FRB - The Pop Valve, Journal publié par les soldats américains installés à Vauzelles, près de Nevers (Nièvre), item 21
Transcription
Transcription history
-
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.
-
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."
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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]
-
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.
-
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.
-
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||||1
Camp Stephenson, Vauzelles, Nievrè
Location(s)
Story location Camp Stephenson, Vauzelles, Nievrè
- ID
- 13435 / 136936
- Contributor
- Médiathèque municipale Jean Jaurès de Nevers
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