The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-02-20
BY Irene Dunn

Galley One
To be added to the list of resi-
dents of the county credited else
where who served in the World
War:
Pohl, Albert A. Washington, (St
Cloud Army.
The 8Sth Division
Most of the drafted men from
Minnesota and consequently many
from Stearns county went to Camp
Dodge, Iowa, where the SSth Divis'
ion was organized. This unit was
likewise slow in getting started
for France, but finally sailed III
August, 1918, and after spending a
few weeks in the 21st Training
Area. was located for six weeks IN
the Center sector, Haute-Alsace'
first going into line on Sept. 70
This was a so-called quiet Sec
tor" described as "a section OF
the front that had been the scene
of some of the heaviest fighting in
the earliest days of the war but
that had long since become stab
ilized. In other words both sides
stood facing each other on the alert
but for the most part on the de-
fensive."
On Oct. 12and on different occas-
sions thereafter, there were en-
counters with the enemy that gave
the men a taste of real war, but
the division did not have a share
in the great drives then going for
ward. But thousands of those who
first went to Camp Dodge were
transferred to other units and were
overseas in time to have an active
part in some of the crucial engage
mentS.
According to the records of the
service cards, many men from
Stearns county were members of
the 4th Antiaircraft Machine Gun
Battalion, likewise a Minnesota
unit. II was organized at Camp
Wadsworth, S. c., and left for
France in September, 1928, but the
war ended too quickly for it to see
real action. It was stationed at
st. Ciergues after October 1.
Another name that should bring
back memories of the war, to a
number of Stearns County men is
"54th Pioneer Infantry" for it is
on a number of local service cards.
The organization appears to have
gotten overseas, as did nearly all
the men from here who belonged
to it.
With the Air Forces.
A number of local young men SER
we'd in the newest and therefore
very interesting, division of our ma
tional war forces, the air service.
With airplanes so much a part of
modern life as they are now, it is
difficult to realize that lat the
time the United States entered the
war, aviation troops formed but a
negligible part of the American
military establishment, numbering
but a little more than thousand
men and fifty officers. Less than
three hundred, distinctly inferior,
planes were available for their use.
The aviation section had practically
no fields, instructors, nor curricula,
and it had never trained an await,
or to meet the demands of modern
warfare.
Minnesota in the war with Ger
many" continues: 1.-THE country as
a whole, and, to a lesser extent, the
military authorities themselves,
were slow to realize how impera-
tive was the immediate develop
ment of a more effective force. II
was not until the arrival of Brit
ish and French missions late in
April 1917, that a bill appropriat-
ing some six hundred million dol
lars was rushed through Congress
and an extensive air program was
inaugurated."
BY June, 1918, says the same au-
thority, the size of our aviation
forces was greater than that of
the army in April 1917.
Among Stearns county aviators
not previously mentioned who saw
considerable action at the front
was Lieut.. J. Arthur Bensen, who
went overseas. in September, 1917,
and was with the war with the 1st
Aero Squadron.
Many local men also served as
aviation mechanics. The import
ance OF this feature of the air ser
vice was soon recognized by the
government, since The efficiency,
and often the life, of the pilot de-
pended upon the perfection of his
plane. Two training schools for
aviation mechanics were establish
ed, one at Kelly Field, San Antonio,
Texas, and another, the Air Service
Mechanics School, at st. Paul.
Suitable courses were also given
in existing technical or trade
schools. A number of men from
the community took these courses
and later helped add to the effic-
iency of the u. S. Air Service.
A Varied Picture
But no summary of this kind
can more than touch upon the ex-
perience of all who served. The
organizations to which the men
from Stearns belonged included
every kind of unit, from ambulance
train to chemical warfare service,
from mobile laundry company to
prison or war escort. They Were,
saddles, wagoners, musicians,
cooks, mechanics, horseshoers.
buglers, as well as privates, field
clerks, and officers, commissioned
and non commissioned. At rough
estimate, at least half the men seem
to have gotten overseas, and sew
eral volumes would probably not
hold the composite story of their
experiences. Moreover, in some