Evening star., 1941-02-13
50 Members Of 121st
Engineers Going 10
Fort Meade Today
Remainder Of Regiment
And Ordnance Company
To Leave Tomorrow

An advance detail of so members
of the 121st Engineers was sched-
uled to leave the National Guard
Armory for Fort George G. Meade,
Md, today as Maj. Gen. Milton
A. Reckord, division commander, an
nounced that all units of the 29th
Division except field artillery regi-
ment from Pittsburgh will be as
sembled at the military post by
next Thursday.
The balance Of the District En-
gineers' regiment, comprising 80 Of
ficerS and $50 men, was completing
the packing of equipment today pre-
paratory to moving out tomorrow
Also ordered to Fort Meade tomor-
row is Washington's 104th Ordnance
Company, which numbers three Of
ficers and 110 men.
Plans for the review and parade
scheduled to have been held on the
Ellipse Sunday were abandoned to-
day when Gen. Reckord said that
transportation of the troops from
Fort Meade to Washington and
back again would not be practical
Will Be Held at Meade.
Brig. Gen. Albert L. Cox, Selective
Service executive officer for the Dis
trict, said the review would be
staged instead at Fort Meade. pos
sibly during the first week in March.
Awards scheduled to have been
made Sunday will be made at the
review at Fort Meade, he said.
Col. John w. Oehmann, on leave
from his post as building inspector,
is commanding officer of the 121st
Engineers, which is expected to be
assigned to help in the work of COM
pleting the cantonment for occu-
pancy by troops of the 29th Divi-
sion.
The detachment from the Engi-
neers' regiment, to move to Fort
Meade today, will prepare the bar
racks and get mess kitchens in oper-
alton for the arrival of the bulk of
its personnel tomorrow.
Selective service headquarters was
expected to announce today the
names of 49 colored selectees to be
inducted under the February quota
at Baltimore's 5th Regiment Armory.
In Baltimore, meanwhile, selective
service headquarters announced that
the induction machinery at the 5th
Regiment Armory has been speeded
up Sc that each day 200 men can
be transformed from civilians to
soldiers.
All selectees reporting there in
the morning either are accepted by
nightfall or rejected and returned
to their homes the same day. An
average of slightly less than 20 per
cent of the men ordered to report
for induction are rejected.
With the departure of the 121st
Engineers and the 104th Ordnance
Company nearly all of the Districts
Guard units will be on duty, with the
exception of a few small units, in
Guiding Company A, 372d Infantry,
comprised of colored troops, which
tentatively is scheduled for induc-
ton next month to train at Fort
Dix, N. J.
Gen. Reckord said specific dates
for the arrival at Fort Meade of
former National Guard troops now
mobilized at armories in Virginia,
Pennsylvania and Maryland, have
not been finally determined. Most of
the troops were mobilized February
3, but their movement to the camp
has been delayed by inadequate hos
pital and housing facilities.
Approximately 1900 men of the
29th Division are at Fort Meade,
with small units arriving daily.
Washington's next quota, set at
1,100 men, is scheduled to be
assigned to Fort Bliss, Tex, where
the Districts 360th Coast Artillery
Regiment already is on duty.
Most of the Sd Corps Area Sc
lectees sent to Virginia for training
will be assigned to coast artillery
units, it was announced. After
processing at Fort Meade, they will
be assigned as follows: Fort Story,
1882 men; Fort Lee, 1872; Fort Bel
voir, 994; Fort Monroe, 416: Fort
Myer. 2; Fort Eustice, l29, and Camp
Pendleton, 853.