East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-09-18

| below standard exception entered our
| ranks we served as an auxiliary
agency for the development Of the
above mentioned qualities. Their
| spirit, knowledge. skill. industry. con-
stately and ambition were the most
| noteworthy reasons for the success of
the training course.
Il This school has carefully selected,
given valuable practical sea train
ing, a rapid, extensive shore course,
and commissioned almost two thou
sand more officers than were In the
entire United States navy at the out
break of the world war. They were
found everywhere naval officers go.
| Among the several thousand who
We're given preliminary sea training
there was not n single instance of the
court martial Of a student selected to
go to Pelham. An interesting though
not original observation was that the
men from the East were more amen
/ able to discipline than those from
Western States.
During the war one or more grad
yates of the Officers Material School.
Naval Auxiliary Reserve, were active
ly engaged, with credit to themselves
and to the navy, upon more than one
hundred and twenty troopships car
rying our mighty army, 500 cargo
transports and 100 other ships operat-
ed and manned by the United States
navy They distinctly made good in
rendering possible a troop and supply
movement through areass infested |
with lurking submarines and raines |
unparalleled In military history. Four |
thousand two hundred and fifty-six |
obtained commissions of ensign in 21 |
classes graduated, and approximately
$40 have earned promotion after six
or more months at sea. One hundred
and twenty-five others with sea ex-
perience since graduation are prob
ably qualified for promotion to lieu
tenant, Junior grade. Fifteen have
become lieutenants. Happily our out
put at first synchronized with the de-
mand for officers and later ran
ahead of the immediate need.
Students Had Many Experiences.
Some of the experiences of indi-
viduals taking the course have been
more than normally interesting mol
mention is made here of the many |
thrilling experiences of the men after
assignment to navy ships). OF such
might be mentioned the encounter of
the s. s. Pinar del Rio with an enemy
U-boat, the N. A. r. students aboard
saving only their sea journals; the
sinking of the valuable tanker, Fred
erick r. Kellogg, with the loss of two
of our best students; the sinking of
the S. s. City of Athens. as the result
of a collision with the French cruiser
GIoire, our students on board having
q very narrow escape, and the sink I
ing off Newfoundland of the S. S. Il
Cascapadia, our students being carried
to England by the rescuing ship.
1.-THE S. S. Norfolk in August, 1918, I
was generously she1led at close range 1
by a German submarine off Cape Hat
teras; the auxiliary schooner. Grays
Harbor, of the Globe line, was aban- I
doned at sea on account of an explo
sion and fire which caused the loss
of all effects and the resort to Rio de
Janiero, 400 miles away after two
days in the lifeboats. Our students,
thought to be Germans, were received
ashore by naval guards with drawn
bayonets; Naval Auxiliary Reserve
students on the 8. s. Mohawk in Sep
tember, 1918, saved the captain much
time in semaphoring in the absence of
international flag hoists while towing
the leaking naval tug Sea Rover into
Jacksonville, where our men did val
liable work on the S. S. Augusta both
in handling the ship and acting as
nurses when several aboard had the
influenza and two captains were lost
in one brief trip of nineteen days; and
in another instance aboard S. S. The
tbs the men Jumped into the breach
when difficulty was found in getting
a crew, and worked on her four
round trips to the entire satisfaction
of Captain Arlton, who was pulled out
of hole through this voluntary ac-
ton.
'If the training on these ships has
sometimes been associated with peril
and nearly always with a good deal
of hardship it has done a lot to give
strength and courage to the men who
have squared their jaws and gone
through with it.
1.-The school at Pelham must of
course be given the major share of the
credit for the general results of this
training project. But it is perhaps
fair to say that the high calibre of