Illinois Bicentennial: Welby Nall Crang of Clinton

The Crang-Bennett American Legion Post 103 in Clinton, Illinois, is named for Welby Crang and Artie Bennett, two locals who died in France in World War I.

Welby Crang was a private in the Army and was with the Signal Corps of Camp Logan, Colorado, and then with Aviation at Kelley Field in Texas.  He landed in Liverpool, England, October 29, 1917 before moving to Indrie, France, by the end of the year.

He died of pneumonia December 28, 1917, in Issodun, France.  He was the first World War I death from DeWitt County.  His funeral was held in Clinton on November 7, 1920.

New York's Fort Wood in World War I

I have been writing about this fort in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812  and Tattooed On Your Soul: World War II blogs.  This fort is the base of the Statue of Liberty.  You can read more about Fort Wood in these two blogs.  Click on My Blogs to the right of this blog entry.

The fort was built in 1811, and by 1904 being used by one company of Signal Corps troops and a sub depot for Signal Corps material.

On July 30, 1916, there were a series of explosions at the nearby Black Tom Wharf in Hersey City that severely damaged the post and did $100,000 damage to the Statue of Liberty.  These explosions were deemed to be an act of sabotage by German agents, even though the U.S. had not yet joined the war.  This is another reason that led to the U.S. entering the war in 1917.

During World War I, Fort Wood was used as a coastal defense fort and supply depot.

--DaCoot

Camp Wadsworth, S.C.-- Part 4: Specialized Units and the Slavic Legion

Camp Wadsworth also had several specialty units including military police, construction workers,  cooks and bakers and even a remount (horses) unit.

In addition, anti-aircraft machine gun battalions, signal battalions corps artillery parks and pioneer infantry  regiments.  There were also several military schools there as well, including one for nurses.

It was also the training base for the Slavic Legion intended as a regiment of non-naturalized volunteers from nations in the Balkans.  This group was only partly trained when the war ended and they were demobilized there.

Beginning in February 1919, the War Department began carrying out salvage operations at Camp Wadsworth, sending usable items to other posts that remained open.

Several of the camp's buildings were sold and moved to other places.

Most of the area that used to be Camp Wadsworth is now within the Spartanburg city limits and has been developed as  the Wadsworth Hills residential neighborhood.

--Cooter

War Pigeons

From Wikipedia.

Homing pigeons have long played an important role in the military.  Due to their homing ability, speed and ability to fly at high altitudes they were often used a  war messengers.

Carrier pigeons of the Racing Homer breed are especially sought because of their superior abilities.

During both world wars, pigeons were used to carry messages.    When they landed, special wires in the coop would sound a bell or buzzer and a Signal Corps soldier would know a message had arrived.  He would go to the coop and remove the canister from the bird's foot and send the message by  telegraph, field phone or personal messenger to its destination.

The carrier pigeon's job was especially dangerous as enemy troops knew they were carrying an important message and they became major targets.

I have already written about Cher Ami and President Wilson.   Another famous World War I pigeon was the Mocker.

--DaCoot

Another WW I Hero Pigeon, President Wilson-- Part 1

From Oct. 5, 2018, ABC News "Meet the hero carrier pigeon that saved US troops during a WW I battle 100 years ago" Elizabeth McLaughlin.

There is a pigeon on a third floor Pentagon hallway outside the Army Chief of Staff's office.  It is right there with American Revolution bayonets, Civil War uniforms and replicas of Vietnam War helicopters.

And, it looks real because it has been taxidermied and it is missing a leg.

That pigeon's name is President Wilson and he is an unsung hero of World War I where he made a daring flight to save American troops 100 years ago today.

President Wilson was one of many  military carrier pigeons (see the entries on Cher Ami earlier this month)  used in the W.S. Army Signal Corps who delivered messages between commanders and the front lines during the war.  They were especially useful because the technologies of telegraph and telephones were still unreliable.

--Cooter

Cher Ami the Pigeon-- Part 3: American Hero and Awards

For this, Cher Ami became a hero of the 77th Division.  Army medics worked to save her life.  They were unable to save it so they carved a small wooden one.  When she had recovered enough to travel, the now one-legged bird was put on a boat back to the United States, with General John J. Pershing seeing her off.

AWARDS

 Cher Ami was given  the Croix de Guerre Medal by the French for delivering 12 messages at Verdun.

She died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, on June 13, 1919, of the wounds she received.

After that, she was inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931.  She also received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Racing Pigeon Fanciers.

The man responsible for training and caring for her in the U.S. Signal Corps, Enoch Clifford Swain, was given an award for his service.

--Cooter

The Lost Battalion's Cher Ami-- Part 1: A Very Famous Pigeon

Back on October 6, I mentioned this pigeon saving the men of the Lost Battalion at one point.

From Wikipedia.

Cher Ami is French for "dear friend" in the masculine. who had been donated by pigeon fanciers in Britain to the U.S. Army Signal Corps for use in France.  She is most famous for delivering a message from an encircled battalion despite receiving serious injuries during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918.

On Oct. 3, Major Whittlesey and his battalion (later known as "The Lost Battalion") were trapped and surrounded by German troops.  He sent runners out to alert Allies of his predicament, but every one of them was captured.  Then, he started calling for help via pigeons which he had along with him.

The first two pigeons were shot down and the third got through, but had the wrong coordinates of the battalion which caused the Allies to open a bombardment on them.

This is when Cher Ami flew her famous mission.

--Cooter

New Jersy's Fort Monmouth Slated to Close

This fort in New Jersey was built on land that formerly the Monmouth Park Racetrack and Hotel during World War I to train critically-needed Signal Corps personnel which had started the war with 150 officers and 1,150 enlisted, way too few to provide the service needed by AEF forces.

Several battalions trained here. By 1918, the number of Signal Corps members stood at 1,000 officers and 9,000 enlisted. (The Corps was originally established during the Civil War.)

At first, it was called Camp Little Silver, then Camp Alfred Vail, a local New Jersey inventor who assisted Samuel Morse invent the telegraph. In 1925, it was renamed Fort Monmouth in honor of the Revolutionary War battle.

Construction was more on a permanent basis after that.

researchers there developed the first aircraft detection radar which detected incoming Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor, but sadly was ignored.

In 1942, the first female soldiers trained here.

The 1,126 acre base is now scheduled to be shut down.


INTERESTING FACTS

Spy Julius Rosenberg was a radar inspector there in 1942 and 1943when he stole and passed along FUZE plans to the Soviet Union. In October, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that Rosenberg had a spy ring at Fort Monmouth. Shortly after, two scientists fled to the Soviet Union.

The US Pigeon Service was shut down in 1957 because of advancements in communication. At that time, the pigeons were mostly sold at auction and a few "hero" ones were given to zoos.

Never Heard of It. --Cooter