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May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


[Graphic]


FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

      HEADQUARTERS

INTERMEDIATE SECTION

         S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                May 15, 1919.

To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

complimentary things which I might say about

the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

what to say.

Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

my entire service in France had been with combat

troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

night in rear of the combat troops and without

which it would have been impossible for us to have

accomplished the wonderful work that has been

accomplished in the short time since the United

States entered the war. Without knowing how it

had been done however, we did know that we at

the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

So far as my own Division was concerned, there

never was a day during the entire campaign, from

our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

signing of the Armistice, when we were without

either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

campaign.

2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

Section, the greater part of my time has been

devoted to making inspections of the various plants

operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

information through these inspections and through

conference with the various commanding officers,

about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

supplies and material would have certainly been

interrupted from time to time, but I never

dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

that work has been. Now that I have learned by

a personal inspection of the various activities

throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

officers and men by whom and through whom

alone this work could have been made possible.

During all the trying days of the campaign, from

our first entry into the war until the signing of the

Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

the Success of the campaign being fought at the

front by the combat divisions. There was a time

when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

something which every man with red blood in his

veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

with the men of the combat divisions in the work

of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

and man of the combat divisions might have the

opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

have accomplished and how you have accompl-

ished it.

Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

which I have visited, none have impressed me

more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

only the most complete and extensive in the world

today but they are models of their kind. Your

Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

your organization is of the best, and the work that

you have done and are still doing is sufficient

evidence of the high state of morale which has

existed all along among the personnel. To keep

up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

mand when there was before your eyes a very

definite goal toward which you were working, as

was the case during the continuance of the comp-

aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

after the compaign is over and when nothing

remained but the closing up of the activities prior

to returning home was a task which taxed to the

utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

of your departure for the United States for demobi-

lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

up the credit and the good name of the American

E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

great work you have performed, and my best

wishes will go with you when you return to the

United States for muster out.

                                              W. H. HAY.

                                    Major General U.S.A ,

                                           Commanding.


[Graphic]


OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

By one of his sincere admirers.


Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

his early education in the public and high schools at

Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

work he served for two years. He gave up his work

to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

iceship.

He then held successively positions on the New York

Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

experience and technical training in railroad work

has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

that he has held here.

He has been a contributor for several years to the

leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

having seen continuous service from the date of his

enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

break of the present war, his regiment having been

detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

organizing, training and preparing this unit for

service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

as commander of the unit.

Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

position and the position of Commanding Officer of

the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

was reorganized, the separate units split up into

separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

tation Corps, which position he held up to February

21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

experience and this combined with his wide exper-

ience in the technical end of railroading has made

him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

Major's success in bringing his division to the

state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

military and technical way that our Commanding

Officer has had.

It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

always been particularly interested in the welfare of

his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

Division having one of the finest, and most complete

and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

always some form of distraction for the men either in

the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

almost every evening and during several of the

afternoons during the week where it is possible with

out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

system is to procure results from the men through

kindness and square dealing, believing that much

more can be obtained through affection than through

his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

with most members of this Grand Division, has

interested himself personally in all activities of the

enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

these activities.

Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

subordinate the question of going home to their other


interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

betterment of his command generally and indiv-

idually.

He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

personal interest in the individuals of his command.

The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

winning the war has been no small one.

Personally, our Commanding Officer is a "regular

fellow" and has given us numberless reasons for

admiring him. He has, on one or two occasions been

forced, by higher authority, to issue orders that were

not exactly pleasing to his subordinates, but he has

never even attempted to "shift the blame". This is

true also of times when, acting on the advice of others,

he has had a little "hard luck", which is absolute

proof that he is a "big" man. He assumed all the

responsibility.

The results obtained in Nevers shops and the attract-

iveness of Camp Stephenson are conclusive evidence

of his success, in every sense of the word.

It is due in a great measure to his comprehensive

plans for the keeping of our minds occupied that the

long, weary, wait for the orders to go home. His was

the hardest task of all and in fulfilling it, he gave us

a perfect exemplification of Kiplings "IF":

If you can keep your head when all about you,

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.

And make allowances for their doubting too;

Or being lied about, dont deal in lies,

Yet never look too good nor talk too wise.


SOME  VITAL STATISTICS

Just to show our old friend Rails and Sails

that theres no hard feelings on our side of the

fence, we print herewith a clever little item

from it's May 10th number, from the pen of

F. Gregory Harswick.

"I have just returned from France.

150 people have asked me what the gold

stripes mean.

500 have asked whether or not the average

German was a brutish type -- 'do they look

different from other people I mean'.

1000 have said: 'You must have seen some

awful sights' and demanded gory details.

3947 have hinted archly at entangling alliances

with French maidens.

48673 have remarked: 'It was a wonderful

experience, was'nt it?'

1 has gripped me by the hand and said a bit

huskily 'Well son -- Oh son but its good to see

you again'.

1 has held me in her arms and cried a bit

and seen that I had my favorite dessert after

dinner.

1 has said and done a number of things that

are no one's business but hers and mine.

1 has put muddy paws on my new uniform

and nearly wagged his tail off, trying to tell

me that he's glad to see me."


OFFICER'S FAREWELL TO

THE AMERICAN GIRLS

The Officer's Club of Camp Stephenson was

the scene of a brilliant social affair on Wed-

nesday evening, when the Commanding Officer

and Officers of the camp entertained in honor

of the American Girls of Nievre who are expected

to leave for home in the very near future.

When the plans for this affair were begun, the

Officers had'nt the slightest idea that the dance

would be their own farewell party to Nievre

too., no word of the Camp's evacuation having

even been rumored.

Seventy couples were in attendance and

everyone was so happy over the good news

that the dance surpassed any social event ever

held in the Club. Going Home was the chief

conversational topic but it did'nt interfere with

the other attractions of the evening and everyone

had a wonderful time.

A delicious lunch and refreshments were

served during the evening. The Clubhouse was

beautifully decorated for the occasion and the

artistic lighting effects added considerably to

the effect.

Quite a number of visiting officers were

among the guests and joined with the Camp

officers in making the American Girl's last

party in France a real party.

Transcription saved

May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


[Graphic]


FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

      HEADQUARTERS

INTERMEDIATE SECTION

         S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                May 15, 1919.

To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

complimentary things which I might say about

the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

what to say.

Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

my entire service in France had been with combat

troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

night in rear of the combat troops and without

which it would have been impossible for us to have

accomplished the wonderful work that has been

accomplished in the short time since the United

States entered the war. Without knowing how it

had been done however, we did know that we at

the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

So far as my own Division was concerned, there

never was a day during the entire campaign, from

our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

signing of the Armistice, when we were without

either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

campaign.

2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

Section, the greater part of my time has been

devoted to making inspections of the various plants

operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

information through these inspections and through

conference with the various commanding officers,

about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

supplies and material would have certainly been

interrupted from time to time, but I never

dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

that work has been. Now that I have learned by

a personal inspection of the various activities

throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

officers and men by whom and through whom

alone this work could have been made possible.

During all the trying days of the campaign, from

our first entry into the war until the signing of the

Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

the Success of the campaign being fought at the

front by the combat divisions. There was a time

when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

something which every man with red blood in his

veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

with the men of the combat divisions in the work

of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

and man of the combat divisions might have the

opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

have accomplished and how you have accompl-

ished it.

Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

which I have visited, none have impressed me

more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

only the most complete and extensive in the world

today but they are models of their kind. Your

Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

your organization is of the best, and the work that

you have done and are still doing is sufficient

evidence of the high state of morale which has

existed all along among the personnel. To keep

up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

mand when there was before your eyes a very

definite goal toward which you were working, as

was the case during the continuance of the comp-

aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

after the compaign is over and when nothing

remained but the closing up of the activities prior

to returning home was a task which taxed to the

utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

of your departure for the United States for demobi-

lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

up the credit and the good name of the American

E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

great work you have performed, and my best

wishes will go with you when you return to the

United States for muster out.

                                              W. H. HAY.

                                    Major General U.S.A ,

                                           Commanding.


[Graphic]


OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

By one of his sincere admirers.


Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

his early education in the public and high schools at

Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

work he served for two years. He gave up his work

to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

iceship.

He then held successively positions on the New York

Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

experience and technical training in railroad work

has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

that he has held here.

He has been a contributor for several years to the

leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

having seen continuous service from the date of his

enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

break of the present war, his regiment having been

detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

organizing, training and preparing this unit for

service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

as commander of the unit.

Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

position and the position of Commanding Officer of

the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

was reorganized, the separate units split up into

separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

tation Corps, which position he held up to February

21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

experience and this combined with his wide exper-

ience in the technical end of railroading has made

him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

Major's success in bringing his division to the

state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

military and technical way that our Commanding

Officer has had.

It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

always been particularly interested in the welfare of

his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

Division having one of the finest, and most complete

and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

always some form of distraction for the men either in

the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

almost every evening and during several of the

afternoons during the week where it is possible with

out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

system is to procure results from the men through

kindness and square dealing, believing that much

more can be obtained through affection than through

his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

with most members of this Grand Division, has

interested himself personally in all activities of the

enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

these activities.

Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

subordinate the question of going home to their other


interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

betterment of his command generally and indiv-

idually.

He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

personal interest in the individuals of his command.

The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

winning the war has been no small one.

Personally, our Commanding Officer is a "regular

fellow" and has given us numberless reasons for

admiring him. He has, on one or two occasions been

forced, by higher authority, to issue orders that were

not exactly pleasing to his subordinates, but he has

never even attempted to "shift the blame". This is

true also of times when, acting on the advice of others,

he has had a little "hard luck", which is absolute

proof that he is a "big" man. He assumed all the

responsibility.

The results obtained in Nevers shops and the attract-

iveness of Camp Stephenson are conclusive evidence

of his success, in every sense of the word.

It is due in a great measure to his comprehensive

plans for the keeping of our minds occupied that the

long, weary, wait for the orders to go home. His was

the hardest task of all and in fulfilling it, he gave us

a perfect exemplification of Kiplings "IF":

If you can keep your head when all about you,

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.

And make allowances for their doubting too;

Or being lied about, dont deal in lies,

Yet never look too good nor talk too wise.


SOME  VITAL STATISTICS

Just to show our old friend Rails and Sails

that theres no hard feelings on our side of the

fence, we print herewith a clever little item

from it's May 10th number, from the pen of

F. Gregory Harswick.

"I have just returned from France.

150 people have asked me what the gold

stripes mean.

500 have asked whether or not the average

German was a brutish type -- 'do they look

different from other people I mean'.

1000 have said: 'You must have seen some

awful sights' and demanded gory details.

3947 have hinted archly at entangling alliances

with French maidens.

48673 have remarked: 'It was a wonderful

experience, was'nt it?'

1 has gripped me by the hand and said a bit

huskily 'Well son -- Oh son but its good to see

you again'.

1 has held me in her arms and cried a bit

and seen that I had my favorite dessert after

dinner.

1 has said and done a number of things that

are no one's business but hers and mine.

1 has put muddy paws on my new uniform

and nearly wagged his tail off, trying to tell

me that he's glad to see me."


OFFICER'S FAREWELL TO

THE AMERICAN GIRLS

The Officer's Club of Camp Stephenson was

the scene of a brilliant social affair on Wed-

nesday evening, when the Commanding Officer

and Officers of the camp entertained in honor

of the American Girls of Nievre who are expected

to leave for home in the very near future.

When the plans for this affair were begun, the

Officers had'nt the slightest idea that the dance

would be their own farewell party to Nievre

too., no word of the Camp's evacuation having

even been rumored.

Seventy couples were in attendance and

everyone was so happy over the good news

that the dance surpassed any social event ever

held in the Club. Going Home was the chief

conversational topic but it did'nt interfere with

the other attractions of the evening and everyone

had a wonderful time.

A delicious lunch and refreshments were

served during the evening. The Clubhouse was

beautifully decorated for the occasion and the

artistic lighting effects added considerably to

the effect.

Quite a number of visiting officers were

among the guests and joined with the Camp

officers in making the American Girl's last

party in France a real party.


Transcription history
  • September 2, 2017 00:41:51 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.

    Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

    wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

    the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

    men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

    of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

    conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

    the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

    knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

    been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

    division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

    mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

    subordinate the question of going home to their other


    interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

    lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

    who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

    His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

    first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

    betterment of his command generally and indiv-

    idually.

    He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

    confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

    Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

    having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

    efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

    of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

    Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

    nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

    personal interest in the individuals of his command.

    The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

    commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

    its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

    winning the war has been no small one.

    Personally, our Commanding Officer is a "regular

    fellow" and has given us numberless reasons for

    admiring him. He has, on one or two occasions been

    forced, by higher authority, to issue orders that were

    not exactly pleasing to his subordinates, but he has

    never even attempted to "shift the blame". This is

    true also of times when, acting on the advice of others,

    he has had a little "hard luck", which is absolute

    proof that he is a "big" man. He assumed all the

    responsibility.

    The results obtained in Nevers shops and the attract-

    iveness of Camp Stephenson are conclusive evidence

    of his success, in every sense of the word.

    It is due in a great measure to his comprehensive

    plans for the keeping of our minds occupied that the

    long, weary, wait for the orders to go home. His was

    the hardest task of all and in fulfilling it, he gave us

    a perfect exemplification of Kiplings "IF":

    If you can keep your head when all about you,

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.

    And make allowances for their doubting too;

    Or being lied about, dont deal in lies,

    Yet never look too good nor talk too wise.


    SOME  VITAL STATISTICS

    Just to show our old friend Rails and Sails

    that theres no hard feelings on our side of the

    fence, we print herewith a clever little item

    from it's May 10th number, from the pen of

    F. Gregory Harswick.

    "I have just returned from France.

    150 people have asked me what the gold

    stripes mean.

    500 have asked whether or not the average

    German was a brutish type -- 'do they look

    different from other people I mean'.

    1000 have said: 'You must have seen some

    awful sights' and demanded gory details.

    3947 have hinted archly at entangling alliances

    with French maidens.

    48673 have remarked: 'It was a wonderful

    experience, was'nt it?'

    1 has gripped me by the hand and said a bit

    huskily 'Well son -- Oh son but its good to see

    you again'.

    1 has held me in her arms and cried a bit

    and seen that I had my favorite dessert after

    dinner.

    1 has said and done a number of things that

    are no one's business but hers and mine.

    1 has put muddy paws on my new uniform

    and nearly wagged his tail off, trying to tell

    me that he's glad to see me."


    OFFICER'S FAREWELL TO

    THE AMERICAN GIRLS

    The Officer's Club of Camp Stephenson was

    the scene of a brilliant social affair on Wed-

    nesday evening, when the Commanding Officer

    and Officers of the camp entertained in honor

    of the American Girls of Nievre who are expected

    to leave for home in the very near future.

    When the plans for this affair were begun, the

    Officers had'nt the slightest idea that the dance

    would be their own farewell party to Nievre

    too., no word of the Camp's evacuation having

    even been rumored.

    Seventy couples were in attendance and

    everyone was so happy over the good news

    that the dance surpassed any social event ever

    held in the Club. Going Home was the chief

    conversational topic but it did'nt interfere with

    the other attractions of the evening and everyone

    had a wonderful time.

    A delicious lunch and refreshments were

    served during the evening. The Clubhouse was

    beautifully decorated for the occasion and the

    artistic lighting effects added considerably to

    the effect.

    Quite a number of visiting officers were

    among the guests and joined with the Camp

    officers in making the American Girl's last

    party in France a real party.

  • September 1, 2017 22:56:27 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.

    Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

    wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

    the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

    men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

    of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

    conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

    the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

    knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

    been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

    division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

    mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

    subordinate the question of going home to their other


    interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

    lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

    who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

    His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

    first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

    betterment of his command generally and indiv-

    idually.

    He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

    confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

    Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

    having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

    efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

    of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

    Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

    nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

    personal interest in the individuals of his command.

    The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

    commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

    its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

    winning the war has been no small one.

    Personally, our Commanding Officer is a "regular

    fellow" and has given us numberless reasons for

    admiring him. He has, on one or two occasions been

    forced, by higher authority, to issue orders that were

    not exactly pleasing to his subordinates, but he has

    never even attempted to "shift the blame". This is

    true also of times when, acting on the advice of others,

    he has had a little "hard luck", which is absolute

    proof that he is a "big" man. He assumed all the

    responsibility.

    The results obtained in Nevers shops and the attract-

    iveness of Camp Stephenson are conclusive evidence

    of his success, in every sense of the word.

    It is due in a great measure to his comprehensive

    plans for the keeping of our minds occupied that the

    long, weary, wait for the orders to go home. His was

    the hardest task of all and in fulfilling it, he gave us

    a perfect exemplification of Kiplings "IF":

    If you can keep your head when all about you,

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.

    And make allowances for their doubting too;

    Or being lied about, dont deal in lies,

    Yet never look too good nor talk too wise.


    SOME  VITAL STATISTICS

    Just to show our old friend Rails and Sails

    that theres no hard feelings on our side of the

    fence, we print herewith a clever little item

    from it's May 10th number, from the pen of

    F. Gregory Harswick.

    "I have just returned from France.

    150 people have asked me what the gold

    stripes mean.

    500 have asked whether or not the average

    German was a brutish type -- 'do they look

    different from other people I mean'.

    1000 have said: 'You must have seen some

    awful sights' and demanded gory details.

    3947 have hinted archly at entangling alliances

    with French maidens.

    48673 have remarked: 'It was a wonderful

    experience, was'nt it?'

    1 has gripped me by the hand and said a bit

    huskily 'Well son -- Oh son but its good to see

    you again'.

    1 has held me in her arms and cried a bit

    and seen that I had my favorite dessert after

    dinner.

    1 has said and done a number of things that

    are no one's business but hers and mine.

    1 has put muddy paws on my new uniform

    and nearly wagged his tail off, trying to tell

    me that he's glad to see me."



  • September 1, 2017 18:35:53 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.

    Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

    wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

    the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

    men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

    of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

    conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

    the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

    knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

    been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

    division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

    mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

    subordinate the question of going home to their other


    interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

    lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

    who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

    His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

    first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

    betterment of his command generally and indiv-

    idually.

    He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

    confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

    Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

    having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

    efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

    of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

    Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

    nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

    personal interest in the individuals of his command.

    The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

    commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

    its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

    winning the war has been no small one.

    Personally, our Commanding Officer is a "regular

    fellow" and has given us numberless reasons for

    admiring him. He has, on one or two occasions been

    forced, by higher authority, to issue orders that were

    not exactly pleasing to his subordinates, but he has

    never even attempted to "shift the blame". This is

    true also of times when, acting on the advice of others,

    he has had a little "hard luck", which is absolute

    proof that he is a "big" man. He assumed all the

    responsibility.

    The results obtained in Nevers shops and the attract-

    iveness of Camp Stephenson are conclusive evidence

    of his success, in every sense of the word.

    It is due in a great measure to his comprehensive

    plans for the keeping of our minds occupied that the

    long, weary, wait for the orders to go home. His was

    the hardest task of all and in fulfilling it, he gave us

    a perfect exemplification of Kiplings "IF":

    If you can keep your head when all about you,

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.

    And make allowances for their doubting too;

    Or being lied about, dont deal in lies,

    Yet never look too good nor talk too wise.



  • September 1, 2017 18:33:36 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.

    Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

    wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

    the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

    men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

    of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

    conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

    the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

    knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

    been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

    division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

    mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

    subordinate the question of going home to their other


    interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

    lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

    who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

    His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

    first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

    betterment of his command generally and indiv-

    idually.

    He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

    confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

    Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

    having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

    efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

    of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

    Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

    nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

    personal interest in the individuals of his command.

    The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

    commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

    its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

    winning the war has been no small one.

    Personally, our Commanding Officer is a "regular

    fellow" and has given us numberless reasons for

    admiring him. He has, on one or two occasions been

    forced, by higher authority, to issue orders that were

    not exactly pleasing to his subordinates, but he has

    never even attempted to "shift the blame". This is

    true also of times when, acting on the advice of others,

    he has had a little "hard luck", which is absolute

    proof that he is a "big" man. He assumed all the

    responsibility.

    The results obtained in Nevers shops and the attract-

    iveness of Camp Stephenson are conclusive evidence

    of his success, in every sense of the word.



  • September 1, 2017 18:31:25 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.

    Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

    wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

    the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

    men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

    of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

    conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

    the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

    knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

    been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

    division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

    mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

    subordinate the question of going home to their other


    interests. Those who know Major Lester closely rea-

    lize that they been fortunate in working under a man

    who has the qualities of fairness and competency.

    His creed in the army is to get everything for his men

    first and to go into their pleasures and Work for the

    betterment of his command generally and indiv-

    idually.

    He is an excellent soldier himself and has the

    confidence of his superior officers. The men of this

    Grand Division have been particularly fortunate in

    having a Commanding Officer with the aggresiveness,

    efficiency and ability to make this Grand Division one

    of the leading -- if not the leading -- Division of the

    Transportation Corps, both in a military and a tech-

    nical sense, and at the same time to have kept a

    personal interest in the individuals of his command.

    The 19th Grand Division has received flattering

    commendation from the Transportation Corps on both

    its technical and military efficiency, and it's part in

    winning the war has been no small one.


  • September 1, 2017 18:27:23 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.

    Taking command of this unit when all the A.E.F.

    wanted to go home and with this unit as no exception,

    the Major's one idea was to build up the morale of the

    men and make it possible for them to pass the balance

    of their stay in the A.E.F. as contentedly as working

    conditions would permit and at the same time keeping

    the men advised sincerely and frankly of just what he

    knew of their chances of going home. In this he has

    been most successful since outside of a few cases, the

    division as a whole has had enough to occupy its

    mind with work, play and entertainment so as to

    subordinate the question of going home to their other


  • September 1, 2017 18:25:34 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.

    It is the ideal combination for this kind of unit as

    is proven by the results obtained here by the Major

    Having been an enlisted man itself, Major Lester has

    always been particularly interested in the welfare of

    his men and this has been shown by his encouragement

    of social activities and athletics, and by his efforts to

    make this camp most comfortable and pleasant for

    the men. This has resulted in the 19th Grand

    Division having one of the finest, and most complete

    and comfortable camps in the A.E.F., where there is

    always some form of distraction for the men either in

    the form athletics, social activities or entertainement

    almost every evening and during several of the

    afternoons during the week where it is possible with

    out interfering with the shop work. Major Lester

    personally is not the martinet type of officer, His

    system is to procure results from the men through

    kindness and square dealing, believing that much

    more can be obtained through affection than through

    his dissatisfaction. He has kept personally in touch

    with most members of this Grand Division, has

    interested himself personally in all activities of the

    enlisted men of this Grand Division, and has gladly

    given them the opportunity for widening the scope of

    these activities.


  • September 1, 2017 18:21:26 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.

    Upon arrival overseas, the unit was sent to Nevers

    and reported to the Commanding Officer of the Nevers

    Shops August 7th. Major Lester was appointed General

    Foreman on the shops August 7th and held this

    position and the position of Commanding Officer of

    the 50th Regiment Transportation Corps, up to Nov-

    ember 12, at which time the Transportation Corps

    was reorganized, the separate units split up into

    separate companies, and Major Lester assigned to the

    Technical Staff of the 19th Grand Division Transpor-

    tation Corps, which position he held up to February

    21st. He was on that date appointed Superintendent

    Nevers Shops and General Superintendent of the 19th

    Grand Division Transportation Corps which position

    he has held to date. Again it may be seen that the

    Commanding Officer has had a great deal of military

    experience and this combined with his wide exper-

    ience in the technical end of railroading has made

    him pecularly fitted to be a Commanding Officer of a

    Transportation Corps unit and has contributed to the

    Major's success in bringing his division to the

    state of efficiency that exists at present. There are

    very few Commanding Officers of Transportation

    Corps Divisions who have had the training both in a

    military and technical way that our Commanding

    Officer has had.



  • September 1, 2017 18:17:09 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.

    He was relieved from this assignment April 1st, 1918,

    having seen continuous service from the date of his

    enlistment, when he went to the border, to the out-

    break of the present war, his regiment having been

    detailed on guard duty in the State of Pennsylvania.

    On April 1st, he was relieved from duty with the

    108th Machine Gun Bn, with orders to proceed to

    Camp Laurel, to report to the 50th Engineers. He

    assumed command of the 50th Engineers as 1st Lieut.

    on April 3, 1918 and proceeded to organize that unit.

    Because of his speedy, excellent and efficient work in

    organizing, training and preparing this unit for

    service overseas in ninety days, he was promoted to

    the grade of Captain and then to the grade of Major,

    as commander of the unit.


  • September 1, 2017 18:14:39 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


    OUR COMMANDING OFFICER

    By one of his sincere admirers.


    Major Claude E. Lester, Commanding Officer of the

    19th Grand Division Transportation Corps was born

    at Starlight, New York, March 11, 1878. He received

    his early education in the public and high schools at

    Oakland, Penna. His early experience in railroading

    commenced when he started his apprenticeship as a

    boilermaker for the Erie at Scranton, Penna., in which

    work he served for two years. He gave up his work

    to enlist in the Volunteer Army during the Spanish-

    American War, as a private in Company G, 13th Penn-

    sylvania Infantry. Major Lester saw service in Cuba

    and after peace was declared, was mustered out,

    returned to the Erie, and completed his apprent-

    iceship.

    He then held successively positions on the New York

    Central, D.L & W, and again on the Erie. He was

    then offered the position of boilermaker foreman on

    the C.N.O. & T.P. and held this position successively

    for that railroad, the C.H. & D. and the Lehigh Valley;

    he then went to the Lima Locomotive Works as

    boilermaker inspector and from there he was made

    Assistant Master Mechanic for the B. & O. on one of

    it's divisions. He then left the railroad game and

    accepted a position as Superintendent of shops with

    the Davis Bournonville concern. The Major's wide

    experience and technical training in railroad work

    has made him particularly fit to have held the positions

    that he has held here.

    He has been a contributor for several years to the

    leading Railroad Technical Journals and all those who

    come in contact with him realize that he is a railroad

    man, particularly where the motive power is concerned,

    of excellent ability. Major Lester's military experience

    has been as wide as his railroad experience. He

    enlisted as a private, August 14th, 1916 in the 13th

    Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania and succes-

    sively held the positions of sergeant and first sergeant.

    He saw service on the border and was rewarded by

    being commissioned 1st. Lieutenant, upon which ap-

    pointment he was transferred to the 108th, Machine

    Gun Battalion, 28th Division.


  • September 1, 2017 02:01:17 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.

    Among all the great activities of the S.O.S.

    which I have visited, none have impressed me

    more favorably than those of the 19th Grand

    Division. Transportation Corps, at Nevers. Your

    locomotive repair shops are, I am convinced, not

    only the most complete and extensive in the world

    today but they are models of their kind. Your

    Camp, by the way in which it is laid out and by

    the cleanliness, neatness and good sanitation in

    evidence everywhere, shows that the discipline of

    your organization is of the best, and the work that

    you have done and are still doing is sufficient

    evidence of the high state of morale which has

    existed all along among the personnel. To keep

    up the discipline, health, and morale of the com-

    mand when there was before your eyes a very

    definite goal toward which you were working, as

    was the case during the continuance of the comp-

    aign, was an easy matter, but to keep them up

    after the compaign is over and when nothing

    remained but the closing up of the activities prior

    to returning home was a task which taxed to the

    utmost the tact and judgment of your oficers and

    the patriotic spirit of your men. Both of these

    things you have accomplished, and now on the eve

    of your departure for the United States for demobi-

    lization, you have reason to feel proud, not only

    of what you accomplished since the war in keeping

    up the credit and the good name of the American

    E. F. I congratulate you most heartily on the

    great work you have performed, and my best

    wishes will go with you when you return to the

    United States for muster out.

                                                  W. H. HAY.

                                        Major General U.S.A ,

                                               Commanding.


    [Graphic]


  • September 1, 2017 01:52:55 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.

    2. Since assuming command of the Intermediate

    Section, the greater part of my time has been

    devoted to making inspections of the various plants

    operating in the S.O.S. and getting first-hand

    information through these inspections and through

    conference with the various commanding officers,

    about the wonderful work that the S O S. has been

    doing. I knew of course that you men of the S.O.S.

    were doing excellent work; otherwise the flow of

    supplies and material would have certainly been

    interrupted from time to time, but I never

    dreamed until I saw for myself just how wonderful

    that work has been. Now that I have learned by

    a personal inspection of the various activities

    throughout the S.O.S. the magnitude of the work

    that has been done, I confess to an unbounded

    admiration for the technical skill, ingenuity and

    initiative and for the self-sacrificing spirit of the

    officers and men by whom and through whom

    alone this work could have been made possible.

    During all the trying days of the campaign, from

    our first entry into the war until the signing of the

    Armistice, you have worked silently and faithfully,

    without hope of glory or renown, to render possible

    the Success of the campaign being fought at the

    front by the combat divisions. There was a time

    when duty in the S.O.S. was looked upon as

    something which every man with red blood in his

    veins should try to shirk. That spirit is fast

    disappearing. You have deserved equal honors

    with the men of the combat divisions in the work

    of beating the Boche, and I wish that every officer

    and man of the combat divisions might have the

    opportunity that I have had of seeing what you

    have accomplished and how you have accompl-

    ished it.


  • September 1, 2017 01:43:29 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.

    Until I was ordered to Nevers to relieve General

    Johnson, in command of the Intermediate Section,

    my entire service in France had been with combat

    troops and my division, the 28th, (or "Iron Division"

    as it was nicknamed by the Boche, but better

    known as the Keystone Division) was enroute to

    the U.S. before I reported at Nevers for duty. Up

    to the time I came into the S.O.S., I, in common

    with the great mass of officers and men constitut-

    ing the combat divisions, knew but little about

    the activities of the S.O.S. We had but a vague

    idea of the tremendous activities going on day and

    night in rear of the combat troops and without

    which it would have been impossible for us to have

    accomplished the wonderful work that has been

    accomplished in the short time since the United

    States entered the war. Without knowing how it

    had been done however, we did know that we at

    the front were receiving a constant and uninter-

    rupted flow of men and materiel, - transportation,

    rations, ammunition and supplies of all kinds.

    So far as my own Division was concerned, there

    never was a day during the entire campaign, from

    our first entry into the great struggle, at Chateau

    Thierry through the Marne and Vesle and the

    Meuse-Argonne offensive, up to the very day of the

    signing of the Armistice, when we were without

    either rations, ammunition or any other supplies

    necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the

    campaign.


  • September 1, 2017 01:38:02 Jim McIntyre

    May 17, 1919.                    THE POP-VALVE                    Page 3.


    [Graphic]


    FROM THE COMMANDING GENERAL

          HEADQUARTERS

    INTERMEDIATE SECTION

             S.O.S.     A.E.F.

                                                    May 15, 1919.

    To: The Editors of the POP-VALVE, Nevers.

    1. Your Commanding Officer, Major C.E. Lester,

    Engineers, U.S.A., has requested me to furnish you

    an item for publication in the next, -- and last, --

    issue of the POP-VALVE. There are so many

    complimentary things which I might say about

    the activities of the 19th Grand Division, Transpor-

    tation Corps, that I find it difficult to decide just

    what to say.


Description

Save description
  • 47.01141392751011||3.142873417968758||

    Camp Stephenson, Vauzelles, Nievrè

    ||1
Location(s)
  • Story location Camp Stephenson, Vauzelles, Nievrè
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ID
13435 / 136936
Source
http://europeana1914-1918.eu/...
Contributor
Médiathèque municipale Jean Jaurès de Nevers
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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