1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy The 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy was a long distance convoy ( described as a Motor Truck Trip with a " Truck Train " ) carried out by the US Army Motor Transport Corps that drove over from Washington , D . C . , to Oakland , California and then by ferry over to end in San Francisco . Lt Col Charles W . McClure and Capt Bernard H . McMahon were the respective expedition and train commanders and civilian Henry C . Ostermann of the Lincoln Highway Association was the pilot ( guide ) . Official observers included those from the Air Service , A . S . A . P . , Coast and Field Artillery , Medical Corps , Ordnance , Signal Corps and Tank Corps including the then Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Dwight D . Eisenhower . Organization . The Signal Corps filmed convoy events ; and the civilians of the Goodyear band was transported from Chicago in one of the trucks . The Publicity Officer ( Lt William B Doron ) rode with Ostermann 2 – 10 days ahead of the main body , while the Recruiting Officer ( Capt Murphy ) was 1 – 2 days ahead , and the Cook and Mess units were several hours ahead , Two motorcycles scouted about ½ hour ahead to report conditions and place markers . The 5th Engineers ' Company E of 2 officers and 20 men headed the main body with the artillery ' s 5½ ton Mack truck carrying a 5 ton Maxwell tractor ( 22 , 450 lbs total ) in the lead followed by the machine shop and blacksmith shop trucks , and the Quartermaster Corps ' Service Park Unit 595 of 1 officer and 43 men brought up the rear ( " often separated from the main body " while servicing disabled vehicles ) . In addition to 230 road incidents ( stops for adjustments , extrications , breakdowns , & accidents ) resulting in 9 vehicles retiring , the convoy of " " 24 expeditionary officers , 15 War Department staff observation officers , and 258 enlisted men " " had 21 injured en route who did not complete the trip . Although some " were really competent drivers " by the end , the majority of soldiers were " raw recruits with little or no military training " ; and except for the Motor Supply Company E commander ( 1st Lt Daniel H . Martin ) , troop officers had " meager knowledge " of " handling men in the field " . Equipment . In addition to engineer and quartermaster units ; the convoy had 2 truck companies of the 433rd Motor Supply Train ; a medical unit with surgeon , medical , and dental officers ; and a Field Artillery Detachment which provided the Maxwell crawler tractor operated by a civilian . The 81 total vehicles and trailers included " 34 heavy cargo trucks , 4 light delivery trucks " , 2 mobile machine shop s , 1 blacksmith shop , 1 wrecking truck , an " Artillery Wheeled Tractor " that towed 9 trucks at once and was equipped with a power winch . There were " 2 spare parts stores , 2 water tanks , 1 gasoline tank , 1 searchlight with electrical power plant truck , 4 kitchen trailers , 8 touring cars , 1 reconnaissance car , 2 staff observation cars , 5 sidecar motorcycles , and 4 solo motorcycles " ; as well as five GMC ambulances with two ambulance trailers , a 4 ton pontoon trailer ( left in Omaha ) and a Renault " Whippet " FT - 17 tank lashed to a flatbed trailer . Additional vehicle manufacturers included Cadillac , Dodge , F . W . D . , Garford , Harley - Davidson & Indian ( motorcycles ) , Liberty ( trucks & a 2 - wheel kitchen cart ) , Mack , Packard , Riker , Standardized , Trailmobile ( two 4 - wheel kitchen trailers ) , and White . Dealers en route supplied gasoline and tires to the convoy ; and the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company provided 2 trucks ( Packard & White , each 2 - ton ) fitted with " giant cord pneumatic " tires and that carried spare standard tires . One Firestone truck detoured to Reno , Nevada , to have a new giant tire mounted . Operations . In the course of its journey , the convoy broke and repaired wooden bridges ( 14 in Wyoming ) , and " practically " all roadways were unpaved from Illinois through Nevada . The convoy travelled up to , and the schedule was for to average . The actual average for the covered in 573 . 5 hours was over the 56 travel days for an average of 10 . 24 hours per travel day . Six rest days without convoy travel were at East Palestine , Ohio ; Chicago Heights , Illinois ; Denison , Iowa ; North Platte , Nebraska ; Laramie , Wyoming ; and Carson City , Nevada . The shortest driving periods between control points were from Council Bluffs , Iowa , to Omaha , Nebraska ( 2 hrs for 5 mi ) and Delphos , Ohio , to Fort Wayne , Indiana ( 6 hrs for 51 mi ) , while 4 days had average speeds over : E Palestine OH to Wooster OH ( 9 hr for 83 mi ) , South Bend IN to Chicago Heights Il ( 8¾ hr for 80 mi ) , Jefferson IA to Denison IA ( 7½ hr for 68 mi ) , and Anderson ' s Ranch NV to Ely NV ( 8 hr for 77 mi ) . Delays . Convoy delays required extra encampments at Sewickley , Pennsylvania ( July 11 / 12 ) ; Gothenburg , Nebraska ( August 2 / 3 ) ; and Ogallala , Nebraska ( 5 / 6 ) ; which delayed arrival at Evanston , Wyoming , to August 16 instead of the scheduled August 13 . To the next control point , the convoy travelled instead of the planned 88 and used extra camps at Echo , Utah ( 17 / 18 ) , and Ogden , Utah ( 18 / 19 ) ; arriving at Salt Lake City on the 19th ( vice the 14th ) . Despite travelling on the August 24 rest day , the convoy fell behind an additional day using 4 travel days instead of the 2 scheduled travel days from Orr ' s Ranch , Utah , through the Great Salt Lake Desert to Ely , Nevada ; where the convoy arrived on the 24th ( v . 18th ) . An extra travel day on " mining roads " was used between Ely and Austin , Nevada ; where the convoy arrived on the 27th ( v . 20th ) , short of the scheduled point for the 27th ( Sacramento ) . The convoy remained 7 days behind schedule through Oakland , California , where it arrived September 5 at 4 pm ( v . the 29th ) . Foregoing a rest day originally scheduled for the day after arriving in Oakland , the convoy instead ferried to San Francisco the next morning 6 days behind schedule and parked at the Presidio of San Francisco . Results . In addition to transporting New York ' s Medal of Joan of Arc for San Francisco ' s Palace of Fine Arts , the convoy had 4 objectives ; and Ordnance Department and Tank Corps observers completed their reports in October . The objectives were :