1910 - 1920

From Camp Dix to JBMDL 1917-2017 – 100 Years of Military Service to the Nation

Compiled and Edited by William E. Kelly (billkelly3@gmail.com 609-425-6297

PART 1 –

1900 – 1910

1793 – January 9 - The first flight in North America took place from Philadelphia to Woodbury, New Jersey with Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchardin a balloon.

1798 – John Adams Dix born in Boscawen, New Hampshire 

1812 – Dix serves in War of 1812

1861 – Dix named chairman of the Union Defense Committee in New York and made Major General in US Army. 

1872 – Dix elected Governor of New York 

21 April 1879 – Dix dies in New York City 

1909 – A.D. Irwin and A.O. Leighton form Philadelphia construction company

28 June 1914 - Archduke Ferdinand of Austria assassinated in Sarajevo, sparking the events that lead to World War I - "The war to end all wars." 

28 June 1914 – Construction begins on 1,655 buildings with 11,000 workers

1915 – Eddystone Ammunition Corporation establishes the Lakehurst Munitions Storage facility for Imperial Russian Army.

6 April 1917 – US enters World War I – Congress authorizes the construction of 16 Army Camps to be built.

1917 – Camp Kendrick established at Lakehurst, home of the 1^st Gas Regiment, a chemical weapons unit.

19 May 1917 Selective Service Act 

12 June 1917 – Major Harry C. Williams named first commander of Camp Dix.

June 1917 – Irwin & Leighton given $13 million contract to convert New Jersey corn fields into army mobilization and training camp. Construction of Camp Dix begins.

June 1917 – First American troops arrive in France 

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16 July, 1917

1917 – Harker family house sold to government and converted to the residence of the base commander. 

23 August 1917 – Major General Chase W. Kennedy named commander of Camp Dix.

September 1917 – First 17,000 troops arrive at Camp Dix. Eventually 35,000 troops in training, filling all barracks and tents used to house the rest, including 87th and 34th Infantry Divisions, 349th and 350th Field Artillery Battalions of the 92nd Division, and 15th Infantry of New York (369th). 311th Ambulance Company. 153rd Depot Brigade. British, French and Scottish solders at Camp Dix to advise US soldiers on the role of tanks and trench warfare. 

October 1917 – Camp Dix Fire Company organized by soldiers, and the library opens with volunteers from the American Library Association. Howard L. Hughes, Harold F. Brigham librarians. 

22 October 1917 – Camp Dix base hospital opens with 61 buildings with 1,000 bed capacity, located east of the Wrightstown Circle. 

28 November 1917 – Brigadier General John S. Mallory (ad Interim) assumes command of Camp Dix.

28 December 1917 – Brigadier General James T. Dean (ad interim) assumes command of Camp Dix.

2 January 1918 – Major General Hugh L. Scott assumes command of Camp Dix

May 1918 – 78th Infantry Division, under Maj. Gen. Chase Kennedy leaves Dix and sails to Europe. 

May 1918 – YMCA, Red Cross and Knights of Columbus begin providing programs and services to entertain the soldiers.

August 1918 – Fort Dix has 55,000 soldiers in training.

September - October 1918 – 7,970 cases of influenza and pneumonia reported, 774 deaths.

11 November 1918 – War ends. 

3 December - Camp Dix demobilization center opens that processes over 300,000 soldiers.

8 March 1919 – Camp Dix becomes Fort Dix – named permanent Army post. 

12 May 1919 – Major General Harry C. Hale assumes command of Camp Dix

1919 – Contractors and workman arrive at Lakehurst to begin the excavation for the world’s largest aircraft hangar, the first to be built in America.

History of Fort Dix New Jersey – 50 Years of Service to the Nation 1917-1967

Prepared by the Information Office, United States Army Training Center, Fort Dix, New Jersey 08640

CONTENTS

PREFACE v.

Chapter I – THE UNITED STATES ETNERS WORLD WAR I 1

Chapter II – SELECTION OF SITES FOR MOBILIZATION CAMPS 5

Chapter III – MAJOR GENERAL JOHN ADAMS DIX, U.S.V.  9

Chapter IV – THE CONSTRUCTION OF CAMP DIX 13

Chapter V – CAMP DIX ACTIVITIES IN WORLD WAR I 19

Chapter VI – CAMP DIX AND DEMOBILIZATION 29

Chapter VII – CAMP DIX BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS 33

CHAPTER VIII – FORT DIX DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR 47

CHAPTER IX – POST – WORLD WAR II 71

CHAPTER X – IN THE SIXTIES 99

CHAPTER XI – FORT DIX TODAY 123

Appendix 1 – FORT DIX COMMANDERS 129

Appendix 2 – ROSTER (31 December 1966) 131

BIBLIOGRAPHY 133

PREFACE 

The history of Fort Dix, New Jersey, is a striking example of the changing attitude of the American people and their elected representatives toward the United States Army in the 20th Century. The United States has traditionally maintained a small standing army in times of peace and relied heavily on citizen militia and conscription in times of national emergency.

This was the case at the outbreak of World War I. The United States Army at the time of the declaration of war could not claim a single organized division. Its total strength numbered only 200,000, most of whom were recent enlistments in early stages of training. A crash program to build an Army of 1,000,000 authorized by Congress demanded new training facilities. Sixteen camp sites were selected throughout the United States, and Camp Dix in central New Jersey was designed as the focal installation for the heavily populated northeastern United States.

The camp site, although well selected, was constructed in haste in an atmosphere of impermanency within a few months after the United States entered the war. Throughout the war, the camp and its personnel did a prodigious job of training and processing troops for the American Expeditionary Forces as well as for other training camps in the United States. The camp reached a peak population of 55,000 men in August 1918. With the armistice, Camp Dix became the principal separation center of the entire United States.

Following demobilization, there was no longer a national emergency – the world was already made “safe for democracy.” In the 1920s and early 1930s, Camp Dix was left to fall into almost utter decay. Were it not for the need for barracks to house members of the Civilian Conservation Corps and other programs developed during the “Great Depression,” the camp site might not have survived. There was constant pressure to return the rich farmland to meet growing agricultural needs of the area.

With the threat of another war in Europe becoming more acute each passing year in the late 1930s, the American people and the Congress began to sense the need for greater preparedness than exited prior to World War I. Caught up in this changing reaction, Camp Dix became Fort Dix, and a spirit of permanency became apparent almost immediately. Careful plans were made for the rebuilding and expansion of facilities, but Hitler and his blitzkrieg forced drastic acceleration of many projects.

However, when the United States entered World War II, Fort Dix was ready to fulfill its mission. In mid-January 1942, less than five weeks after the United States had declared war on the Axis Powers, elements of the 34^th Infantry Division had received final processing at Fort Dix and were already on the high seas bound for Ireland.

During World War II, Fort Dix trained and processed personnel, including 10 full divisions, for operations in every theater throughout the world. Peak loads in all respects exceeded those of World War I. The Columbia Encyclopedia credits Fort Dix as “the largest army training center in the country” during the Second World War. With surrender of the Axis powers, the fort again became the largest separation center in the country – more than a million soldiers were processed for return to civilian life.

Post World War II showed slight resemblance to the complacent attitude that had prevailed 25 years previously. One national crisis after another convinced the American people of the need for constant vigilance.

The Berlin Airlift, invasion of South Korea, Hungarian Revolt, Lebanon Affair, Berlin Crisis, Cuban Missile Confrontation, United States participation in the Dominican Republic, escalation of assistance to the South Vietnamese – these and more have proven beyond any doubt the continuing role that the ground soldier must play in the conduct of our nation’s foreign policies.

Fort Dix today is known as “The Home of the Ultimate Weapon.” There are many who see this as incongruous in relation to the atomic and hydrogen bombs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, advances in chemical and biological warfare, and developments in the use of outer space.

To the infantryman, each new war or military conflict introduced weapons which at the time convinced many that the ultimate had been achieved – witness the spear to the club, the longbow to the bow and arrow, shrapnel to cannon, machine gun to the rifle, tank to the horse, atom bomb to the blockbuster. Each had its time and place and yet the mission of the infantryman to take and hold the objective has remained unchanged.

The poisonous gases have remained in storage since their use in World War I. The atomic bomb has not dropped on an enemy for more than 20 years. But the infantryman turned the tide in Korea and remains in his age-old role in South Vietnam. Who knows how many times in the future his singular mission will have to be carried out.

Despite all the man-hours and dollars that go into research, science has yet to find a substitute for the Ultimate Weapon – the Human Soldier. It is he who ultimately must protect that for which we are fighting. It is he who must close with and destroy those who seek to destroy us.

Who is this man, the Ultimate Weapon, this highly trained and skilled practitioner of the art of War? You know him….and know him well. He is the boy next door, the lad down the street, a son, a husband, a father. He is a career soldier, a member of the National Guard or the Army Reserves, the mayor, the drug store clerk, the bank teller. HE is THE ULTIMATE WEAPON.

The need for him has never abated. Our country needed him at Concord Bridge and Remagen Bridge, at the banks of the Delaware and the banks of the Mekong, from Trenton to Seoul. He held the line at Gettysburg and stormed the ramparts at Vicksburg, took Guadalcanal and planted Old Glory atop Mt. Suribachi. He marches in parades in Philadelphia, Chicago and Seattle, and patrols the Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom and Taesong Dong. He recently crouched in an alley in Santo Domingo and today is successfully meeting the challenge to end communist aggression in Vietnam.

He is every alert, every ready for the fight he prays will never come. But he is there, poised, because he knows he must be there, ready to make whatever sacrifice is needed to preserve that which gave him his life’s first ever-free breath. Although he is trained for his job, the learning process for this man’s task at hand never ceases. But it does have a beginning. This beginning usually comes by visiting the local recruiting sergeant or by receiving an official envelope from the local board of the Selective Service System. From that beginning it is but a short trip to the haircut, combat boots, chow line and long hours of drill and marksmanship.

For thousands of young men each year, the first taste of military life and training comes at the “Home of the Ultimate Weapon.” Fort Dix…just a memory to some, nostalgia to others.

This is the story of Fort Dix and how it has provided, from 1917 to today, men for a man’s job.

This is the story of one camp, which continues to play a large role in perfecting THE ULTIMATE WEAPON.

Chapter 1

THE UNITED STATES ENTERS WORLD WAR I

When the Imperial German Armies invaded Belgium and France in August 1914, the military reservation now known as Fort Dix, New Jersey, did not exist. In fact, even at the time the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, no definitive action had been taken by the War Department to locate any of the 32 new training camps that would provide the bulk of the troops for the American expeditionary Forces in Europe.

Yet, in the short period of five months, training camps capable of handling more than a million soldiers sprouted throughout the United States. To understand this phenomenal development, it is necessary to review the events leading to United States participation in the “war to end all wars.”

The war in Europe in the summer of 1914 came as a complete shock to the American people. Almost every shade of American opinion had assumed that a general European war was unthinkable. Numerous seemingly successful international conferences had lulled the American public into believing that small wars between petty princes might continue but the “big” war was a thing of the past.

The initial reaction was horror, disgust, and determination to keep out of it. President Wilson proclaimed American neutrality on 4 August 1914, and in a message to the Senate on the 19^th declared, “The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name…” 1. (1. Samuel Eliot Morision, The Oxford History of the American People, p. 848)

Throughout the early years of the war, President Wilson and a majority of the American people held firmly to the principles of neutrality. In the Presidential election of 1916, Wilson won reelection by a narrow margin, largely on the campaign slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War.”

Although Wilson made no promises to keep the United States out of the war, he was convinced that by determined efforts to serve as arbiter, he could bring the warring nations to the conference table. In carrying out his idealistic program to achieve “Peace without Victory,” Wilson even discouraged Untied States military preparedness “fearing least too much build-up would suggest to Germany that we really were preparing for war.” 2. (Ibid. pp. 857-858)

It was not until the German Government openly announced in early February 1917 that it would pursue a policy of attack on all shipping, whether combatant or neutral, in a zone around the British Island and the Mediterranean that even Wilson began to realize “neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable.” 3. (3. Ibid. p. 859)

With the sinking of a number of unarmed United States merchant ships in March 1917, the interception and publicity of a plot by the German Government to form an alliance with Mexico against the United States, and the discovery of large-scale propaganda and espionage activities within the United States, the American people demanded retaliation.

To a special session of Congress assembled on 2 April 1917 for the purpose of formalizing a state of war with the Imperial German Government, President Wilson set the stage for the establishment of a wartime army. In his message, Wilson outlined the measures which would have to be taken to mobilize for war. He stated in part, “It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of war at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training.” 4.

A joint resolution was passed by the Congress and on 6 April 1917, the President signed the document declaring that a state of war existed with the Imperial German Government.

In his message to Congress, Wilson had referred to “the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided by law.” 5.

This law was the National Defense Act of 3 June 1916 which erected the framework for the expansion of the military establishment in the event a conflict were to come. Insofar as it pertained to the United States Army, the act recognized four elements in the land forces: the Regular Army, the National Guard, the Reserve Corps, and in wartime, the Volunteer Army. When the act was passed in June 1916, the possibility of the United States entering the war in Europe was still remote. The Congress in considering the law had assumed that in the event of hostilities, the bulk of the men needed to pursue a war would come as volunteers as they had throughout the history of the United States. 

On the day that war was declared, the strength of the United States Army was slightly more than 200,000, of which 67,000 were national guardsmen. The latter were still on active duty after being called into service for protection of the Mexican border against Pancho Villa’s raids. The training camps in existence in April 1917 had a capacity for only 125,000 men. It was from this base that the United States would have to recruit the manpower and construct the facilities to develop an army of a million and a half, which the General Staff estimated would be needed for participation in the war in Europe.

During the months immediately preceding the United States’ entry into the war, President Wilson and the War Department came to recognize that only a conscript army could provide the quantities of men needed to wage trench warfare as it had been carried out in Europe for almost three years. As early as February 1917, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker made the statement to the Army War College, “We are going to raise our Army by draft.” 6.

This was a new concept for a nation that had always relied on volunteers in times of national crisis. Conscription had been tried only once before by the Federal Conscription Act of March 1963. The draft riots of New York City in July 1863 demonstrated the utter failure of the system. However, President Wilson was convinced that this method was the only fair one for all the American people; hence, his reference in the 2 April message: “men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service.” 7.

A universal conscription law, whatever its merits, required the approval of Congress. Following the declaration of war, a bill to this effect was introduced. The debate over the new concept was long and often bitter. It was not until 13 May 1917 that the bill “An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States” was approved.

In the meantime, the War Department and the US Army General Staff could not make final plans for the organization and training of the increased army until it had assurance that the manpower was to be made available. Consequently, it was not until mid-May 1917, almost a month and a half after United States entry into the war, that orders were sent out to select sites for the training camps and negotiate for construction of cantonments for the new army.

The draft law that gave the go-ahead to the War Department was signed by the President on 18 May 1917. It provided for the drafting of an army of 500,000 men, between the ages of 21 and 30, both inclusive. It also provided for raising the Regular Army and National Guard of the United States to their full legal strength, for the incorporation into national service of the National Guard of several states, and for a day of general registration. By proclamation, the President assigned 5 June 1917, as the day of registration. Despite the views of many that a draft would not work, 9,660,000 men were registered in an atmosphere of patriot calm on 5 June 1917.

On the morning of 20 July, Secretary Baker presided at the drawing of the “national lottery.” Baker drew number “258,” which designated the first man in each precinct throughout the United States to report to his local draft board. Sufficient numbers were drawn to provide 687,000 men -- the total estimated to fill vacancies in the National Guard. The first contingent of the draft received subsequent orders to report to their training camps on 1 September 1917.  The term “Volunteer Army” as defined in the National Defense Act of 1916 was scrapped, and the draftees became the “National Army” to distinguish them from other elements of the land forces.

The date for the reporting draftees set the deadline for the War Department. On 1 September, the National Army camps would have to be ready to receive and train the hundreds of thousands of men. One of these camps was to be named Camp Dix, New Jersey.

Chapter II

SELECTION OF SITES FOR MOBILIZATION CAMPS 

In the spring of 1917, the US Army had barracks space sufficient to house only troops of the Regular Army. The problem facing the War Department was to provide facilities for the new increments to the Regular Army, then for the 16 divisions of the expanded National Guard when they were called to active service, and finally the additional 16 divisions planned for the National Army of draftees. The camps for the National Army had to be completed by the 1 September date established by the secretary of war as the initial reporting date for the drafted men.

The US Army General Staff had early developed plans to expand the existing facilities for the National Guard and National Army would have to be situated at new sites on newly acquired lands with complete new construction. In order to take best advantage of climatic conditions for training purposes and to utilize tentage already available to the US Army, the southern states were selected as the location for National Guard divisions. Political considerations, population distribution and other factors indicated that the camps for the National Army should be located in areas from which the draftees came.

“The decision as to the camp sites rested with the Secretary of War. His was the power to say where all the millions of money for construction and camp supplies should be spent; his the power to gratify local pride and civic patriotism, to give government approval to the realtors’ exploiting of suburban subdivisions.” 1 (Frederick Palmer, Newton D. Baker – America at War, vol. I, p. 239)

Secretary Baker early decided that an arbitrary selection of sites would be unwise. He delegated his authority to the US Army Department commanders who were advised to appoint boards of officers to survey locations “known to them or suggested to them and to select for recommendation to the (War) Department the best sites.” 2. (Ibid. p. 240)

Even though no secrecy was attached to the adoption of this procedure, the secretary of war, the War Department and even the President were deluged with delegations, applications and letters from committees and individuals seeking the location of camps near their cities or in their states. In late May 1917, President Wilson received a letter from an old friend in New Jersey suggesting the location of a camp in that state. In his reply, the President advised his friend that “he knew nothing about the War Department’s plans for mobilization camps, but observed that he would like to serve New Jersey in any way practicable.” 3. (Ibid., p. 239)

The letter was referred to Secretary Baker who in a subsequent memorandum to the President advised that he had delegated the authority to the department commanders. He added, however, “Whether New Jersey sites will be recommended I do not know, but I shall be glad to ask General Bell (department commander for the area including New Jersey) to have his board consider carefully any such sites as may be suggested.” 4. (Ibid., p. 240)

It was not until 7 May 1917, when the draft law was well along to receiving congressional approval, that the War Department directed the commanding generals of the seven military departments to select sites for the construction of cantonments for the National Guard and the National Army. Major General J. Franklin Bell, commander of the Department of the East, on receipt of the order, appointed a board of officers under the chairmanship of Colonel W. C. Brown to survey possible sites in his department. 

After careful consideration, the board selected several sites, one of which was located in Burlington County, New Jersey, near the village of Wrightstown. This site was recommended to the War Department, and late in May 1917, it was approved as the location of the 78^th National Army Division’s mobilization camp. It is not known if political influence played a part in the selection of the site in Burlington County, but the passage of time has revealed the vision and foresight of the men who recommended this location for a military camp.

The area near Wrightstown was only 30 miles from Philadelphia and fewer than 100 miles from New York City with their vast port and rail facilities. Additionally, a spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad connecting both cities ran adjacent to the planned campsite and the city of Trenton, New Jersey, only 18 miles distance by road. Located in the heartland of the “Garden State” (New Jersey) and the extensive agricultural regions of Pennsylvania, the area provided a ready access to markets to feed the anticipated thousands of soldiers. With a good supply of surface water only three miles from the proposed cantonment site and an underground water table at reasonable depths, water posed no major problem. 

Other physical characteristics of the area were equally favorable, Extensive cleared land as well as an expanse of Jersey pines lay within short hikes. Terrain of the type needed for training in trench warfare as fought in Europe was easily accessible. The soil of this region – a mixture of clay, sand and gravel extending to depths of hundreds of feet – was ideal for drainage, and the sloping terrain was suitable for the use of a gravity sewage system. With respect to the climate, the survey group concluded that the area was not “cursed with an overabundance of humidity in summertime,” was relatively free of mosquitos, and in general provided “a very healthful location.” 5 (Camp Dix News, vol. i, no. v  1917, 2. )

Historically, the land comprising the modern Fort Dix had been settled by a group of English Friends, or Quakers, from Yorkshire and London, England, in the year 1677. The region was first part of the Province of West Jersey. The nearby city of Burlington frequently served as a meeting place for the provincial assembly until 1702 when the boundaries of New Jersey were established along the lines as they exist today. To hear the sounds of marching feet would not be something new to Burlington County. In August 1757, a draft of Burlington County militia was mustered and reviewed at Mount Holly prior to its service in the French and Indian War. This was the first recorded military information within the county, although a number of men from the area had served within the New Jersey militia in King George’s War against France, 1744-1748.

During the long struggle for independence from Great Britain, Burlington County witnessed the movement of elements of both the British and Continental armies across its soil. Communities, particularly Burlington City and Bordentown, were frequently occupied by British regulars and their Hessian mercenaries. Mount Holly, nearby to present Fort Dix, was occupied on Christmas Eve, 1776, as continental Militia drew Hessian troops away from Bordentown. This action was in preparation for General Washington’s historic crossing of the Delaware River and the defeat of the Hessian troops in Trenton on 26 December 1776. Mount Holly was again occupied for several days in June 1778 by 15,000 British troops with 1500 wagons under the command of General William Clinton. This force destroyed the town’s iron works which had been supplying the Continental Army with weapons.

After the defeat of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, it was a Burlington man, Elias Boudinot, who as “President of the Congress” signed preliminary articles of peace with Great Britain on 30 November 1782.

Since the Revolution, thousands of Burlington County men and women have served the nation with distinction. Captain James Lawrence, commander of the American frigate in the War of 1812 and famed for his dying order, “Don’t give up the ship!,” was born in Burlington City. His home still stands, as does that of James Fenimore Cooper, author of the famous Leatherstocking Tales and The Last of the Mohicians, who was born in the house next door.

In 1917, today’s Fort Dix joined this proud heritage to make its contribution to the history of Burlington County. 

History of Fort Dix 3 - Maj. Gen. John Adams Dix

Fort Dix History

Chapter III 

MAJOR GENERAL JOHN ADAMS DIX, U.S. V. 1. (United States Volunteer)

“In the early morning of June 1, 1917, Captain George W. Mulhern 2. (Offical post return lists Captain George W. Mulheron, Commander of Company C, 1st Battalion Engineers New Jersey, arriving on 25 June 1917) and a small band of 19 officers and privates from Company C of the 26th New Jersey Engineers arrived at the quaint, sleepy, straggling village of Wrightstown.” 3 (Quoted by Camp Dix Pictorial Review, January 1918, p. 1, from William Maxwell, Historical Record of Camp Dix 1917). 

This advance detachment was the first unit to look over the area which would one day become the largest military installation in the north-eastern United States. When these personnel arrived at what was to be the cantonment site, no name had yet been given to the Army reservation. During the ensuing weeks, they and the construction workers who soon followed their arrival referred to the site by various names such as “Camp Wrightstown” and “Wrightstown Cantonment.” 

It was not until 18 July 1917 when construction already had been under way for some weeks that a War Department general order designated the area to be known as Camp Dix in honor of Major General John Adams Dix, soldier, politician, statesman, foreign diplomat and railroad pioneer who had ably served his country for a period of more than 60 years.

Dix was born in the village of Boscawen, New Hampshire, on 24 July 1798. His father, a prosperous storekeeper, was instrumental in the formation of a local militia. Young Dix at a very early age became intrigued by the activities of these hometown “heroes.” In his memoirs, he described how they fired his imagination to the point where he “caught the contagion, and made to myself a sacred vow that, if ever I grew into manhood, I would become a soldier or perish in the attempt.” 4 (Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, vol. i. p. 21)

Following the death of his mother in childbirth, Dix was sent away to a series of boarding schools including Phillips Exeter Academy and the College of Montreal. His dream of becoming a soldier did not diminish. With the approach of the War of 1812, Dix’ father received an appointment as a major in the infantry and became commander of a battalion in Baltimore. Although his father wanted young Dix to continue his education, the latter succeeded in becoming a cadet in the US Army in 1812 and managed to join his father’s unit in Baltimore. 

In 1813, four months shy of 15 years of age, Dix received a commission as an ensign in the infantry. In April of that year, father and son were in Sackett’s Harbor, northern New York, performing duty at what was later to become Madison Barracks. In autumn, their unit joined with a force from Plattsburg for a march up the St. Lawrence River to meet the British at Montreal. The combined force failed to reach its destination, but on the march, they fought several skirmishes with British troops which gave young Dix his first view of battle and death in combat. During the return march to Lake Ontario, the older Dix fell ill with pneumonia and died en route to Sackett’s Harbor.

A succession of military posts and duties followed for Dix including, at the age of 16, an assignment as aide-de-camp to Major General Jacob Brown, commander of the Northern Department of the US Army. In this capacity, Dix came into contact with many important personages of the times. Jefferson, Madison, Calhoun, Van Rensselaer were only a few of the many described by Dix in his memoirs. In 1919, Dix began to read law with an eye to resigning his commission and setting up practice in New York State.

On 29 May 1826, Dix married Catherine Morgan, the daughter of a distinguished citizen of New York, John Jordan Morgan. After a European honeymoon, Captain Dix and his wife were stationed at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and then West Point, New York. At the latter post, he became increasingly disenchanted with peacetime military life and resigned in 1828.

Dix and his wife settled in Cooperstown, New York, where he pursued the life of a country squire managing his father-in-law’s lands and practicing law. He was appointed adjutant general of New York State in 1830, and in 1833 Dix took on the additional duties of secretary of state and served in these capacities until 1839. During this period, he became a leading member of the so-called “Albany Regency” – the controlling group in the state Democratic Party.

With the victory of the Whig Party in 1838, Dix became politically inactive until 1845, when he was appointed to fill out the term of Senator Silas Wright. In a complicated political maneuver, Wright had been elected in 1844 to governorship of New York State and as governor appointed Dix to fill out his term in the Senate. As US Senator, Dix aligned himself with antislavery Democrats, and the resulting antagonism of the southern wing of the party led to his temporary retirement from politics when his term was completed in 1849.

During the next decade he was active in railroad promotion and law practice in New York City. He continued his contacts with the Democratic Party, and in January 1961, he was appointed secretary of the treasury by President James Buchanan and served until March of that year. In this short period of time, Dix rallied reluctant northern financers to support what they thought was a failing government. While in this post he coined the memorable phrase, “If anyone attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.” 5 (Ibid,., p. 371)

The words were part of a message sent to treasury agents in New Orleans, ordering the arrest of the captain of a revenue cutter for his refusal to sail his ship to New York.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Dix, as head of the Union Defense Committee, organized 17 regiments and was commissioned a major general of volunteers. Although he saw no fighting, he helped to save Maryland for the Union cause by his active defense measures. Historians have termed the refusal of Maryland to secede crucial to the North’s eventual victory. In May 1663, Dix was sent to Fortress Monroe in Virginia as commander of the VII US Army Corps. The highlight of his tour come when he marched several thousand troops up the peninsula toward Richmond in an unsuccessful move to cut off Lee from his headquarters. General Lee then was preparing for the attack at Gettysburg.

After the New York draft riots in July 1863, Dix was appointed commander of the US Army Department of the East in New York City. He served in this capacity until his retirement on 15 July 1865. Despite his advancing years, Dix continued serving as the first president of the Union Pacific Railroad, United States minister to France (1866-69), and, though a staunch Democrat, was elected governor of New York on the Republican ticket in 1872. Defeated for reelection in 1874, Dix finally retired from the public scene until his death 21 April 1879.

The memory of John Adams Dix and his many accomplishments are largely forgotten. The perpetuation of his contribution to the American heritage rests principally with the Army reservation that now bears his name, as it has for the past 50 years. Fort Dix today continues to train young men for the task of protecting that to which John Adams Dix devoted his entire life – the United States of America. 

History of Fort Dix

Chapter IV 

THE CONSTRUCTION OF CAMP DIX

Although the area southeast of Wrightstown, New Jersey, seemed ideally suited for a mobilization camp, the task of completing sufficient facilities at the site to receive the first draftees by 1 September 1917 seemed impossible. The few Army personnel who began to arrive at Wrightstown in early June expected to see construction underway or at least in an advanced stage of preparation. When these soldiers saw only vast expanses of carefully cultivated fields devoid of any activity, it is easy to understand their disappointment. The weeks of June and early July 1917 passed as they had for more than two centuries with only the crops in the fields showing any signs of growth.

MAJOR HARRY C. WILLIAMS

Major Harry C. Williams, who reported as the first camp commander on 12 June 1917, later described the early weeks as ones of inactivity in which “make-work” projects had to be created to prevent boredom among the troops. Williams summed up the frustration of all in an article which later appeared in the Camp Dix News when he stated, “the visions of mushroom growth were painfully dissipated.”

The discouragement of Major Williams and his men was understandable, but the slow start in construction was not without good reasons. The War Department faced the almost unbelievable task of constructing within a period of three months not only Camp Dix and 31 similar camps but more than 500 other military posts of varying sizes. The problems of procurement of building materials, labor, transportation, and other equipment were of a magnitude beyond any previous experience of the American people. Yet, even though it was not apparent in Wrightstown, progress had been made in laying the groundwork for the building of Camp Dix.

The quartermaster general of the State of New Jersey was negotiating with owners of farms and forests to use their land for the military reservation, and on 17 June 1917, a one-year lease on 6,500 acres was arranged and signed by the parties concerned. Additional land was procured later by other leases and outright purchase. Of the $700,000 allocated for land acquisition, only $550,000 was ever spent. Some landowners, especially those whose families had occupied their land for generations, were understandably hesitant to leave their homes. Most, however, displayed a high degree of cooperation with the war effort. One prosperous farmer, when asked by a newspaper reporter what his reaction was to vacating his premises gave a reply that revealed the feeling of patriotism which most Americans had during those days of World War I. He answered simply, “If I had a boy in the new Army, I’d want him to live in a decent place; wouldn’t you?” 1. (Camp Dix News, vol. i, no. I 1917 7.)

IRWIN AND LEIGHTON

Concurrent with negotiations for land were those for construction of buildings and camp facilities. A contract was signed with the firm of Irwin and Leighton of Philadelphia on 4 June 1917. It was the same type of contract made with all construction firms for the 16 National Army camps. It called for construction of buildings and facilities required to provide for an infantry division of three regiments, known as a triangular division, on a “cost-plus basis with a graded scale of percentages decreasing from 10% to 6% on the cost of the work as the total cost increased.” 2. (Erna Risch, Quartermaster Support of the Army. A History of the Corps 1775-1939, p. 607)

These terms were favorable to the contractors and were undoubtedly an important factor in the rapid deterioration of the National Army camps once the contracts were completed.

Irwin and Leighton had only two and one-half months in which to complete sufficient buildings and facilities to provide for the first draftees. The size of the task in this short time was gigantic in proportion. More than 7,000 carpenters, electricians, plumbers and laborers had to be assembled, housed, fed and cared for at the campsite. Millions of board feet of lumber, miles of piping and wire, plumbing fixtures in the thousands, plus a myriad of other supplies, tools and equipment had to be purchased, transported and assembled at Wrightstown. This was accomplished at a time when skilled workers were in demand throughout the country, building materials were in short supply, and transportation already was overtaxed.

To further complicate the construction problem, the War Department on the recommendation of General Pershing and his staff revised the organization of the infantry division in late July 1917. The new division, commonly referred to as the “square” division, called for an addition of a fourth regiment and half again as many troops. As one writer commented, “The effect upon the cantonment arrangements was much the same as building a tall building, then adding ten stories, putting the elevators in a new place, and lowering the ceilings on each floor by a foot.” 3 (Frederick Palmer, Newton D. Baker-America at War, vol. i., p. 255)

The changes in the number of buildings to be constructed resulted in the contract continuing long after Camp Dix was to have been completed.

By mid-July 1917, the campsite began to see “visions of mushroom growth,” of which Major Williams dreamed. Workers began to arrive by the hundreds each day. More than 30 million board feet of lumber and 28 miles of various sized piping for the water system arrived in the railway siding in a few days time. Buildings began to appear in the cornfields at a fantastic rate of speed. On 5 September, sufficient buildings had been erected to receive the first draftees to Camp Dix. During the month of September, 17,000 draftees arrived and were processed at the camp. However, even after their arrival, construction went on throughout the fall and into the winter of 1917. Oftentimes, the new soldiers moving into their bleak barracks had to clean up debris from the carpentering before they could set up cots.

Construction of the largest single facility at the camp was not begun until late in August. The Camp Dix Base Hospital during the early days was housed in buildings intended for use as troop barracks. By giving top priority to construction of the medial installation, a 61-building, 1,000 bed hospital was completed in record time and received its first patients on 29 October 1917. During construction of the hospital, a system of teams of workers was best demonstrated.

Contractors were constantly plagued by a shortage of skilled workers. To overcome this problem, unskilled workers were organized into teams similar to those working on manufacturing assembly lines. On 24 September 1917, 200 men operating in teams of carpenters established an unofficial record when they erected seven barracks buildings, 24’ x 157’, in a seven-hour period. The buildings were complete in every detail – floors laid, stairs placed, doors hung, windows fitted, and even screens emplaced. In addition, all scaffolding was removed, and the workmen had gone to new sites.

GAIETY OF NIGHT LIFE And RICHARD HUGHES FBI

The influx of thousands of construction workers with plenty of money in their pockets quickly created pressures in the villages and towns of the area surrounding Camp Dix. The horde of hard-working builders looking forward each evening to the gaiety of night life in the few populated areas that prior to the war had been nonexistent. It was only natural that Wrightstown, the nearest village, developed quickly into a boomtown. The village, which claimed a population of less than 200 before the war, within a few weeks in July 1917 grew into the thousands. Gamblers quickly arrived on the scene to help workers spend their “excess” money with such devices as poker, dice, faro and three-card monte games. As all boom times, the philosophy of “wine, women and song” quickly became the standard of Wrightstown.

This situation developed in the vicinity of nearly all developing National Army camps, and the federal government recognized that something had to be done before the young men of the new Army entered the service. The result was a federal order prohibiting the sale of liquor either in camps or within a radius of five miles of the campsites. In the Camp Dix area, aid for enforcing the newly passed bans came from the Philadelphia office of what is now the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Two special agents were sent to Camp Dix to work with the military police in determining the source of apparently illegal whiskey which somehow seemed to find its way to soldiers’ hands. The agent in charge of the operation at Camp Dix was Richard Hughes, father of the present governor of New Jersey, Richard J. Hughes.

Vice and corruption were not the only problems that faced the area municipalities. Housing workers and the many families accompanying them became a matter of deep concern. Within a few days, there was no available lodging within miles of the encampment, and the few stores in the formerly quiet country village were literally swamped with customers.

Camp Dix itself rapidly became a fair sized, self-sufficient city capable of handling its own problems and many relating to neighboring communities. Adjoining townships delegated by ordinance to the Army the right to police, regulate and restrict traffic within reasonable regulations on the Wrightstown-New Lisbon and Pointville-Pemberton Roads.

CAMP DIX FIRE DEPARTMENT – OCTOBER 1917

The Camp Dix Fire Department was organized in October 1917 and operated six stations and a fire truck and hose company. 

A huge bakery with a daily capacity of 36,000 pounds of bread per day was built. A complete water system was installed, including a pumping station on the Rancocas Creek which supplied the cantonment area with 3,000 gallons of water per minute. A series of water storage tanks also were constructed to facilitate the system. One, a 200,000-gallon steel tank, built on the Wrightstown-Pemberton Road, is still in service today, 50 years later.

A sewage disposal plant and a sewage system also were constructed. Stables and horse shops were built to house and care for the 7,000 horses and mules assigned to the camp. Approximately eight and one-half miles of standard gauge track were laid into the camp by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

By 15 December 1917, the contractors reported that in the period since 14 June, the company had employed a maximum of 11,000 workers operating in 400 teams and utilizing 40 trucks. They had constructed a total of 1,660 buildings of 143 types and sizes. At the time, Camp Dix consisted of 7,474 acres, of which 3,500 acres were used for artillery and rifle ranges. In the winter of 1917-18, the strength of Camp Dix averaged about 25,000 men per month.

New construction at Camp Dix continued well into the year 1918. Events in Europe such as the loss of Russia as an ally, the defeat of the Italian army at Caporetto, and the terrific losses of French and British forces in the spring of 1918 forced the War Department to revise its estimates of US forces to be committed in Europe from one-half million to a million and then a million and a half.

Camp Dix was destined to do its share in providing for this increase. The strength of the camp gradually rose until it reached a peak of almost 55,000 men in August 1918.

Insofar as the cost of construction is concerned, War Department records indicate that $13 million had been expended on construction of Camp Dix by 30 June 1919.

Almost 50 years later some of it still would be in use….for escalation of the War in Vietnam. In 1967 Congress appropriated more for a single brigade complex than the entire original construction cost of Camp Dix. 

[Editor’s Note]  IRWIN & LEIGHTON

The two men who started the company that built the original military cantonment at Wrightstown NJ were both of Scottish and Irish descent.

Alexander Dickson Irwin (also known as “AD”), was born in Philadelphia in 1881 to an early merchant family that became quite prominent in society social circles. His father owned a mill and manufactured wool goods.

Archibald Ogilvie Leighton (aka “AO”) was born in Ballycarry, Ireland, near Belfast, the son of an Irish mother and Scottish lawyer –the son of a barrister who became a construction craftsman.

It was while working on the construction of the Sligo Post office in William Butler Yeats country, where he met Gertrude Ann Hamilton, and became engaged.

In April, 1906, in the wake of the great San Francisco earthquake, Leighton decided to go to California to help rebuild the city. When he got to Philadelphia however, he was asked to appraise a construction project by a family friend. It was while working on the construction of the Germantown Junction train station, designed by Theophilus Chandler, Jr. in north Philadelphia he met Irwin, who was working on the same project. They became fast friends and decided to go into business together, forming Irwin and Leighton in 1909, drawing straws to determine whose name would go first. It wasn't for 50 years that Leighton made it to San Francisco.

Leighton sent for his fiancé they were married in Philadelphia and lived in Abington as the company completed its first major construction projects “down the shore” in Atlantic City.

From the 100 Year History of Irwin & Leighton Company book.

[ http://irwinleighton.com/images/IL100Years%20C1.pdf ]

The United States Army Cantonment at Camp Dix

The Camp Dix project, although one of Irwin & Leighton’s earliest, stands even today as one of its most meaningful because of the significance and importance of the project to the World War I effort, and the speed in which it was built.

Irwin & Leighton was chosen to build the Cantonment at Camp Dix when the site’s installment began in 1917. The initial project was required to be completed under a very aggressive time schedule to meet the impending demands of World War I. To do this, Irwin and Leighton directly employed and/or coordinated the efforts of hundreds of workers who, in accordance with the custom of the day, arrived at work in shirt and tie, changed into work clothes and changed again to go home.

Irwin & Leighton established an onsite Employment Office where seventeen clerks screened applicants who arrived by train and motorcar. A fleet of autos was required to make the weekly commutes to the Philadelphia National Bank for the worker’s payroll.

The project was started in July 1917, in farm fields. The scope involved ten sections of multiple barracks and support building as well as an extensive infrastructure work.

In less than sixty days, the entire project was substantially complete. In that time, Irwin & Leighton used forty million board feet of lumber, which was brought to the site by rail and erected in production fashion. When the company hit stride, it was completing one barrack per day. Irwin & Leighton’s onsite superintendent was E. M. Campbell.

The company further organized the project with “Heads of Departments” for survey, concrete, carpentry, sheet metal, plumbing, electrical, road construction, water and sewers, a pumping station, etc.

The 31,000 acre complex is located inside the Pineland National Reserve in Central New Jersey, and was named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civiil War.

Used as a staging ground and training area for units during World War I, it was made a permanent Army post in 1939 and was renamed Fort Dix.

In 1921, the Navy established Lakehurst Naval Air Station to serve as its headquarters for lighter-than-air flight after the pioneering use of zeppelins by the German forces in World War I.

In order to house large helium-filled dirigibles, the Navy hired Irwin & Leighton to build Lakehurst’s Hanger No. 1, a massive structure measuring 961 feet long, 350 feet wide and 200 feet high. The great spans and clear height were achieved through state-of-the-art design. Inside it, Naval engineers assembled the first American-built airship, the Shenandoah.

Lakehurst was also the location of the now-infamous Hindenburg disaster. The crash of the Hindenburg dirigible on May 6, 1937 over Lakehurst was the 20thcentury’s first transportation disaster widely captured by newsreel, audio recordings and still photos.

Fort Dix V - WWI

History of Fort Dix 1917-1967

Chapter V

CAMP DIX ACTIVITIES IN WORLD WAR I

When the United States entered World War I, the US Army could not claim a single active division. At the time, the largest operational element of the Army was the infantry regiment. Of these, only 31 Regular Army regiments and 110 National Guard regiments existed. The later varied considerably in strength and number of battalions.

The War Department had prepared plans and drawn up tables of organization to assign various regiments to infantry divisions using the triangular principle, i.e., elements grouped in threes. However, shortly after General John J. Pershing and his staff arrived in France, they determined that the square division, elements grouped in fours, demonstrated far greater power to penetrate the system of trenches peculiar to the Western Front. On 8 June 1917, two months after the US declared war, the Army activated the 1st Infantry Division in France utilizing four infantry regiments, the 16th, 18th, 26th, and 28th. The “Big Red One” became the prototype for all US Infantry divisions, which were subsequently organized in World War I.

GENERAL PERSHING

General Pershing in his analysis of tactical organizations in an official report to the secretary of war, 20 November 1918, stated: “After a thorough consideration of allied organizations it was decided that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of 3,000 men with three battalions to regiment and four companies of 250 men each to a battalion and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, a machine gun battalion, a signal battalion wagon trains and the headquarters staffs and military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German divisions.” 1 (Francis A. March, History of World War I, p. 702)

The changes in size and organization of the infantry division recommended by General Pershing and employed by him in organizing the 1st Infantry Division presented problems to the War Department. Not only would all of the tables of organization have to be re-written but National Guard and National Army cantonments which already were under construction would have to be adjusted and expanded to provide for the added units and the increased strength. There was considerable opposition in the War Department to revising the organization of the Army in mid-summer 1917 just at the time that the National Guard and the first draft of selective service men were being called. 

However, the secretary of war let it be known that the commander in chief in France who was to command our Army in battle should have the size division he wanted. Largely because of the strong support given to General Pershing by the secretary of war, the square infantry division concept was quickly adopted by the War Department and published in a series of tables of organization beginning on 8 August 1917.

Just prior to that date, on 5 August, official announcement was made by the War Department of the establishment of 16 infantry divisions of the National Army. Among these was the 78th Infantry Division, scheduled to organize and train at Camp Dix, Wrightstown, New Jersey. The division was allocated draftees from the first contingent as follows: Delaware, 1,202; New Jersey, 20,665; and New York, 21,160. On 13 August, the War Department directed that the 78th Infantry Division Headquarters be organized and the commissioned officers report for duty on 15 August. The next day, the division commander was directed to organize subordinate units of the division in accordance with Tables of Organization, dated 8 August 1917.

MAJOR GENERAL CHASE W. KENNEDY

Major General Chase W. Kennedy assumed command of the division on 23 August and at the same time became the first commanding general of Camp Dix. He was destined, however, to command this New Jersey installation and its units only three months because of policies being developed in France.

In November 1917 from his headquarters in France, General Pershing wrote to the War Department of his concern regarding age of the generals who had been assigned for duty as division commander with the American Expeditionary Forces. He pointed out that the average age of the French and British division commander was 38 to 45. They had found this necessary because of the extreme mental and physical demands placed on combat commanders at the Western Front, even at the division level. Pershing requested he be assigned generals of comparable age to that of the French and British commanders. His request was honored, and one of those selected was General Kennedy at Camp Dix.

Kennedy was relieved from assignment at Camp Dix on 28 November 1917 and soon after sailed for France. Following his departure, Brigadier Generals John S. Mallory and James T. Dean served ad interim assignments as commander of Camp Dix and the 78th Division until 2 January 1918 when Major General Hugh L. Scott assumed both responsibilities.

MAJOR GENERAL HUGH L. SCOTT

General Scott had been chief of staff, United States Army, until 22 September 1917 when he was placed on a retired list but continued on active duty. Following a visit to Russia as an observer with the Root Mission, General Scott was assigned to the A.E.F. in France. By coincidence, he was one of the older generals whom General Pershing specifically had mentioned in his letter to the War Department. On 20 April 1918, Brigadier General James H. McRae, later to become major general, was assigned as commanding general of the 78th Division and served in that capacity throughout the remainder of World War I. General Scott continued as camp commander until 12 May 1919 at which time he was relieved of the post and placed on full retirement.

To return to the activities of the 78th Division, the organization of its subordinate units began during the last week of August 1917 from a cadre of Regular Army officers and organized Reserve Corps and National Army officers from the First Officers’ Training Camp, Madison Barracks, New York.

The 78th Division consisted of two infantry brigades, the 155th and `56th with the 309th, 310th Infantry Regiments, the 308th Machine Gun Battalion, respectively, the 153rd Field Artillery Brigade with the 307th and 308th Field Artillery Regiments (75mm), the 309th Field Artillery Regiment (155mm) and the 303rd Trench Mortar Battery; 303rd Engineer Regiment; 303rd Signal Battalion; 303rd headquarters and Military Police Trains; 303rd Supply, Ammunition, Engineer, and Sanitation Trains; the 309th, 310th, 311th, 312th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals, and the 153rd Depot Brigade.

At each of the National Guard camps, a depot brigade with the mission of training draftees as replacements was assigned as a component part of the National Guard divisions. The 153rd Depot Brigade was activated on 17 August 1917 with six training battalions, which became a part of the 78th Division after its formation. In October, three provisional training regimental headquarters were formed by the brigade, and these assumed direct supervision of the training battalions. The brigade remained subordinate to the 78th division until the 78th departed for France. At that time, it became an independent command, expanding to 10 training battalions, which was its organization throughout the remainder of the war.

In addition to the 78th Division, other major organizations were activated at Camp Dix and carried on training simultaneously with the division. The largest of these was the 167th Field Artillery Brigade (Negro), which was activated in November 1917. The 167th Brigade was part of the 92nd Infantry Division, which had its headquarters at Camp Funston, Kansas. The brigade remained in training at Camp Dix until the 92nd Division left for France in June 1918.

Other units were the 24th Engineer Regiment, activated in November 1917, and the 34th and 54th Engineer Regiments, activated in February 1918. All of these regiments departed for France in June 1918. Camp Dix also operated a Cooks and Bakers School, which provided personnel for units throughout the US Army. It was activated in September 1917 and remained in operation until long after the end of the war. It was inactivated in April 1922.

CAMP DIX BASE HOSPITAL

US Army medical activities began at Camp Dix with the arrival, on 27 August 1917, of an ambulance company of the 22nd Field Hospital and several medical officers. A month later the first group of 20 nurses reported from a Red Cross training center. Initially, a temporary field hospital was established in troop barracks during the construction of the Camp Dix Base Hospital. On 22 October, the Base Hospital opened in the area just to the east of the Wrightstown-Camp Dix entrance. The original structures was expanded throughout the war until it reached a maximum capacity of 2, 184 beds. At that time, the total assigned strength consisted of 104 officers, 650 enlisted men and 158 nurses.

The first draftees reporting to Camp Dix were confronted with military supply problems similar to the construction supply problems that faced contractors. Quartermaster records of September 1917 show the following items on hand for issue to the incoming soldiers: 204 cotton shirts, 84 service hats, 614 pairs of shoes and 500 pairs of leggings. Also on hand were 47,430 cotton undershirts, 39,350 cotton stockings and 24, 600 wool stockings. With this shortage and imbalance, it is understandable why many of the first men had to continue wearing their civilian clothes during the early stages of training.

The same situation existed with respect to food supplies. The records show available for issue: 135,000 rations of bacon, 169,000 of corned beef, 1,135,000 pounds of sugar and 2,575,000 of salt. With weapons it was the same. The first rifles used by the soldiers were the Krag, .30-40, which first came into use during the Spanish-American war, and the 1903 Springfield .30-06, went into full production that the US soldiers had a common rifle.

DOUGHBOYS TRAINING

The training day for the doughboys of World War I was not much different from that of the infantrymen today. First Call came at 5:45 a.m., with Assembly 15 minutes later. Breakfast began at 6:20 a.m., followed by sick Call at 6:45 a.m., and stable Call at 7 a.m. First Call for drill was sounded at 7:20 a.m., with Assembly at 7:30 a.m. The noon break lasted from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Recall was blown at 5 p.m. Retreat was held at 5;35 p.m., with the evening meal following immediately. Night classes were conducted each evening during the week from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and Taps closed out the day at 10 p.m. A six-day work week was followed, and only on Sundays and holidays was there a break in training, when Revelle sounded one-half hour later.

The doughboys’ training consisted of heavy emphasis on close order drill, calisthenics, marches and bivouacs, filed inspections, range firing, bayonet drill, and defense and attack of mock trenches.

MORAL AND WELFARE – PERSONALITIES And ENTERTAINMENT

Despite the rigorous and long hours of training, it was not all work and no play” for the soldiers at Camp Dix. The moral and welfare of each soldier were considerations that occupied the time of many individuals and organizations. Personalities from the entertainment world visited the post to perform for the troops. The first well-known comedian to appear at the camp was Sir Harry Lauder whose Scottish brogue, put to tune in the inaugural act, was followed by other noted musicians, singer and actors of the day.

While all of the events were given on a large scale, there was no central agency such as today’s United Service Organization (USO) to organize and coordinate entertainment activities This lack of central organization did not affect the quality or quantity of entertainment supplied to the army camps. Private welfare agencies military personnel assigned to provide for the morale, welfare and entertainment of the soldiers filled the gap. Although their activities were not centralized, a number of agencies and facilities was in operation at Camp Dix.

The Y.M.C.A. maintained nine huts and an auditorium, which was the largest building on post. The Knights of Columbus had three huts and an auditorium, the latter located near the camp swimming pool at 8th Street and New Jersey Avenue. This site presently is occupied by the Army Education Center. The pool also was built by the Knights of Columbus but not completed in time for use in World War I.

The Jewish Welfare organization’s building was located at 5th Street and New Jersey Avenue, and the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey operated the Saint George Club in Pointville. The latter building later was sold to the government for one dollar and converted to a guesthouse. The Red Cross building was located at 8th Street and New York Avenue. It was later torn down, and the A.R.C. constructed a new building in 1942 near the old site.

THE MOLE TEQUOP CLUB – SIGN STALKER

The Salvation Army operated a club in Wrightstown as it does today. Fire consumed the first building, and the organization moved into quarters of the “Mole Tequop Club,” an Army service club located on the main corner of Wrightstown. The Mole Tequop operated under the Commission Training Camp Activities of the War Department and was one of three service clubs located in Wrightstown. The club’s unusual name was derived from an Indian phrase meaning “Sign Talker” which had been given to Major General Hugh L. Scott, camp commander, by an Indian tribe many years before.

The Christian Scientists maintained a facility near New Jersey and 8th Street; the Camp Community Service had a lodge near Wrightstown and there were two Hostess Houses for the entertainment of Negro troops, one of which was later converted into an officer’s club. Among other activities at the camp were a dramatic club, a post library with 2500 volumes, a full-time camp song instructor, a camp athletic director and a camp boxing instructor.

Each evening the latest silent films were presented at the post’s first theater. Often doubling as a sports arena, the spacious Liberty Theater could seat nearly 1,000 persons. Such classics as “West of Today,” and “Six Feet Four” were among the many films presented. “West of Today” starring William Russell was considered a film intended “only for people with red blood in their veins.”

CAMP DIX NEWS

To keep informed of the news, the soldiers had a variety of camp newspapers to choose from. “The Trench and Camp Weekly, “ “The Camp Dix Times,” “The Camp Dix News,” and “The Camp Dix Pictorial Review,” were printed by the “Trenton Times” for such agencies as the contractors and Y.M.C.A. for issue to workers and soldiers.

One item the men read in August of 1918 concerned 370 Italian soldiers who had arrived at Camp Dix after crossing more than half the world on their return to Italy. It was an unusual story!

ITALIAN POWS FROM THE EASTERN FRONT

When Austria declared war in 1914, many Italians living in the provinces of Southern Tyrol, Treseste, Friuli, Istria and Dalmatia were compelled to join the Austrian Army. The impressed soldiers were sent to fight on the Russian front against a nation allied with their homeland. Taking advantage of every opportunity to surrender, the Italians fell into the hands of the Russians who held them prisoner until the arrival of an Italian military mission to Moscow. After release in December 1917, the men began a long and adventurous journey across Siberia. Eventually, they reached China and obtained passage to the United States. Upon reaching the US, the soldiers were sent to Camp Dix to await their voyage to Italy. At Dix, the Italians were joined by about 2,000 aliens who had requested return to Europe to join in the fight against the Germans.

The Italians were acclaimed to be the “bravest of the brave,” who would, when they finally reached front, “fight like demons because they have been through hell.” 2. (Camp Dix Times, vol. I, no. xxxxiv 1918, pp. 1 & 18)

The Germans never saw the fighting mettle of these spirited soldiers for, ironically, the war ended before they reached the front.

By the end of October 1917 the 78th Division still had not reached full strength, it numbered only 16,000 men. In the last drafts of 1917, which reported to Camp Dix during the period 19-24 November, only 5,000 additional men were furnished to the camp. During this period, the division was called on to provide fillers for units shipping to France. By 10 November, transfers had reduced the size of the division to less than half its authorized strength. It remained at the same level throughout the winter of 197-18, but in April and early May, the division was brought up to full strength by transfers from New England, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. This occurred just before the division’s movement to France, where it arrived in early June. After two and one-half months training with the British in Flanders, the division joined the First US Army and participated in the St. Mihiel and Meuse operations.

FLANDERS – MIHIEL And MEUSE

[Editors Note: At the entrance to Atlantic City from the Black Horse Pike there is a large roundabout granite monument that is a memorial tribute to those who fought and died in the battles of World War I, the names of the battles are etched into the side of the monument.]

CAMP DIX EMBARKATION POINT

With the departure of the 78th Division, the War Department designated Camp Dix as an embarkation point for units departing overseas. The first division to use the camp as a staging area before movement to points of embarkation was the 87th Infantry Division (National Army), which had been activated at Camp Pike, Arkansas, at the same time as the 78th Division. The 87th or “Acorn” Division was composed of soldiers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It’s troops began to move into Camp Dix on 18 June 1918 and remained until 18 August when its advanced elements began their movement in France. During its stay at Camp Dix, the division received 10,000 replacements from the 153rd Depot Brigade. The division did not see action in the war; it still was in training in France when the armistice was signed.

Almost immediately after departure of the 87th Division, parts of the 67th and 68thInfantry Brigades of the 34th Division (National Guard) began to arrive at Camp Dix. The 34th “Sandstorm” Division had trained at Camp Cody, New Mexico, and was composed of National Guard units called into service from Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska.

It was while the 34th Division troops were staging at Camp Dix that the influenza epidemic struck the reservation. The epidemic had been rampant throughout the United States resulting in the death of more than 500,000 people in a 10-month period.

The camp was placed under strict quarantine from early September to 12 October 1918. In this period, more than 12,000 cases of influenza and pneumonia were reported, and at one time, the Base Hospital had a peak load of 7,943 patients. The hospital had to utilize 18 barracks normally used for housing troops to provide for the overflow from the wards. Approximately 900 soldiers died during the epidemic. At the height of the attack, as many as 70 to 80 deaths occurred a day.

According to a newsman at Camp Dix during the epidemic, the first deceased soldiers were shipped to their homes in flag-covered coffins with military escort. However, the deaths occurred at such a high rate that eventually escorts could not be provided, and soon the post’s supply of flags ran out. During the latter stages of the epidemic, only plain wooden coffins carried the dead to their final resting place. In early October, the number of cases diminished, and the infantry brigades of the 34thDivision began their embarkation for France.

With the movement of the 34th Division to ports of embarkation, Camp Dix was preparing for the activation of the 102nd Infantry Division, one of the new divisions the War Department planned to commit in France for the big offensive scheduled in 1919. However, the abrupt end of the war in Europe came with only a small number of cadres of lower ranks assembled at Camp Dix. With the armistice, plans for activation of the division were dropped, and cadre personnel were reassigned to existing units. 

Thus Camp Dix ended it task as a training and later an embarkation center of World War I, but its service in the war was not finished.

Soon would begin the gigantic task of returning to civilian life a good share of the four million men to be demobilized. 

Although Camp Dix began to serve as a discharge point within a few days after the end of the war, it was not until 3 December 1918, when it was designated a Demobilization Center, that full impact of the problem was felt.

Fort Dix Chapter VI - Demobilization

Chapter VI

CAMP DIX AND DEMOBILIZATION

“The collapse of the Central Powers came more quickly than even the best-informed military experts believed possible.” 1 (U.S. Secretary of War 1tr. To U.S. Senator James A. Reed, 3 April 1919.)

Thus, wrote Secretary of War Newton D. Baker in a letter to Senator James A. Reed about the suddenness of the armistice on 11 November 1918. The abrupt end of the war found the United States even less prepared for demobilization than it had been for mobilization in April 1917.

When the war ended, there was only one officer, Colonel C. H. Conrad, Jr. in the entire United States Army actively working on plans for personnel demobilization, and he had received the assignment only one month previously.

General Peyton C. March, chief of staff, US Army, in speaking of the planning for demobilization said, “…There were no precedents afforded by the experience of our former wars which were of value in determining policy.” 2 (Peyton C. March, The Nation at War, p. 312)

Except the Civil War, no war in which the United States previously participated had involved the mass of personnel comparable to the millions who served in World War I. Then, too, the opportunities of economic and territorial expansion in the nation that existed after the Civil War were not available to the men released in 1918-19.

The War Department planners considered the welfare of the nation as well as the Army and concluded that demobilizing the emergency troops could be best accomplished in one of four ways: soldiers could be separated by length of service, by industrial needs or occupation, by locality (through the use of local draft boards), or by military units.

The decision favoring the military unit method of demobilization was made on 16 November 1918 and immediately announced to the press. The secretary of war, describing the plan in his report for 1919, said, ‘…the policy adopted was to demobilize by complete organizations as their services could be spared, thus insuring the maximum efficiency of those organizations remaining, instead of demobilizing by special classes with the resulting discontent among those not given preferential treatment and retained in the service, thus lowering their morale and efficiency and disrupting all organizations with the attendant general discontent,’ 3 (U.S. Secretary of War, War Department Annual Report 1919, vol. I, pt. I, p. 14)

Demobilization Centers, such as Camp Dix became on 3 December 1918, performed the task of discharging the troops. At these centers camp personnel conducted physical examinations, made up the necessary papers to close all records, checked property, adjusted financial and other accounts, and generally completed the processing. Many units in the United States were not immediately released. They manned ports of embarkation, convalescent and demobilization centers, supply depots, base and general hospitals, garrisons along the Mexican border, and bases outside the United States.

Camp Dix personnel had a taste of the inactivation process even before it was designated a Demobilization Center. This occurred on 30 November 1918 with the official inactivation of the 102nd Infantry Division, the new division scheduled for formation at Camp Dix that never got beyond assignment of cadre. In December 1918 demobilization got underway in earnest with the inactivation of the 333rd, 334th, 338th, 339th, and 346th Light Tank Battalions; the 351st 382nd, 383rd Heavy Training and Replacement Companies; and the 319th,,320th,321st Tank Repair and Salvage Companies. These tank units were elements of the 309th and 310th Tank Centers, which only had been transferred to Camp Dix in November 1918. They were part of the final war plan to augment tank participation of the A.E.F. in France during the scheduled 1919 buildup of United States forces. Although these organizations had received cadres of some trainees, systematic training barely began before the units were inactivated. The two Tank Center Headquarters remained at Camp Dix for a time, but they, too, were inactivated in June 1919.

Demobilization really got underway at Camp Dix beginning in January 1919. In quick succession, seven entire infantry divisions or their major elements were inactivated in the next six months. They were the 87th Infantry Division, January to March; 41st Infantry Division, February to March; 28th Infantry Division, April to May; 42nd Infantry Division, May; 29th Infantry Division, May; 78th Infantry Division, the first occupants of Camp Dix, May to June; and the 79th Infantry Division, May to June.

During the same period, inactivation of the following smaller units was accomplished at Camp Dix; 10 engineer regiments, two engineer trains, 26 transportation corps companies, three pioneer infantry regiments, one infantry brigade headquarters, six machine gun battalions, 30 base hospitals, four military police companies, two butchery companies, eight sales commissary units, and 14 U.S. guards battalions.

More than 300,000 men were discharged at Camp Dix by 31 July 1919. Of this number 16,485 were officers and 39 field clerks (similar to today’s warrant officer). In addition, 76,124 officers and men were transferred to other stations for reassignment or further processing prior to discharge. The largest number of discharges for a day was 5, 231 and transfers 4, 617.

Although the size and number of units inactivated during the period 1 July to 31 December 1919 began to fall off, the scale of inactivations continued to be significant. They included: nine engineer regiments, 63 transportation corps companies, two pioneer infantry regimens, six base hospitals, five ambulance service sections, 25 military police companies, 13 butchery companies, and eight sales commissary units. By October 1919, the demobilization requirements at Camp Dix had slowed to a point where no more than 500 men were handled per day. The War Department already had acquiesced in the requirement that a man be discharged within 48 hours of his arrival at the center.

It was in October that Camp Dix was chosen by the Treasury Department to be the site for filming of movies in support of the “Fifth Liberty Loan Drive.” More than $100,000 was invested in filming simulated battles with doughboys dressed in German battle dress. 

Scenes took place in the mock trench area near the filtration plant at New Jersey Avenue beyond 8th Street. The trench area, which circled eastward toward Pointville and included heavily wooded terrain, afforded an ideal setting for producing battle scenes reminiscent of those fought on the Western Front.

By the end of January 1920, demobilization at Camp Dix had come to an end.