The Great Lakes naval training station; a history

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.

i4 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

78 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.)

S4 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

96

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

io4 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, Out1-
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-

n4 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

i24 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

i38 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

i4o 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

i44 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

i46 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

i5o 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

i54 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

i64 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. WT. 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-

i76 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

i9o 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-

i94 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.
tThe 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
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