Military Convoy In CR - 1919

Today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette provides a simple contrast between the original 1919 First Army Transcontinental Motor Convoy and the Military Vehicle Preservation Association 2009 Transcontinental Motor Convoy that is slated to arrive in Cedar Rapids this Sunday.

In researching the 1919 convoy, I found some interesting stories in The Evening Gazettes of July 23 and July 24, 1919. The convoy consisted of 65 vehicles, 250 enlisted men and 40 officers. The convoy parked along Fourth Avenue SE from Fifth Street to Eighth Street where the men set up their cots right on the street. The men "will have the liberties of the city at all times," one article stated.

In addition to dinner in Greene Square Park, the soldiers were given the use of showers at the YMCA and had a street dance with music "furnished by a Cedar Rapids orchestra mounted on a truck" and were able to see "speaking and motion pictures."

As evidence of the time it took to travel on the dirt and mud roads of the time, the Cedar Rapids Rotary Club met the convoy in Mount Vernon at 3 p.m. and accompanied it to Cedar Rapids where it arrived after 4 p.m. Soon after the arrival, Fourth Avenue took on the appearance of an Army Camp.

"Here and there groups of men were spreading their cots for the night in the center of the street, others were working on the cars, cleaning and oiling them, others were at the YMCA enjoying the privileges of shower bath and pool after the long and dusty ride. (You can see how dirty the trip was as shown by this soldier washing his truck in Cedar Rapids in this photo from the archives of the Ames Public Library.) The work was all done before the mess call was sounded so that after the meal most of the men were free to enjoy the evening. Two huge repair trucks with their dynamos for creating electricity, their work benches and tools, were humming with activity most of the evening in order to have everything ready for travel when the train pulled out at 6:30 a.m. today."

Commander Col. C.W. McClure, was worried when he heard the men would be sleeping in the street. "However, when he arrived in the city and found that the street had been roped off and that the cars and the men at rest would not be molested and also seeing the nearness to the square he heartily approved the plans of the local committee."

And then there was supper, a meal  the men said they would long remember. "Chicken, oh boy," one soldier exclaimed with another responding "Yea, bo."

"The menu was all-inclusive of good things to eat, fried chicken, sandwiches, potato crisps, pickles, olives, cake, ice cream, watermelon, ice tea, coffee and plenty of good water to drink."

The tables in Greene Square Park were set up in the shape of the Rotary wheel, since that was the host organization. "Following the dinner, cigars and cigarets were passed to all the men and all told to help themselves liberally."

"The greatest moment came, however, when the light (searchlight from one of the Army trucks) was concentrated on the American Flag flying from the public library building. It was a thrilling and magnificent sight and the thousands of people broke into applause and cheering as Old Glory waved gently in the breeze with the great light on it."