first lacing, the team stepped out and really covered itself with credit. It battled all its op- ponents in a satisfying fashion and made every sailor a rooter. The team's record for the season follows: Marquett, 14 Great Lakes, 7; Camp Custer, 7 Great Lakes, o; Great Lakes, 21 Haskell Indians, 17; Great Lakes, 27 Benton Harbor, o; Great Lakes, 23 U. of Iowa, 14; Camp Funston, 7 Great Lakes, o; Great Lakes, 9 Camp Grant, 6 ; Great Lakes, 27 Fort Sher- idan, o. The lineup of the team in its important contests fol- GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 157 lows: Conzelman, quarterback; Pat Smith, full back; Erickson and Proctor, half backs; Johnson and Ray- mond, ends; Allen and Blacklock, tackles; Andrus and Robbins, guards; Pottinger, center. During all this time track athletics were being de- veloped, but competition was confined to general meets on the Station. In the first meet there were over a thousand entries. At about this juncture in the history of Great Lakes athletics, there appeared in the enlisted personnel two blue jackets who played a great part in placing the Sta- tion before the athletic world. These men were Harry Hazelhurst and Perry McGillvray, to whom is due all credit for Great Lakes supremacy in swimming. Their duties were to instruct in swimming and build up a team of swimmers to enter into competition with out- side teams. This work was started the latter part of 1917, but due to the lack of pools (there being but one on the Station at that time) but little could be accom- plished until 1918. Great Lakes turned out one of the best basketball fives in the country, despite the fact that prospects for a powerful team were anything but glittering at the out- set. Coach Olcott was placed in charge of the tossers and immediately set out to weld together a strong rep- resentative team. Among the sailors who turned out for the first practice were several who had gained val- uable experience in high schools and colleges, but the first combination put forth by Coach Olcott was unable to hitch and some of the opening contests were dropped because of lack of team play and weakness in basket popping. 158 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION It was not until the enlistment of George Halas, cap- tain of the University of Illinois five, and Bill Johnson, forward on the Illinois Athletic Association five, the National A. A. U. championship winner, that the team took on the appearance of a title outfit. Peppard of the Michigan "Aggies" emerged from Incoming De- tention and in short order convinced the coach that he was the proper man for center. Covney of Detroit was a survivor from the original five. Then, with Covney and Johnson at the forwards, Peppard at center, and Allen and Halas at guards, Great Lakes rapidly popped to the top of the basket- ball ladder. Trips were taken through Illinois, Wis- consin and Michigan, and, out of eighteen games, the sailors landed the decision in seventeen. Victories over Camp Custer and Camp Zachary Tay- lor gave the Station team the service championship of the Middle West. As a reward the players and Coach Olcott were presented with gold fobs by Commander Kaufman. Ice hockey made its bow to the bluejackets as a sport, but from a competitive standpoint the season was not a success. The team was managed by Yeoman Jim Holway. An example of the interest and value of inter-regi- mental sports was evidenced during the winter of 1917- 18 in the Station Basketball League, in which fourteen teams battled for the tossing championship of the camp. After a hard tussle the Hospital School came through with the prize in a brilliant game with the Sixth Regi- ment, the score beins: 20 to 18. Commander Kaufman estimated that eight hundred GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 159 men of the Station took active part in the basketball league play during the season, while five thousand ap- peared at one time or another in the inter-company pleasure skits. As a reward for his good work during the 1917 base- ball season, Chief Yeoman Phil Chouinard, who later was commissioned as an ensign, was honored with the management of the 1918 baseball team. The year 1918 saw Great Lakes a leader or strong contender in every branch of athletics. The baseball team was made up of some of the best baseball players in the country. It included such men as Red Faber and Phil Chouinard, of the White Sox; Joe Leonard, of the Senators; Fred Thomas, of the Red Sox; Ben Dyer, of the Tigers ; Paddy Driscoll, of the Cubs ; Vern demons, of the St. Louis Browns ; Rube Ehrhardt, of Columbus ; John Paul Jones, of the Giants; Bill Johnson, of the Athletics; George Halas, of the University of Illinois; Spence Heath, of the University of Chicago; Rags Faircloth, of the Mississippi Aggies; Billy Fox, of Joliet; Ray Neusel, Bud Croake, Billy Swanson and John Rycroft. Later, the team was enriched by the service of Johnnie Lavan of the Senators and George Cunningham of the Tigers, and gathered in its first big championship game, defeating the best Navy team and thus appropriating the championship of the Navy. This game was with the team representing the Atlantic Fleet, and among its players were such men as Rabbit Maranville, Witt, Del Gainor and Durning. The game was played at Yorktown, Va., on July 4, and Great Lakes won it by a score of 2 to o. Great Lakes later cinched its title to the Navy championship by defeating 160 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION the same team two games out of three at Great Lakes and one game at the National League baseball park in Chicago. Still later, the Great Lakes baseball team turned a listening ear to the Fifth Naval District team, which boasted of such ball players as Big Bill Jacobson of the St. Louis Americans. It defeated this team in two straight games at Great Lakes. During the 1918 baseball season Great Lakes had twenty regimental teams, each completely outfitted in distinctive uniforms. At the beginning of the season a league containing all these teams was formed, but at mid-season it was considered wise to terminate the schedule, and the leader the Detention Bears was awarded the victory. Ten of the teams were then or- ganized into a so-called National League, and the re- maining ten were dubbed the American League. A schedule which terminated on September 15, was drawn up for each of these leagues, and the winner in each played a series of five games to determine the Station championship. The Seventh Regiment (Radio School) was the winner in the National League, and the Third Regiment in the American League. In the series for the Station Championship the Seventh Regiment won. The Great Lakes swimmers Harry Hazelhurst, Perry McGillvray, Buddie Wallen, Bayard McClana- han, Davy Jones, Johnny Bennett, Zeke Laubis, Charlie Stevens, Clark Leach, Jack Searle, Bill Vosburgh, Ed- die Reeves and Frank Pickel gathered practically everything worth while during the season of 1918. The outdoor championship of the United States, and also of the Central A. A. U. were won by large margins. Perry McGillvray established three new world's rec- GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 161 ords as follows: the 150 yd. back stroke, 1 148-4/5; 220 yd. straight-away, 2:21-2/5; 100 yd. backstroke, 1:07- 4/5. Buddie Wallen established two new world's rec- ords the 440 yd. straightaway, 5 min., 25 sec. ; and the 880 yd., ii min. 27-1/5 sec. McGillvray also did the 100 yd. backstroke in 1:15, a new Central A. A. U. record. In the indoor swimming championships of the United States, the Great Lakes swimmers, exclusive of the water polo, won three firsts, three seconds, and one third; the Illinois Athletic Club, three firsts, one sec- ond, and two thirds ; and the Chicago Athletic Associa- tion, won the plunge for distance, was second in the diving and in the 200 yd. breast stroke, and came in third in the 50 yd., 400 yd., and 500 yd. relay races. The water polo championships, which required draw- ings just before the time set for play, were drawn for position two days before the event. When it came time for the Great Lakes Second team to play, a measles quarantine barred several of the players from contest- ing and a re-drawing was requested. The Illinois Athletic Club agreed to this, but the Chicago Athletic Association objected. Great Lakes and the Illinois Athletic Club protested playing in what was con- sidered a farce, as the Chicago Athletic Associa- tion team would receive second place without hav- ing to play. The President of the National A. A. U, upheld the contention of Great Lakes and a re- drawing was ordered. The Chicago Athletic Associ- ation would not consent, however, and Great Lakes and the Illinois A. C. played each other, the Illi- nois A. C. team winning by a score of 5 to 2. The executive committee of the National A. A. U. ruled that 1 62 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION this was illegal and gave first and second place in water polo to the Chicago Athletic Association, and with it the National Indoor Swimming Championship. This de- cision Commander Kaufman accepted without further protest. Boxing and wrestling brought their share of cham- pionships in 1918. In the National Wrestling Cham- pionships, Great Lakes was barely defeated by the Gary Y. M. C. A. Great Lakes won both the boxing and wrestling championships in the Central A. A. U. boxing tournament. The novice wrestlers gathered in the championship in the American Amateur Federation. Both boxing and wrestling went strong at Great Lakes during 1918, weekly shows, held in the ravine amphitheatre during the summer months and in one of the huge drill halls during the winter, drawing thou- sands of enthusiastic visitors as well as the bluejackets. Lieutenant "Jack" Kennedy, the supervising officer, had as his staff of instructors such boxers as Jack Kunovski, Eddie Nearing, Maurie Flynn, Morris Bloom, Billie Walters, Teddy Hayes, Ritchie Mitchell, Pal Moore, Cal Delaney, Eddie Stanton, Stewart Donnelly, Jack Bunk, Jack Heinan, Denny and Jack O'Keefe, and Tommy White. The staff of wrestling instructors in- cluded Ben Reuben, Jack Gruppel, Herb Singer, Sam Vernon, Al Forst, Don Frazee, Joe Stecher, Louis Natt and Arnold Minkley. It was these men who developed the young boxers and wrestlers who represented their regiments and schools in the inter-regimental matches which made up the weekly shows. They developed such clever youths as Schmader, Dowd, Kendall, Johnson, Gavin, Corbin, GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 163 Henry, Craddock, Doyle, Gladstone, Favor, Karl, Miller, Emro, Bushe, Powers, Gilbert, Counzelman, Witt, Romero, Stein, McGuire, Ford, Swartz, Mazurka, Neu, Bryant, Burke, Kelley, Shields, Dahl, Gall, Pikter, Lindgren, Frigher, Richi, Hodja, Cohen, Wicker and Farr. The rule that was followed, without exception, was to allow no professional to enter the ring, and to permit no contests in localities where boxing was illegal, unless specific permission was granted for such bouts by the city officials. The popularity of boxing at Great Lakes was vouched for by such fighters as Jess Willard, Jack Dempsey, Jim Corbett, Bat Nelson, Eddie McGoorty, Charlie White and Ad Wolgast, all of whom were frequent specta- tors at the ringside, and sometimes acted as referees. During 1918, track athletics came to the front. The Great Lakes track team won the Central A. A. U. out- door track championships, was runner up in the Central A. A. U. Indoor Track Meet, and won the Army-Navy championships in the Senior National Track Meet held at Great Lakes. For the Central A. A. U. Indoor Track Meet, held at Great Lakes on April 6, 1918, the Station constructed one of the finest indoor tracks in the history of the games. This was an oval board track, 15 ft. wide and but six laps to the mile, with a central straightaway 20- ft. wide and so long that it was possible, for the first time in track history, to hold the 120 yd. high and low hurdles indoors. This track, with its oval turns, was constructed in the Camp Dewey's 6oo-ft. drill hall by bluejacket carpenters, under the direction of Chief i6 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Carpenter C. J. Lishman and Frank E. Cox of the Pub- lic Works Department. The seating capacity was 10,- ooo. By September, 1918, Great Lakes had completed its wonderful outdoor track field, consisting of a quarter- mile oval, a 220 yd. straightaway, and the now famous 440 yd. straightaway. On this field were conducted the National Outdoor Senior and Junior track cham- pionships. Both of these championships were won by the Chicago Athletic Association, which was fortunate in having several of its best point winners furloughed from the various service camps. Great Lakes won sec- ond place in the Senior Championships, and Pelham Bay, the big Naval Training Station just outside of New York, won second place in the Junior Champion- ships. A considerable number of Army and Navy camps were represented, but as Great Lakes scored more points in the Senior Championships than any of these, Great Lakes was awarded the National Service Championship. This was in spite of the fact that the meet was held during the period in which the influenza epidemic struck Great Lakes. The influenza and minor injuries robbed Great Lakes for the time being of such athletes as Andy Ward, National 100 and 220 yd. cham- pion, Eddie Fall, conference mile champion, Benz, a con- sistent point winner in the shot-put and discus, and sev- eral lesser athletes who had been depended upon to gather a point here and there. Franz Marceau was in charge of the track athletes. The Great Lakes point winners in the National meet were: Arthur Henke, winner of the Senior and Junior 100 yd. events; Murchison, winner of the Senior 220 yd. event ; Hause, winner of the Senior 440 yd. hurdles ; GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 165 Muller, winner of the Senior discus event; Allman, sec- ond and fourth in the Senior 56-lb. shot-put ; Knoureck, second in the Senior pole vault; Gilfellan, second in the Senior discus event; and Reidel, fourth in the 120 yd. hurdles. In the Junior National Meet the Great Lakes point winners were Hause, Boeddecker, Windrow, Allman, Wilkins, Leffler and Arthur Henke. It was this latter stripling who, although sick when he went on to the field, sent word to Commander Kaufman that he would run anyhow and do his best for Great Lakes. He won the Junior and Senior 100 yd. dash, and in winning the latter proved his superiority over the best in the coun- try. For several months after the meet Henke was a dangerously ill sailor. This National A. A. U. meet, held at Great Lakes on September 21, 22 and 23, 1918, was one of the greatest track meets ever held in America. Over in the sand-pit a lithe aviator from Canada was gracefully leaping over the jumping standards; down near the bleachers a husky marine from the South was swinging a metal disc; while on the cinder track a Great Lakes sailor, a doughboy from the Far West, and a civilian from the Atlantic seaboard were sprinting for the finish tape at breakneck speed. This is a characteristic pic- ture of the athletic field at Great Lakes, when track and field athletes, representing every section of the country, collaborated in their efforts to give Great Lakes the distinction of entertaining the greatest "made in America" athletic carnival. More than seven hundred service and civilian athletes participated in the three-day event. Their jerseys bore the colors or design of nineteen civilian athletic organi- 1 66 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION zations, eighteen Army and Navy camps, and six uni- versities. There may have been other athletic meets held in America during which more new records were established, or in which there were a greater number of contestants, but, in the general summary, this 1918 meet eclipsed all of its predecessors. The military note predominated. According to such amateur athletic potentates as Charles A. Dean, President of the Nat- ional A. A. U., Frederick Rubien and Justice Bartow Weekes, no athletic affair of such magnitude had ever been so smoothly conducted. Not one protest, accident, or mishap of any kind blemished the record of the three- day competition which is a tribute to the efficiency of the athletic system established at Great Lakes. The Great Lakes football team of 1918 played a stiff schedule of games without a single defeat, proving that it had no superior in the country, either among the service or the university teams. It won victories over Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers, Annapolis and the Mare Island Marines. This team was in the early part of the season coached by Herman P. Olcott and Frank Haggerty, and later by Lieut. C. J. McReavy, U. S. N., assisted by Dana Morrison. Its personnel was composed of men who had previously represented some college team and in- cluded Emmett Keefe, Notre Dame, (Captain) ; J. P. Combe, George Tech; H. A. Ivy, Lawrence High, Kas. ; F. W. Swanekamp, Superior High, Wis. ; L. B. Andrew, Kansas Manual Training Normal; J. R. Col- lins, Bayler Institute, Tex. ; H. E. Welch, Toledo High ; V. R. Richards, Alma College, Mich ; H. W. Bliss, Ohio State; J. L. Doherty, Cincinnati Subs; Bert Griffith, St. Louis ; C. L. Paulsen, Kansas State Normal ; W. M. GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 167 Byers, Ames, Iowa; Charlie Bachman, Notre Dame; Paddy Driscoll, Northwestern; Harry A. Eilson, Northwestern; Jimmy Counzelman, Washington U; C. G. Langenstein, Freeport High; E. J. Abrahamson, Lawrence College, Wis. ; W. O. McClellan, West Vir- ginia Wesleyan ; H. S. Lauer, University Detroit ; Harry A. Erickson, St. Olaf; F. R. Willaman, Ohio State; R. W. Williams, Kansas Normal; A. J. Reeves, Ottawa University, Kan.; B. H. Miller, Bridgewater High, Iowa; C. S. Bernard, Springfield Normal, Mo; Jerry Jones, Notre Dame; George Halas, Illinois; R. W. Reichle, Illinois; L. S. Bernard, Springfield Normal, Mo.; C. L. Ecklund, Minnesota University; C. H. Knight, Northwestern; J. W. Mosser, Penn. State; F. H. Thomas, Northwestern; Hugh M. Blacklock, Michigan Aggies; M. H. Conrad, Kalamazoo College, By virtue of its victories over Rutgers and Annapolis in the East and its undefeated contests with the middle western teams, including Illinois (7-0) this team was selected by the Tournament of Roses Committee of Pasadena, California, to play the best western (Coast) team for the football supremacy of the United States. The game was played at Pasadena, Cal., on New Years Day, 1919, Great Lakes being opposed by the strong team representing the Mare Island Marines (Cham- pions of West Coast by elimination contests). The score was 17-0 in Great Lakes favor, and, as a result of this, Mr. Walter Camp declared the Great Lakes Team to be the undisputed football champions of the United States. During the football season of 1918 fifteen regimental and school football teams were organized. A full sea- son was played and after a gruelling struggle the 1 68 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION 7th Regiment (Radio School) was declared the winner. The Great Lakes basketball team of 1918 played twenty-six games and defeated the following teams; Lake Forest; Bloomington; Wisconsin University (two games) ; Illinois; Northwestern (two games) ; Chicago; Northwestern College; James Millikin University; Bloomington Nationals; Bradley Polytechnical Inst. ; Knox College ; Fort Wayne, Ind. ; Detroit Rayls ; Kala- mazoo College; Warrensburg Normal School (two games); Camp Sherman; Rochester N. Y. Centrals; and the University of Buffalo. The personnel of the team comprises John Felmley, (Captain) Illinois University; Paddy Driscoll, North- western; George Halas, Illinois; "Con" Eklund, Minne- sota U; Bill Chandler, Wisconsin U; "Chief" Gurnoe, Carlisle; "Dizzy" Wassenaar, Grinnell College; Otto Steager, Northwestern College, Naperville ; R. A. West, James Millikin U; Ralph Allard, Iowa; Ed Zwicky, Madison High. Also Foley, Bill Johnson and Kircher participated in the first few games, but were mustered out in the early part of the season. The team was coached by Mr. Herman P. Olcott. During the basketball season, 1918-19, Great Lakes had seventeen regimental basketball teams, all fully equipped. These regimental teams were divided into two leagues, one playing on Mondays and Thursdays of each week, while the other played on Tuesdays and Fridays. The leagues were named from the days they played, Monthurs and Tuef ris. These individual teams were made up of excellent material and the games were played before great crowds of bluejackets. The team representing Aviation (i5th Regiment) was declared the winner of the Monthur league and the 3rd Regi- GREAT LAKES' ATHLETIC RECORD 169 ment of the Tuefri league. These representative teams then battled for the Station supremacy in a series of three games, Aviation winning two straight games and thereby earning the title of Inter-regimental Champion's for the year. Great Lakes fostered many other branches of sport. It had a representative hockey team playing games in various cities, and boasted of the fastest ice skater in America Art Staff. It also had such skaters as Gold- stein, captain of the racing team; and Laury Peterson, of Chicago, and George Martin, of Milwaukee. It also had the greatest amateur ski jumper in America Einar Jensen. Cage ball, push ball and many like games were en- couraged. The Great Lakes soccer football team was victorious in the majority of its games. The latter part of 1918, the Patriotic Bowling As- sociation of Illinois presented Great Lakes with ten bowling alleys at a cost of $8000. These bowling alleys had no superior in the country. With their completion, bowling teams were organized and competed in various contents in the vicinity of Great Lakes. The men most responsible for the success of the bowling teams were: Sykes Thoma, Clark Moses, Frank Kafora, Oswald Carmichael, Frank Miller and Marshall Moore. This chapter would not be complete without a word of praise for the three men whose ability as trainers assisted so materially in keeping Great Lakes athletes on edge. These bluejackets were Fritz Zehner, K. F. Miller and Doc Rose. Nor should the men who worked unceasingly as assistants to Commander J. B. Kaufman in the Athletic Office be forgotten. This staff included Johnny Coolidge, Carl Hellberg, Bill Edwards, Chet 170 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Faust, Babe Stillwell, Lute White, Otto Devinney, Dick Leahey, Savy Sedgewick, Cy Ward, Grut Waite, "Three I" Gillford, Fritz McNally, Bill McClellen, Happy Seigel, "Cautious" Hopkins, Norm Kline, Bill Ryan, King Kruegel and Charlie Kuhn. Several of these men became commissioned officers before the signing of the armistice. CHAPTER XI THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS ONE of the prime requisites of military training is a high morale. There is no way in which this can be better accomplished than by afford- ing the men under arms the little comforts that they find missing in their transition from civil to military life. The Naval organization had a hundred and one ex- ceptionally important things to accomplish, therefore, it had not the time to provide for the smaller, although very important, details having to do with the personal welfare of the men. To the boys at Great Lakes there was a big, compre- hensible meaning in the word "Home." There was a difference between barrack-life and home-life that was hard to bridge it must be remembered that the major- ity of the boys at Great Lakes came more directly from the influence of their mothers than the recruits of any other branch of the service. To bridge this was the task of such organizations as the Illinois Auxiliary of the Naval Relief Society, the American Red Cross, the Y. W. C. A., the Y. M. C. A., the Jewish Welfare Board, the Lutheran Brotherhood, the Christian Science War Relief and Camp Welfare Committee, and the Knights of Columbus. 171 172 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION ILLINOIS AUXILIARY NAVY RELIEF SOCIETY The Navy Relief Society, organized in 1904 by Ad- miral George Dewey, has for its purpose the protection of the families and dependents of officers and enlisted men in the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Naval Militia and the Naval Reserve Force. If a man is lost at sea, or in any service whatever, leaving a family in need, the Navy Relief Society steps in and assumes financial responsibility, providing amply. Arrangements are made whereby children may continue their education. Widows are taught vocations, and employment is found for them. Helpless dependents are cared for until death. Quite naturally the Illinois Auxiliary of the Navy Relief Society, organized in 1916, with Great Lakes as its headquarters, was the largest chapter of the organi- zation during the war period. With a membership of approximately 25,000, it was the haven of refuge for thousands of bluejackets who were in distress, or whose dependents were. At the outbreak of the war it was apparent that the Navy Relief Society could not long survive, if it re- mained dependent alone upon its uniformed member- ship for support, so the aid of civilians was enlisted. The treasury of the Illinois Auxiliary received many thousands of dollars from entertainments, shows and other enterprises, but principally through the production of "Leave it to the Sailors," and "The Great Lakes' Revue," two theatrical or musical offerings in which only Great Lakes bluejacket talent appeared. The Illinois Auxiliary also operated the canteen and cafeteria on the Main Station at Great Lakes, which THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 173 also produced a considerable amount of revenue for benevolent purposes. Other states in the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Naval Districts had auxiliaries of the Navy Relief Society, but their activities were confined to their own states, and they operated through Washington. The Illinois Auxiliary also operated through Washington, but due to the fact that Great Lakes is located within its jurisdic- tion its field for local work during the war was of tre- mendous proportion. "How can the Navy Relief help but conflict with the American Red Cross?" was a question often asked. But there was no duplication of effort, because the func- tions of every one of the organizations in operation on or near Great Lakes was clearly defined, and each had its separate line of endeavor. The sweaters, comfort kits, and knitted articles donated by the Red Cross were dis- tributed at Great Lakes by the Navy Relief organiza- tion. The officers of the Illinois Auxiliary of the Navy Relief Society during the war period were: Honorary President, Captain William A. Moffett, U. S. N. ; Presi- dent, Mrs. W T . A. Moffett; First Vice-President, Lieu- tenant Commander James Grimes, U. S. N. ; Second Vice-President, Commander J. B. Kaufman, U. S. N. ; Third Vice-President, Lieutenant Commander C. S. Roberts, U. S. N. ; Fourth Vice-President, Lieutenant Commander A. C. Wilhelm, U. S. N. ; Civilian Vice- Presidents, John J. Mitchell, Charles Swift, Governor Lowden, Ambrose Cramer, John C. Pitcher, Archbishop Mundelain, Arthur T. Aldis, Byron T. Harvey, Mrs. J. Ogden Armour, J. Allen Haines, Charles H. Wacker, Miss Lolita Armour, H. C. Chatfield Taylor, Max Pam, 174 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Ira J. Couch, and J. O. Hinkley; Secretary, Lieutenant J. D. Doyle, U. S. N. ; Assistant Executive Secretary, Lieutenant K. S. Goodman, U. S. N. R. F. (deceased) ; Corresponding Secretary, Ensign J. J. Boyle ; Recording Secretary, Chief Yeoman, R. J. Mason; Treasurer, Lieutenant Commander R. S. Robertson, U. S. N. ; As- sistant Treasurer, Chief Yeoman T. H. Durst; Mem- bers of the Executive Committee: Captain W. A. Mof- fett, Mrs. W. A. Moffett, J. J. Mitchell, Ambrose Cramer, A. T. Aldis, H. S. Chatfield-Taylor, Mrs. J. Ogden Armour, Lieutenant K. S. Goodman (deceased), Charles Swift, Phillip Warriner, Lieutenant Com- mander A. C. Wilhelm, Lieutenant Commander C. S. Roberts, Commander J. D. Willson, J. C. Pitcher, Byron T. Harvey, Chaplain Thompson, Commander J. B. Kaufman, Hugh Fisher, Lieutenant Commander Rut- ter, Ensign J. J. Boyle, Lieutenant G. C. Isbester, En- sign W. E. Clow, Jr., Lieutenant J. D. Doyle, Captain Odell, Lieutenant C. S. Dewey, Keene Addington, Lieu- tenant Commander R. S. Robertson, Chaplain Moore, Captain Evers, Ensign Abrams, R. J. Mason. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS At Great Lakes, as elsewhere through wide areas of territory in this and other countries, the work of the American Red Cross was the filling in of the little fis- sures bound to show in such an emergency, adding a humanizing touch here and there in order to create a condition smoother to the understanding and sympa- thies than would otherwise have been the case. Operating within the loosely defined limits set for it by the Navy Department, conforming in every respect to its rules and regulations, these organizations found it THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 175 entirely feasible to add to the happiness of the officers and men at Great Lakes, to contribute to their material and spiritual comfort. Early in the spring of 1918 the American Red Cross saw the need of a convalescent home in the section at Great Lakes occupied by the Hospital Group. The site was selected in conference with the Station officials, ground was broken, construction begun, and on June 12, 1918, the much needed Red Cross House was com- pleted and put to immediate use. The Red Cross House provided both bed and board for the relatives and friends who visited the patients. It contained a naval hospital canteen, with the necessary offices and conveniences. A large assembly room, with a stage for theatrical and other entertainments, was one of its most notable features. In this room many dra- matic, musical and intellectual diversions, as well as games of many kinds, were provided for the men con- valescing from accident or illness. Stationery was fur- nished in large quantities to give these sailors the chance so eagerly seized to write letters home. More than 10,000 letters were mailed out of the Convalescent Home every month. During the influenza epidemic, in the early autumn of 1918, the Red Cross House provided shelter and com- fort for hundreds of mothers, fathers and other close relatives of dangerously ill sailors. More than a hun- dred such people, called to Great Lakes by the urgency of the illness, were provided for every night. The cots provided for them were all numbered and a careful reg- ister was kept, so that any summons from the hospital could be quickly met. Other services rendered to the relatives of sick men included the making of arrange- i 7 6 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION ments for trains and sleeping berths, and the provision and operation of automobiles to carry them back and forth between the hospital and the railway stations. To assist in the care of the hundreds of patients at the Hospital, the American Red Cross sent out to the Station seventy-five of its own nurses, while thirty more were used to serve the urgent needs in the families of officers and enlisted men living in the surrounding towns. It also supplied, within a few hours after the request, five motor ambulances to aid in carrynig the stricken sailors from the camps to the Hospital. In reference to this work, Mr. Charles T. Atkinson, who became Field Director of the American Red Cross at Great Lakes on September i, 1918, received the fol- lowing letter from the office of the Commandant, signed by Lieutenant Commander J. M. Grimes: "I avail my- self of this opportunity to express to you and to your associates in the conduct of the affairs of the American Red Cross at the Hospital and at the Training Station, my profound appreciation of the splendid cooperation extended by your organization during the period of the recent epidemic of influenza. You cannot realize how timely and how valuable this assistance was in our ef- forts to control and suppress this epidemic, properly care for the patients and their relatives, and otherwise meet conditions of an unprecedented character. I was particularly impressed by the manner in which the American Red Cross anticipated every want of the men and their relatives, and the prompt, effective and satis- factory manner in which they were supplied. We are under a debt of everlasting gratitude to you and your associates, and at this time I shall have to content my- self with a simple expression of our sincere thanks." THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 177 Still another activity was carried on by the American Red Cross in connection with the U. S. Naval Hospital at Great Lakes. Beginning in August, 1917, the Lake Forest Branch of the Chicago Chapter of the American Red Cross took upon itself the work of supplying the hospital with thousands of surgical articles, all of which were greatly needed and hardly to be had, owing to the general demand. During 1917, the Lake Forest Branch provided 6000 sponges, 1750 compresses, and hundreds of rolls, laparotomy pads, drains and the like. This work was continued through 1918, but with materials furnished by the Navy. During September and Octo- ber, 1918, the Lake Forest Branch sent to Great Lakes 2000 masks for the better control of the influenza epi- demic. In addition, the Chicago Navy Auxiliary of the Amer- ican Red Cross sent to Great Lakes nearly 20,000 hos- pital garments and 300,000 surgical dressings of all kinds. Great Lakes received recruits in no small number from the Southern States of the Mississippi Valley, even from as far as the western boundary of Texas. These young men came to the Station with no preparation for the rigors of a northern winter, and the winter of 1917-18 was unusually bitter and prolonged. There- fore, it is not over estimation to state that the Red Cross supply of knitted goods prevented much illness and great suffering. The grand total of sweaters, socks, helmets, mufflers and wristlets given out, all knitted goods, was close to 200,000. Close to 60,000 comfort kits were also given out. This was the record of the Department of Military Relief. Complementing this, the Depart- ment of Civilian Relief provided nearly 20,000 garments 178 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION to the families of sailors living in the vicinity of Great Lakes. In the late summer of 1918 still another phase was added to the activities of the American Red Cross at Great Lakes. This was the work of the Home Service branch of the organization in caring for the dependents of the men in the service. It was carried on under the direction of Mr. L. H. Stafford, Associate Field Di- rector in charge of Home Service in the Bureau of Civilian Relief. His assistants were Mr. D. H. Mc- Gregor, in charge of the Main Station and of Incoming Detention ; Mr. J. W. Jorgenson, in charge of the Avia- tion Camp ; Mr. S. E. Spencer, in charge of Camp Luce ; Mr. A. J. F. McBean, in charge of Camp Paul Jones; Mr. P. J. Hoffman, in charge of Camp Dewey; and Mr. U. S. Villars, in charge of Camp Perry. The work of these men was to free the minds of the sailors of any cause for worry regarding their families. They ex- tended hearty invitations to every man in the service to come to them with their home troubles. With more than 3000 chapters of the Red Cross throughout the country it was found possible in every case, after verifying the statements of the men, to aid the loved ones at home. During September, 1918, the first month that the service was in operation, five hundred worthy families were relieved; in Oc- tober, one thousand; and in November, one thou- sand four hundred not as a charity, but as a duty. A recruit in Camp Farragut, for instance, after hear- ing the invitation of the Assistant Field Director de- tailed to Incoming Detention to come forward with his troubles, remarked rather casually that he had left his wife with only a dollar or two, but it would be all right THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 179 as he would send her his pay every Saturday night. The question of family allotments was, of course, a somewhat complicated one, demanding much book-keep- ing in Washington and elsewhere, so the field direction knew that it might be several weeks before that par- ticular wife received any money. As a result, she was provided for through the chapter of the Red Cross in her locality before she had come to want. Mr. Julian R. Steward was the Field Director of the American Red Cross at Great Lakes up to September i, 1918, when he was relieved by Mr. Charles T. At- kinson. Mr. W. D. Benjamin was the first Assistant Field Director, but he was relieved in August, 1918, by Mr. H. W. Patterson. At the same time, Mr. Charles G. Bolte became Associate Field Director in immediate charge of the hospital activities. His assistants were Mr. George H. Dunham, in charge of the field service, and Mr. Vern P. Farrer, in charge of supplies. THE Y. w. c. A. The work of the Y. W. C. A. in helping to bridge the gap between the home and the training camp was of considerable importance at Great Lakes. In its two commodious and delightfully cozy and homelike Hostess Houses was found that touch of femininity so utterly lacking in the military orderliness of the barracks. These houses were a haven for young sailors as well as for the women folk who came to visit them. The Hostess Houses of the War Work Council of the National Board of the Y. W. C. A. solved the problem which arose in every camp and cantonment throughout the country that of meeting the needs of the civilian relatives and friends of the men. In August, 1917, i8o THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Captain Moffett asked for a Hostess House, to be erected near the Main Gate. This structure, built along the lines of a California bungalow, was opened to the sailors of Great Lakes and their relatives and friends on January i, 1918. It consisted of a large enclosed porch, a combination living and tea room, a woman's rest room, a nursery and an emergency room. The wide en- closed porch or sun parlor gave the Hostess House a strikingly comfortable and home-like appearance. All the rooms were furnished with exquisite taste, and the wicker furniture the kind that looks cool and comfort- able was arranged in such a way that groups of friends could talk and visit without being disturbed by other groups. Great fireplaces added to the coziness during the winter months. By the early spring of 1918 this Hostess House had become so popular among the sailors and civilian vis- itors that Captain Moffett sent in an urgent request that it be enlarged to more than twice its size, so as to include a large cafeteria and greatly to enlarge the other ac- commodations. Furthermore, he requested that at least one other Hostess House be built, for the accom- modation of the sailors and civilian visitors in Camps Dewey and Perry. Both these requests were carried out, and the second Hostess House, quite different in architecture, was ready for occupancy on July 10, 1918, near the main gate of Camp Dewey. It would be hard to enumerate all the needs of civilian visitors which were met by the Hostess Houses. They were not only the meeting places for thousands upon thousands of sailors and civilian visitors, but places where women visitors could take their troubles and have THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 181 them solved. If they found it difficult to locate a son, husband or brother in the multiplicity of training camps, they came to the secretaries of the Hostess Houses for help. Its battery of telephones was kept almost con- stantly busy locating sailors and connecting them up with relatives or friends. Sometimes, after a futile search of many hours, the visitors who came to the Hostess Houses succeeded in locating their men almost immediately. The number of visitors taken care of by the Hostess Houses average more than 10,000 on the regular weekly review days, more than 3000 on Sundays, and between six and seven hundred on ordinary days. It may be well to state here that although Wednesdays and Sundays were designated as Visitors' Days at Great Lakes, any civilians coming from a considerable distance to see par- ticular men were admitted on any day. Such visitors were usually directed to the Hostess Houses as the most likely places in which to connect up with the sailors they wished to see. As a result, the secretaries of the Host- ess Houses acted as a "get-together" medium with fine results. Nearly every day more than a hundred sailors were located and connected up by telephone with visiting relatives or friends. This meant a great many tele- phone calls, often as many as twelve calls being required to locate one man. Every week the Hostess Houses received anywhere from fifty to one hundred inquiries from relatives of sailors as to rooms available in the neighboring towns : These women were sent to responsible parties who had been appointed to take charge of such work in the sur- rounding communities. 1 82 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Many of the sailors took the opportunity while in the Hostess Houses to write home. The stationery used averaged close to 1500 sheets per day. The nurseries in the Hostess Houses, which were very attractively and practically furnished, were used to their capacity. They were often the meeting places of a young mother and her sailor husband, who there saw, for the first time, his little son or daughter. The Hostess Houses became the scene for many wed- dings, some of which were rather elaborate affairs, with many flowers, music and even a wedding breakfast. One of the weddings was most unexpected, as it took place in one corner of the rest room without any fore- warning. The father of the bride was the minister, and two of the hostesses served as the necessary wit- nesses. A typical Sunday morning scene in one of the Hostess Houses might be summed up as follows a sailor stand- ing before a big fireplace popping corn, while many others were writing letters or reading, and at the same time being amused by a little three-year-old girl who was visiting at the House that day. Throughout the huge living room and sun porch were scattered families, many of whom had come long distances to spend the day with their "boy." And there, also, were a couple of families waiting for the hour or so during which they could visit the hospital. During the evenings, when all the civilian visitors had left the Station, the Hostess Houses belonged just to the sailors. Then a group of them, among whom might be found a number of nurses who had left the Hospital for a short period of recreation, could be found around the piano, playing and singing. Secretaries of the American Red Cross at Great Lakes Interior of the Jolly Tar Club The Reading Room at Red Cross House THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 183 The Hostess Houses were not places where formal entertainment was provided for the men, since other organizations on the Station were ably organized , for such work. The Hostess Houses were especially meant to provide all the home comforts and to be, in the truest sense, just a "bit of home on the Station." However, from time to time, special invitations were extended to the Naval nurses for informal social affairs and an ef- fort was made to make that splendid group of woman workers feel perfectly at home in the Hostess Houses. The Hostess Houses were also used by many parents and relatives summoned to Great Lakes on account of the serious illness of their men. They used the Hostess Houses as home, sometimes for many days or weeks, where help, comfort and sympathy were given them. One day during a cold, early spring, a poor mother, summoned from her farm in Northern Minnesota on account of the dangerous illness of her son, arrived at the hospital in a calico dress and a gray sweater. The medical staff of the hospital sent her to the Hostiess House to be cared for. For the week or ten days trrat it was necessary for her to be near her son until the danger point was passed the Hostess House provided her meals and every other home comfort during the time she could not be at the hospital. A comfortable room was found for her in a nearby community. This was only one of hundreds of instances. During the influenza epidemic in the early autumn of 1918 the Hostess Houses did tremendous work in mak- ing conditions more comfortable for the women who were called to Great Lakes by the dangerous illness of their sons and husbands. Many bereaved ones were taken care of. The following was a typical instance: 184 Early one morning a telephone message came from In- coming Detention asking that a Hostess House secre- tary come for a mother who had just arrived from Ne- braska to find that her son had died during the night. She was taken to the Hostess House after all arrange- ments had been made for shipping the body back home. Then, while she was made comfortable in the rest room, information was secured as to her train connections, and later in the day she was taken to the hospital by the Hostess to see her boy before he was shipped home, and, finally, she was safely put on her train in Chicago. The enlarging of the Hostess House on the Main Sta- tion, designed to more than double its capacity, was fin- ished just in time to be used to great advantage during the influenza epidemic. The number of relatives and friends of stricken sailors who had to be cared for on the Station both day and night was so great that the Red Cross Home was inadequate alone to meet it. There- fore, the two Hostess Houses were utilized to care for at least half the immediate relatives. This meant that, when the epidemic was at its worst, nearly one hundred persons a night were accommodated by the Hostess Houses. Provisions were made whereby at any mo- ment, day or night, relatives could be rushed to the Hospital in automobiles. In addition to twelve cots and bedding for the same, provided by the War Camp Com- munity Service through Mr. Charles Moore, most of the cots and bedding needed were loaned by the Station. In addition to the service rendered in the two Hostess Houses, the Y. W. C. A. forces were asked to take charge of similar work in Incoming Detention, and did the work well and effectively. Not only did the forces of the Hostess Houses pro- THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 185 vide every comfort possible for the relatives of the sick men, but they were able to do much for the sailors on the Station, particularly as all the Y. M. C. A. buildings had been turned into sick bays. All the men on the Station were in quarantine during the influenza epi- demic, and the Hostess Houses were the only places where the men detained on the Station could gather out- side their barracks. The Hostess Houses were there- fore thronged, and no attempt was spared to make them at "home" in every sense of the word. During the epidemic period the Hostess Houses dis- tributed to the sick bays throughout the Station from thirty to forty gallons of egg-nog per day, besides many cases of fruits, and especially tempting meals asked for by the doctors for particular patients. In appreciation of this work Lieutenant Commander Grimes, Acting Commandant, wrote the following letter to Miss Frances Greenough, Directing Hostess at Great Lakes : My dear Miss Greenough: I desire to tender to you an expression of our pro- found appreciation of the splendid service rendered by you and your associates at the Y. W. C. A. Hostess Houses during the period of the recent epidemic of in- fluenza. You cannot realize how invaluable the coop- eration extended in this way developed as a result of the epidemic. I was particularly impressed with the manner in which you and your fellow workers, and the organization generally, anticipated and met with promptitude the most urgent necessities of the patients and their relatives during this trying period. We shall always feel under a debt of gratitude for the many kindly services performed at that time, and I shall have to now content myself with offering you a simple ex- pression of our sincere thanks. 1 86 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Captain Moffett wrote: My dear Miss Greenough: I wish to express to you and to the ladies in charge of the two Hostess Houses my appreciation and heart- felt thanks for the devoted and efficient service which your organization rendered during the recent influenza epidemic. You may be quite sure that the officers and enlisted men of Great Lakes will always gratefully re- member what you have done, not only in taking care of the sick and convalescent, but in helping to lighten the suffering of the parents and relatives of the men who were desperately ill. The untiring work of the ladies in charge of the Hostess Houses have been an inspira- tion to all of us, for which I can never really adequately express my admiration. The staff of women who directed the Hostess Houses at Great Lakes during the war period were: Mrs. Lawrence W. Viles, Chairman of the Hostess House Committee ; and Mrs. Ralph Poole, Mrs. Ezra Warner, Jr., Mrs. Chauncy Blair, Mrs. Frank Hibbard, Mrs. A. Watson Armour, Mrs. Charles Hutchinson and Mrs. Martin Ryerson. The Directing Hostess of the two houses at Great Lakes was Miss Frances P. Greenough. Her assist- ants were: Mrs. George Magoun, Miss Mary Ken- nedy, Miss Miriam Heermans, Miss Mable Dunham, Mrs. Carrie Green, Mrs. Fred Kitch, Miss Catherine Stewart and Mrs. George Carlson. THE Y. M. C. A. Of all the Welfare Organizations which operated at Great Lakes the Y. M. C. A. had by far the largest staff of workers and the largest number of buildings. It was a far cry from the Bible classes, the night schools and the gymnasiums of civil life to war activities, but the THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 187 Y. M. C. A. spanned the gap at Great Lakes and found a fertile field in which to work. Nations at war must, in the rush of preparation, over- look to some extent the small things that go to make for the comfort of the fighting forces comforts without which the men would be at a serious loss. Admittedly, one of the prime requisites of military training is a high morale. There is no way in which this can be ac- complished better than by affording the men under arms the little comforts that they find missing in their transi- tion from civil to military life. This was the main task of the Y. M. C. A. at Great Lakes, the work that it set itself to accomplish. The first of the Y. M. C. A. buildings constructed at Great Lakes, largely by the labor of the secretaries themselves, was the first Y. M. C. A. building erected for distinctly wartime work in any of the camps or can- tonments in the United States. Additional Y. M. C. A. buildings were erected as Great Lakes expanded. At the time the armistice was signed the Y. M. C. A. build- ings were eighteen in number, one for each regimental unit. The style of the various Y. M. C. A. buildings varied according to the nature of the regimental units in which they were located. In the Detention regiments, for in- stance, the buildings were smaller than in the regular training regiments, because in the latter the men were allowed to gather in larger groups. All of the buildings, however, were provided with a platform or stage for entertainments and lectures, with equipment for moving pictures and lantern slides. Pi- anos, victrolas and mechanical organs were placed in each building for the use of the sailors and the enter- 1 88 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION tainers who came to amuse them. Games of many sorts were scattered throughout the buildings, and the amount of equipment, both for indoor and outdoor groups, was very large. In each building there were excellent facilities for reading purposes. During 1917, the Y. M. C. A. secre- taries secured and distributed practically all the books and magazines used in the various camps. Various agencies in Chicago and along the North Shore gath- ered the books and magazines and sent them to Great Lakes for distribution by the Y. M. C. A. Among these organizations, special credit is due the Collegiate Period- ical League, which organized the gathering of material in Chicago, and to the Illinois Motor Corps, which trans- ported this material from Chicago to Great Lakes. Also various clubs, churches, and many individuals con- tributed their bit. Many thousands of books were placed on the shelves in each Y. M. C. A. building, and in nearly all the barracks in Incoming Detention. These collections of books were rotated from one building to another by the Y. M. C. A. secretaries, so that fresh reading matter was constantly at hand. The meeting of emergencies was one of the features of the Y. M. C. A. work at Great Lakes. When the in- fluenza epidemic struck Great Lakes, the Y. M. C. A. buildings were turned into sick bays, and the Y. M. C. A. secretaries assisted the medical authorities day and night. Of the Y. M. C. A. secretaries, Leslie Selby, W. D. Brenneman, H. H. Mahin and W. B. Been died of the fever, and many others were exhausted by con- tinuous service. The Y. M. C. A. work at Great Lakes was divided into four principal divisions. To the sailors themselves THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 189 the Social Division was perhaps the most popular. The Y. M. C. A. provided them, first, with a place where the hours not taken up by drill and study might be passed pleasantly. At all times men were to be found at the long tables reading or writing letters home. While some attention was given to athletics, the ac- tivities of the Navy in this branch of entertainment and development reduced the Y. M. C. A. work to a great extent. An important department of the "Y" activity was the work of the educational division. Classes in mathe- matics, English, French, geography and spelling were conducted. Every week members of the faculties of nearby colleges and universities gave lectures on sub- jects closely related to Navy life. Every evening groups of young sailors could be found in secluded corners, deeply engrossed in study, with an experienced instructor giving individual attention to each. The Religious Department worked intensively among the men, and thus upheld this side of the triangle. Re- ligious meetings were held during the week in all of the Y. M. C. A. buildings, and even in the barracks when the men desired them. Class leaders who had proved particularly strong were brought in from Chi- cago and the towns along the North Shore. Each of these leaders had to volunteer for four months' service, and had to prove his ability in keeping the men inter- ested in the Bible Class work. Not infrequently, a class leader would follow a company of men from the first Sunday in Incoming Detention until its members were sent away to sea. Under the head of the business department came the work of keeping the buildings well-supplied with the i 9 o THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION necessary equipment to carry on the work, and also the operation of the Y. M. C. A. canteens. These canteens supplied the wants which could not be obtained at other canteens and Ships' Stores at Great Lakes. These wants, however, were very few, such as postage stamps, money orders, money belts and camera supplies. A sort of banking business was also carried on, the men leaving surplus money with the secretaries and withdrawing it as they pleased. The men were constantly urged to save a part of their money. From June I, 1917, to May 31, 1918, 2822 Bibte Class sessions were held, with an attendance of 88,232 men; the number of religious meetings was 1092, with an at- tendance of 524,169 men; more than 20,000 Scriptures were distributed ; the personal Christian interviews num- bered 8520; and the personal decisions for Christ were 1663. During this same period 280 educational lectures were delivered, attended by 37,856 men; the educational classes had an attendance of 4082 men ; and the number of books circulated was 166,503. The various enter- tainments numbered 596, with an attendance of 209,434, and 311 motion pictures were shown, with an attendance of 203,130 men. The money orders sold totaled $149,^ ooo. The number of letters written to home folks on Y. M. C. A. stationery was 2,464,218. Mr. M. H. Bickham was General Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at Great Lakes. His headquarters staff consisted of W. R. Bimson, Executive Secretary ; Bert- W. Woltze, Personal Secretary ; J. L. Lobingier, Educa- tional Secretary ; Frank Torell, Religious Secretary ; and R. H. Risdon, Entertainment Secretary. THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 191 THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS The work of the Knights of Columbus at Great Lakes began in August, 1917, with the arrival on the Station of Father William A. Murphy, appointed as Catholic chaplain of the post by Archbishop George William Mundelain, of Chicago. At the same time Thomas F. O'Connell became General Secretary of the K. of C. at Great Lakes. The work was new to both these men and there was no equipment, the Knights of Columbus at that time having just raised their first $1,000,000 for war work. Within a short time, however, the first K. of C. building was erected in the Fourth Regiment in Camp Perry 'and from then on there was reasonably clear sailing. At the time the armistice was signed there were seven K. of C. buildings at Great Lakes, located in Camps Perry, Farragut, Decatur, Barry and Luce. All of these buildings were equipped with victrolas, with an abundance of records; pianolas, with plenty of sheet music; moving picture machines; and thousands of books and current magazines. Several hundred thou- sand letters were written home on K. of C. stationery. The K. of C. buildings and equipment at Great Lakes cost more than $100,000. Each of the K. of C. buildings, aside from the con- venience for Sunday service, was fitted with a small chapel. The small chapel in the Camp Perry K. of C. building, which was used as headquarters, was furnished with a white and gold altar, golden-oak pews, green vel- vet Brussels carpet, four solid brass candlesticks and a solid crucifix, and statues of our Lady of the Lakes. This chapel was dedicated to Our Lady of the Lakes in 1 92 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION memory of Mary Murphy, mother of the beloved Chap- lain. Among the big affairs, from a religious point of view, were the out-of-door military masses said during the summer in the big Farragut Ravine amphitheatre and in the open field. Thousands of sailors attended these services, and good speakers addressed them on their duty to God, country, home and their fellow men. Catholic services were held at nine different localities on Sundays, giving every boy an opportunity to carry out his religious obligations. Among the organizations, outside the ranks of the Knights of Columbus, which contributed greatly to the happiness of the sailors were: The Ladies' Catholic Benevolent Association ; the Catholic Women's League ; the North Shore Women's Catholic League ; the Evans- ton Catholic Women's League: the Associates of the West End Catholic Women's League ; the Rogers Park Catholic Women's Club: and the Catholic Women of Waukegan and the North Shore towns. The St. Thomas Aquinas Club of Chicago furnished hundreds of sweaters, helmets, socks and mufflers for personal distribution to the boys. During the influenza epidemic, both the chaplains and the secretaries found an almost overwhelming amount of work to do. They carried comfort and en- tertainment to the sailors in the hospital and sick bays, and sent word of their condition to parents and friends. The convalescing sailors were given oranges and other fruit, letters were written for them, and every wish they expressed was carried out when possible. The men at work knew no hours, as was the case throughout the entire Station, but stayed on the job as long as there THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 193 was work to do, or as long as human nature could en- dure. The following letter was addressed to General Sec- retary O'Connell by Captain Moffett : I wish to express my appreciation of the valuable services you and your staff have rendered to this Sta- tion. I shall always feel a great deal of gratitude to the Knights of Columbus and their representa- tives for the many fine things they have done for the men at Great Lakes. I am sure I voice the opinion of all the officers and men when I say the devotion to duty displayed by all the civilian secretaries of the va- rious war activities represented here has been a constant source of satisfaction and inspiration to us all. Among the Catholic chaplains who worked at Great Lakes were: Father William A. Murphy, Father Thomas A. Canty, Father B. J. Sheil, Father Conroy of the Jesuit Order, Father I. Parius, Father B. McGuire, Father Thomas E. Burke, Father A. W. West, and Dr. J. P. Munday, L. L. D. The Knights of Columbus secretaries were : Thos. F. O'Connell, Frank P. Bowler, Raymond F. Hartman, Edward A. Chanel, John F. Crossin, Walter O. Rourke, William Grogan Roeder, Leo N. Thimmisch, Edmund Ruhnke, Charles E. May, Harold Leaf, William J. Leiser, Christ E. Murphy, Robert E. Neilan, Lee Spring- meier, Arthur W. Juergens, Thos. McMannimen, James Callahan, Joe Altenback, George Mahoney and Ernest Beaulieu. THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD To obtain an adequate conception of the functions of the Jewish Welfare Board at Great Lakes, it is neces- i 9 4 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION sary to know something of the conditions existing be- fore its origin. When the war broke out, the country found the Y. M. C. A. long established and ready for war work. The K. of C. was also in a position to step in and take up work among the boys in khaki and blue. t The Jewish people, however, had not one organization fitted to represent Jewry in the training camps. It be- came necessary, therefore, to form a body of men who, through experience and reputation, were able to meet the specific needs of the Jewish men in the service. The fifteen leading Jewish organizations of America, repre- senting every line of Jewish thought, were banded to- gether to form the Jewish Welfare Board. In a very short time it was recognized by the Army and Navy heads on the same basis as the Y. M. C. A. and the K. of C., and then began an unprecedented growth. The Jewish Welfare Board activities at Great Lakes were conducted along lines adopted by the Central Of- fice in New York and were, in general, typical of what was being done throughout the country. The program of aid was divided into four lines of action religious, personal service, educational, and social and recrea- tional. Recognition that the Jewish sailors represented vari- ous shades of belief was taken into consideration in the religious work, and the services were so arranged that all could participate in full conviction. Daily service for mourners were held whenever called for. Sabbath service was in the hands of the Jewish Chaplain at Great Lakes. Special services were held on the festi- vals. In September, 1918, during the New Year's and the Day of Atonement, some nine hundred Jewish sail- THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 195 ors in Incoming Detention, who could not be granted furloughs, were served with three meals under the aus- pices of the Jewish Welfare Board. The forces serving these meals were made up of the women in the neighbor- ing towns, who acted as hostesses for the occasion. During the Feast of Lights, several affairs, which were highly successful in point of attendance and general spirit of happiness, were held in the camps. Personal service was the outstanding feature of the work of the Jewish Welfare Board. The transition from civil to military life brought in its wake many problems for adjustment, all of which had to be ade- quately met, if the morale of the sailor was not to be impaired. In this service, the family as well as the in- dividual was given consideration. In a word, the field workers of the Jewish Welfare Board endeavored to enter into the inner life of the man, discover his particu- lar need and answer it. No one, Jew or Gentile, was ever turned away; no case was too trivial or too big to handle. Due to a delay in building, the Jewish Welfare Board at Great Lakes was handicapped to a considerable ex- tent in carrying out educational activities. However, through the splendid cooperation of the Y. M. C. A. and other organizations, rabbis and laymen were given the opportunity to address the boys from time to time on various subjects of interest to all. Social and recrea- tional activities, in common with the work of the Y. M. G. A. and the K. of C., were greatly stressed. The Lutheran Brotherhood gave over its equipment every Thursday night to the Jewish Welfare Board. A large Jewish Welfare Board building was com- 196 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION pleted at Great Lakes at about the time the armistice was signed. The field secretary of the Jewish Welfare Board at Great Lakes was Mr. Jacob Turner. THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE WAR RELIEF AND CAMP WELFARE COMMITTEE This organization placed a camp worker at Great Lakes to render special and individual service to the officers and enlisted men who were interested, as mem- bers or otherwise, in the Christian Science movement. The twofold object of the service was to supply to the men such spiritual aid as could only be given by one of their faith, and to cooperate with other workers in looking after their general welfare. The Christian Science camp welfare automobile car- ried officers and enlisted men with their baggage to dis- tant parts of the camp; met relatives at the trains and put them in touch with their men, and served otherwise in many emergencies. The Camp Welfare Worker made purchases in nearby towns for men in Incoming Detention; maintained correspondence with relatives whenever necessary, and rendered many other personal attentions which in the aggregate constituted a service approved and appreciated by both officers and men at the Station. Under the heading of Maintenance of Morale might be classed the work accomplished in helping the men to adjust themselves to the newly found conditions of mil- itary life. Many boys, leaving home for the first time, experienced a sense of loneliness and homesickness a condition favorable to discontent. A friendly call from the camp worker, with a word of encouragement and a little talk on the importance of the service in which he THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 197 had enlisted, left many a boy with a larger vision and a keener desire to become an efficient fighting unit. The value of a man imbued with this idea had a far-reach- ing influence among his shipmates, as was well appre- ciated by the officers in command. The Christian Science War Relief and Camp Wel- fare Committee wishes to express its appreciation of the cooperation given by all departments at Great Lakes. By courtesy of the Medical Staff at the U. S. Naval Hos- pital permission was obtained to visit patients at all times. Especial credit was due to the Senior Chaplain, Cap- tain Frank Thompson, U. S. N., whose long experience in the Navy and kindly cooperation made possible the broad field of our achievement. THE LUTHERAN BROTHERHOOD From the very beginning of the Lutheran Brother- hood work at Great Lakes it was felt that it would be necessary to erect a suitable building as headquarters. Finally, through the kind offices of Captain Moffett, permission to erect such a building was obtained. This building was completed in the summer of 1918, and be- came very popular. Its auditorium could seat 1200 men. The social room was provided with books, current magazines, games of various kinds and many writing tables. On Monday and Friday nights picture shows were given, and every Tuesday night there was a con- cert, in which prominent musicians from Chicago per- formed. Wednesday nights were devoted to mid-week prayer service with a brief address. The Jewish Wel- fare Board was allowed to use the building on various occasions for dramatic and musical entertainments. 198 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Saturday nights were given over to the Roman Catholic sailors, who came to their priests in the confessional. The Lutheran pastors detailed to duty at Great Lakes were four in number the Reverend Ernest Lack, H. H. Kumnick, Carl Weswig, and John A. St. Clair, all ordained Lutheran clergymen. In all the camps the Lutheran services were well at- tended, attesting to the necessity of such services. The religious registration cards filled out by the young sail- ors entering Incoming Detention showed that 7250 Lu- theran boys had enlisted. Of these, about 2400 par- took of communion. THE SENIOR CHAPLAIN, U. S. N. All of the religious work at Great Lakes, of whatever denomination, came under the direct supervision of Captain Frank Thompson, Corps of Chaplains, U. S. N. This fine chaplain, the dean of the U. S. N. Corps of Chaplains, turned a "listening ear" to all the other chap- lains, advising them of the ways of the Navy and the manner in which they could most effectively "carry on." To the great relief of Chaplain Thompson, the Rev- erend Charles W. Moore, a Naval Militia Chaplain from Missouri, reported for duty early in May, 1917. At about the same time a Catholic clergyman from Chi- cago, recommended by the Archbishop of that City, was, by authority of the Commandant, given charge of the men of Catholic faith, under the Senior Chaplain's di- rection. Representatives of other denominations, with accredited letters from the churches which they repre- sented, reported from time to time, and were allowed by the Commandant to assist the Senior Chaplain in his work. THE WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS 199 At the time the armistice was signed the religious forces at Great Lakes consisted of six commissioned Navy chaplains and twenty-one civilian pastors. The spirit of perfect harmony and accord which dominated the religious work at Great Lakes, on the part of the chaplains, civilian assistants and Y. M. C. A. workers, was most marked, and was wholly owing to the true Christian spirit and hearty cooperation of all con- cerned. CHAPTER XII ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" YOUTH makes a great appeal, wherever it is met. Couple this with the fact that Great Lakes America's greatest City of Youth is located at the very doors of the e:reat Mid-Western metropolis, and you have the reason whv Chicago and the other Lake Shore communities, including Milwaukee, fairly overstepped themselves in providing entertainment for the thousands upon thousands of young: sailors. Because of its proximity to Great Lakes it came about that Chicago, located a thousand miles from salt water, saw more sailors than soldiers, and. therefore, took more sailors into its homes and clubs. Also the fact that the greater number of these sailors were under twenty-one years of age enthusiastic boys who joined the Navy because they were too young for the Army made a di- rect, simple appeal to every home. To set 45,000 young bluejackets down at the doors of a city and say: "Here they are, provide healthful en- tertainment for them while they are on 'shore leave,' ' was no small order. Yet not one sailor at Great Lakes got "All dressed up and no place to go." On Thanksgiving Day, 1917, for instance, thousands of bluejackets were guests of Chicago and its suburbs. The invitations received were five times as many as could be filled. Chicago and the other communities surround- ing it proved to be wonderful hostesses, in their clubs, 200 ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" 201 hotels and private homes. Rothschild and Company served a dinner to five hundred sailors ; the Chicago Ath- letic Club entertained two hundred; the Illinois Athletic Club, one hundred and fifty; the Union League Club, one hundred; the South Shore Country Club, one hun- dred; the Casino Club, seventy-five; the Congress Club, fifty; the Edgewater Beach Hotel, two hundred > (> the Blackstone Hotel, one hundred; the Palmer House, fifty,; and several thousand private homes entertained any- where from one to five bluejackets. Early in the morning on that day, the young sailors detailed to the different clubs, hotels and private homes drew up in company or squad formation in the Main Drill Hall and passed in review before Captain Moffett. Then they boarded trains for Chicago, and were met at the different stations by representatives of their host- esses. After dinner, they were entertained at dances or at theatres. How Chicago felt about it all may be taken from such expressions as the following, clipped from the Chicago newspapers: "Jackies make City Thankful, and Vice Versa" "Chicagoans and Sailors make Day Memor- able by Celebration" "Jackies find way into Hearts and Homes of City" "Thanksgiving Events form new Bond of Sympathy." All of which was only a phase of what the cities anjd communities in the vicinity of Great Lakes did for the young sailors. The North Shore suburbs of Chicago were as thick with bluejackets as they were with citizens. There was probably no other camp in the United States that received more war-camp hospitality than Great Lakes. Every boy who went through Great Lakes felt its impress. 202 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Almost before it was realized that war was on, thou- sands of youths just out of high school had enrolled themselves in the Navy. They had sent their civilian clothes home, donned the blue of the Navy, taken the three "shots" in the arm, and begun their training. For once, Chicago and the other communities along the North Shore were almost caught napping so quickly had the youth of the Middle West rushed to Great Lakes. The boys who enlisted during the first few days of that relentlessly soaked and shivering spring of 1917 went to sea without testing the joy of the cheery glow of a sailors' club, or the happy hours at some Saturday night dance, where scores of girls helped the young sail- ors forget that they were homesick. Few of these earliest recruits had a chance to toast their toes at the fireside of Chicago's hospitality, or to encompass a home- cooked dinner at a home where some other boy's mother did the best she could to take the place of an absent mother. ' ' During every week end, when the thousands of young sailors were granted "shore leave," the big city by the lake rubbed its eyes and took notice. The doors of thousands of homes in Chicago and the North Shore communities swung open ; hundreds of clubs opened wide their doors, and many war-camp organizations set to work to provide and equip new gathering centers. On special holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christ- mas and New Year's, more invitations were received than could be accommodated. At such times, after thou- sands of invitations had been accepted and the sailors apportioned off, as many as 15,000 requests for blue- jacket guests had to be turned back with regrets. In December, 1917, the War Recreation Board of ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" 203 Illinois was organized, in compliance with the request of the War and Navy Department Commissions on Training Camp Activities. This board first undertook to correlate the activities of the various organizations and groups of individuals engaged in providing hos- pitality and entertainment for the enlisted men. To keep the men advised of the various entertainments of- fered, the War Recreation Board began the publication of a weekly bulletin, in which the events in Chicago and vicinity were listed. About 20,000 copies were dis- tributed on the Station each week, and it was a common sight to see the sailors reading and checking off the at- tractive items among the scores of functions listed. The War Recreation Board of Illinois, realizing the need of a club house, established the Central Soldiers' and Sailors' Club at 207 West Washington Street, Chi- cago. This club house a four-story building was provided with every convenience. It was opened in March, 1918, and its success was assured from the very beginning. . It became the central meeting place and headquarters of thousands of sailors going into Chicago every week. During the summer months of 1918 this club became so crowded that it was necessary to establish a second. In consequence, the Khaki and Blue Club, located in Grant Park, on Chicago's lake front, was begun in Au- gust by the Red Cross. This spacious and splendidly equipped club house was opened for use the latter part of September, 1918. The average number of men using these two clubs each week was over ten thousand. A third club house was established in Chicago in De- cember, 1918, at 3033 South Wabash Avenue, for the special use of colored men in the service. 204 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION The work of the War Recreation Board of Illinois was extended to cover all the North Shore communities as far north as Waukegan, a city of 20,000 people four miles north of Great Lakes. This board assisted in the establishment of clubs in Waukegan, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highwood, Highland Park, Glencoe, Ravinia, Hubbard Woods, Kenilworth, Wilmette, Evanston and elsewhere. These clubs were financed, wholly or in part, out of funds provided by the War Recreation Board. This board also promoted or helped to finance various forms of hospitality within a hundred or more miles of Great Lakes. In each one of the communities mentioned a representative committee was appointed and made responsible to the parent board for the organi- zation and operation of its camp community service or- ganization. During November, 1917, the total attendance at the various clubs was 22,950. During August, 1918, the total attendance was 207,824 and during January, 1919, two months after the signing of the armistice, the at- tendance was 279,784. The name "War Recreation Board" was changed in the summer of 1918 to "War Camp Community Serv- ice," in compliance with a request of the War Depart- ment Commission on Training Camp Activities, thus establishing a uniform name for this work throughout the country. The work which this board was doing grew to such an extent that increased funds were needed, notwith- standing the fact that much of the assistance furnished was gratuitous. In February, 1918, a campaign to raise additional funds netted $537,398. Of this amount $241,138 was used locally. In November, 1918, the ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" 205 War Camp Community Service was one of seven or- ganizations included under the head of United War Work Activities, and the people of Chicago and the North Shore responded in overwhelming measure in the money-raising campaign. The recruits who reported at Great Lakes were not allowed liberty for twenty-one days the period spent in Incoming Detention. But during that time they were made acquainted with the good things which were com- ing to them when their first period of Navy Life was ended. For those twenty-one days they looked out of barrack windows, or through the iron-mesh fencing that surrounded them, at the train-loads of happy sailors "shoving off" for beach parties, swimming parties, au- tomobile rides, home-cooked dinners and the like, and each day they studied the bulletin published by the W^ar Camp Community Service to learn just where to go when they received their first "shore leave." In Chicago the Central Soldiers' and Sailors' Club pro- vided up-to-date conveniences, such as shower baths, a barber shop, a reading and writing room, billiards and pool, and dancing. Many sailors who went into Chi- cago from Great Lakes without fully knowing what they wished to do with their "liberty" were given in- vitations at the Central Soldiers' and Sailors' Club for theatres, dances and home dinners. As the sailors surged through the Chicago and North- western Station in Chicago, thousands of them sought out the splendid club rooms furnished by this railroad in its terminal building. This work, although not under the auspices of the War Work Community Service, was of similar nature. This club afforded the sailor a de- lightful place to spend the afternoon or evening, as it 206 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION was provided with reading and writing rooms, pool, billiards and other games. It was a place where, if he thought his whites were not quite presentable, he could scrub and dry them, and take a hot shower while they were drying. Then, garbed in his clean outfit, he could apply at the office for a ticket to the theatre, a dance or a home dinner. If he had a check which he wanted cashed, there was always money in the safe. If he met with accident during his visit in Chicago, he could get emergency treatment or medical attention at this club, of which Lieutenant H. W. Moore, Medical Corps, U. S. N., R. F., was detailed as supervising officer. One of the first canteens opened in Chicago was es- tablished by the Chicago Woman's Club. Contrary to precedent the Chicago Public Library allowed the Chi- cago Woman's Club to use a part of its building to con- duct a canteen for the enlisted men on Saturdays and Sundays. This proved a very popular place for the sailors. The Home Folks' Canteen, at the Randolph Street entrance of the Chicago City Hall, was open daily from 1 1 a. m. to 9 p. m. under the auspices of the Council of State Societies of Chicago. The American Red Cross Canteen the Khaki and Blue Club opened its doors day and night for men traveling under orders. The women working in this club could be depended upon, day or night, to serve hun- gry and tired enlisted men who were passing through Chicago. The home hospitality of Chicago was ultimately placed in the hands of a hospitality committee. Through this committee the private homes of Chicago opened their doors to receive the soldiers and sailors. These ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" 207 homes started out to entertain the sailors, and, according to their own verdict, ended up by being entertained by the sailors. This home hospitality took as many differ- ent forms as the initiative and personality of the hosts and the recipients engendered. Sometimes, it simply meant a good dinner, leaving the sailor to go where he liked afterwards. With others, it meant the inviting in of young women and an afternoon or evening of dancing or games. Sometimes the house was turned over to the sailors and they went to the kitchen with the girls to get up a Sunday evening supper. This seemed to please the men more than any other kind of hospitality. Another kind of home hospitality grew out of what were called "church parties." The various churches throughout Chicago and the North Shore opened their doors to the enlisted men. As many as two hundred sailors were often invited to a service. Whether the number of men invited to a church was ten or a hundred, a committee of that church arranged for them to go to the homes for dinner. The clubs, both city and country, made a remarkable record for hospitality. Many of them extended all privileges to the sailors, and on special occasions, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and like holidays, dinners and special dances were given. Prominent among the Chicago organizations in this work were: the Chicago Woman's Club, the Chicago Athletic Association, the Illinois Athletic Club, the Hamilton Club, the Union League Club, the Chicago Club, the College Club, the City Club, the Woman's Athletic Club, the University Club, the Standard Club and the Casino Club. The hotels of Chicago entertained the sailors on many special occasions, and every day found the sailors at 208 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION home in their lobbies and writing rooms. The news- papers of Chicago got behind every movement whose purpose was to entertain the sailors, helping to a great extent to make them possible. The theatres and theatrical people did their bit. Vaudeville stars, grand opera singers, and many actors and actresses appearing in Chicago gave their services freely, not only by taking part in programs in the City, but also by coming to Great Lakes to give performances in the huge drill halls and in the open-air theatres lo- cated in the ravines. Every Sunday afternoon some one of the Chicago theatres have a special performance for men in uniform only. One of the greatest treats was made possible by the Chicago Grand Opera Associa- tion. One hundred tickets for each performance of grand opera, running through a season of ten weeks, were put at the disposal of the men in uniform. On these tickets even the war tax was taken care of. In addition, many more men were allowed the pleasure of witnessing Grand Opera by simply paying the war tax. Among the war service organizations and regular clubs in Chicago which furnished various kinds of hos- pitality to the sailors, were : the Chicago Woman's Club, the Opera Club, the Chicago Woman's Aid, the Woman's Athletic Club, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Club, the Khaki and Blue Club, the Red Cross Canteen Service, the Chi- cago Political Equality League, the Chicago College Club, the Chicago Sinai Temple Sisterhood, Jochanna Lodge, the Three Arts Club, the Catholic Social Center, the Edgewater Catholic Woman's Club, the Woman's Church Federation, the Woodlawn Woman's Club, the Arts Club, the Sister A Sailor League, the Chicago His- torical Society, the Comforts Forwarding Committee, ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" 209 the Swedish Club, the Indiana House, the Garfield Girls' Navy Recreation Club, the Allied Arts' Unit, the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., the Jewish Welfare Board, the Knights of Columbus, the Oak Park Woman's Club, the River Forest Woman's Club, 'the Daughters of the Republic, the Girls' Friendly Group, the Daughters of the British Empire, the Commonwealth Edison Group, St. Paul's Parish, the North End Woman's Club, the West End Catholic Woman's Club, the Home Folks Canteen, the Ravenswood Woman's Club, the Girls' Pa- triotic League, the Renaissance Club, the Woman of Ida Noyes' Hall, University of Chicago, the Open House of St. Paul's on the Midway, the Lake Shore Park House, Marshall Field & Com- pany group; the Daughters of 1918, the Chi- cago & Northwestern Railroad Club, the Chicago Hebrew Institute, the Twenty-first Ward Woman's Club, the Woman's City Club, the Natika Club, the Pub- lic Library Canteen, the Sunday Evening Club, the Al- liance Franchise, the Art Institute, the Public Library, the Austin Group, the Oak Park Group, the Norwood Park Group, the Roger's Park Group, Maywood Re- becca Lodge 376, the Patriotic Girls' Navy Recreation League, the Insurance Exchange Building Group, the Allied Red Cross Unit, the Colored Boys' South Side Club, the Young Woman's Social Welfare, the Illinois Federation of Woman's Clubs, the Chicago Athletic Association, the Illinois Athletic Club, the Hamilton Club, the Union League Club, the University Club, the Chicago Club, the Casino Club and the City Club. If Chicago, with her great opportunities and equip- ment, lavishly entertained the bluejackets, this was no less true of the towns and cities all along the North 210 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION Shore. Especially noteworthy in their hospitality were Evanston, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Ravinia, Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, North Chicago, Waukegan, Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. Milwaukee, although farther removed from Great Lakes than these other cities and communities, was not to be outdone. In addition to entertaining thousands of sailors to home hospitality every week-end, she pro- vided clubs for them. Many Milwaukee women, not working in any special organization, arranged parties and dances for the sailors and gave them under the aus- pices of the Wisconsin Players' Club and the Milwaukee Art Institute. Many dinners and dances were given at the Milwaukee Country Club. Racine, although counted among the smaller cities, was proud of its Soldiers' and Sailors' Club, where all- night accommodation jvas provided for sailors, as well as many other features, such as reading rooms, shower baths, etc. So anxious were the people of both Racine and Milwaukee that no sailor should be kept away from their parties because pay day was far off, that special "no-fare" trains were often provided for them. Waukegan, a city of 20,000 people, called the "Camp Town" because of its proximity to Great Lakes, was fairly swamped with sailors, particularly when pay days were furthest off and railroad fare to Chicago was lack- ing. During the five crowded months of 1918, Wau- kegan, through her war work activities, entertained an average of 26,875 sailors a week. The Jolly Tar Club furnished rest rooms, pool tables, conveniences for pressing and mending clothes, and reading and writing rooms. The Navy Club was open daily, and supper was ENTERTAINING THE "GOBS" 211 served on Saturdays and Sundays. The Jewish Wel- fare Board gave a supper and dance every Saturday night. The churches furnished old-fashioned socials, entertainments and refreshments. The Young Wom- an's Patriotic League gave an entertainment and served refreshments on Sunday afternoons and evenings. The Glen Flora Gold Club opened its links to the men and officers from Great Lakes. The Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., and the fraternal organizations, such as the Ma- sons, Odd Fellows and Woodmen, furnished entertain- ment, dances and lounging places for the bluejackets. Lake Forest the home of the Gold Stripers was also the rendezvous for thousands of bluejackets. For many months the Y. M. C. A. served a supper every Sunday evening, followed by community singing with young women of Lake Forest acting as hostesses. The War Emergency Union furnished a large clubroom which became a popular place for sailors. Electric irons were provided for pressing clothes. One of the unique activities located in Lake Forest was the Army and Navy Tea Shop. This beautiful and cozy club house was furnished and operated through Mrs. Ogden Armour's kindness. Its specialty was table d'hote din- ners, served every night and at noon on Sundays, at a price far below cost. After dinner there was a cheer- ful fireplace, a piano, victrola, writing materials, maga- zines and games. Several bedrooms were available for emergency use. The Lake Forest Cottage for mothers of sick boys, who could not afford a hotel, did much good work, particularly during the influenza epidemic. At the Onwentsia Hunt Club series of dances were given. At Ravinia, the fine pleasure park where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays during the summer months, 212 THE GREAT LAKES TRAINING STATION and in which abbreviated grand opera is given, threw its gates open to the sailors. The sailor's uniform ad- mitted him, and supper, music, dancing and like enter- tainment were provided besides the opera performances. The cost of all this was defrayed by the hundreds of subscribers of the Ravinia Park Association. At Highwood, the Business Girls' Club of the Patri- otic League gave Saturday night dances and entertained the sailors on Sunday afternoons. Highland Park's Army and Navy Center provided pool and billiard tables, reading and writing rooms, and a cafeteria. The Deerfield Shields High School, located in High- land Park, gave a dance every Saturday night, with refreshments and an entertainment. It also provided vaudeville and moving picture shows, canteen service and cots for men who desired all-night hospitality. In Winnetka, the Community House furnished supper, dancing, and instruction in dancing. Wilmette, through its Army and Navy Club, gave canteen service on Saturday nights, followed by a dance under the auspices of the Girls' Patriotic League. Evanston had a "Home Port Blighty" which was open on Sundays. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-32m-8,'58(5876s4)444 T Buzz ell - 434 Great Lakes G7B98 Naval Training Station V 434 G7B98 A 000705283