The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-04-17

pontoon bridges to Chauteau-Thier-
~ on a night as black as pitch and
unloaded them under very hur-
rIcane Of shells from the Germans;
aside their regular duties at the
front and helped to move guns or
gather the wounded together On
the night of July Is, during the
Chateau-rhierry drive, 20 trucks
were sent in an emergency to Paroy
} Wor east Of Gfs1ancy to get l2o
were cut off from all food and relief.
The truck drivers had to pull trees
out Of the way, wiggle in and around
and over shell holes, and withstand
one continuous attack of both steel
and gas. In making this run, II OF
the, cars were hit by shrapnel and
high explosives and % of the men
were gassed to various degrees. But
they got the wounded and carried
them TO safety.
Members of the 30th Infantry Will
remember the time in this same bat
tie of the Marne when all their wa
ter details had been killed under a
company came to their relief with
water and rations. The top of one
car was blown off, and another truck
received % shrapnel holes
Motor trucks often hauled can
non, still hot and smoking, from
line; carried battle tanks to where
they ran into action, and even car
ried horses and mules at the front
They carried Infantry and machine
gun crews right up to the point
where they Jumped off trucks and
deployedd for immediate action. And
in the S. O. S. trucks worked "a
hours day, and drivers who were
not on the job from IL to Is hours
a day, seven days a week, were rare
| ties.
Foundations i'm Mexico.
What foundations the American
army had for motor transport when
the war began were the result of our
little episode in Mexico with a GER
{aa G Gro nar t The Fl 4tor arans
Expeditionary Force, including four
truck companies and a repair unit,
organized at Fort Sam Houston,
Texas, which disembarked at ST.
Nazaire on the morning of June q,
1917, was almost entirely composed
OF veterans who had plowed trucks
supplies for General Pershing's pun
tive expedition. These motor trans
port men actually sailed with the
first convoy. -,
This was the nucleus of the. A. E
F. garage. The first reinforcement
to come from any source was the
voluntary enlistment Of 500 mem.
bers of the American Transport with
the French army. During the months
OF October, November and December,
motor reception parks--the first
steps necessary in building up a
great motor army-were built and
opened at ST. Nazaire and Bordeaux.
hn3
port was made a service of the @.
NJ. C.
During January and February mo-
tor bases We're opened at Brest, La
Pallice and lie Havre. On February
10. 1918, G.. o. 81. G. H. G., took the
NJ. G: aud made it part Of the
BY G. O. "A, G. H. O., dated May IL,
1918, motor transport was more full
ly recognized as a separate service,
its powers materially increased and
motor transport personnel of the @.
NJ, c., transferred to it. Finally on
fore the arnistice, motor transport
in the A. 2. F. was recognized as
having attained sufficient size and
importance to be designated as a
corps and branch of the regular
army service. It received its first
| pei lldHCil u alSiSI VI llSlGu AlSL.
on October II, 1918, exactly one
month before the end of the war.
although, of course, these men had
long been doing motor transport
work
Old System Competitive.
Undoubtedly the fact that at the
beginning of hostilities we had no.
.organized motor transport service,
worked as serious handicap 20 Ia
ter motor transport organization and
system as at first begun of each serv-
ice OF the army purchasing its own
transportation in competition with
the other services in the American
market, there was no coordination,
no system and no equitable distri-
button of motor vehicles.
This is in fact responsible for the
veritable zoo of cars to be seen with
U. S. letters and numerals on them
Throughout France, Belgium. Ger
many, Italy and England today. It
was also responsible for the deplor-
'abie lack Of Standardization which
made it necessary to carry $4,000
different spare parts in stock. and it
amount of tonnage caused by the
regular epidemic of special body
designs brought over to France by
special organizations for special pur-
poses.
For example: there were in the
t A. p F. b S}sS steel ammunition
good for anything but hauling am
munition, and whose cargo space
was lost for the entire period of the
war; while the regular cargo trucks
we've found to be able to carry am
munition just as well as anything
else.