A Surplus of Mattresses & A Lack of Overcoats

On September 10, 1918, the Committee on Education and Special Training (CEST) sent a memo to the commander of the SATC unit at William & Mary, Major Stone, detailing the process for requisitioning equipment and what equipment each man was to receive upon induction. At the bottom of the letter, the CEST stated,

Your attention is directed to the enormous demand for equipment and supplies needed overseas troops and consideration must be made for delays in receiving equipment. Assurance is given that all necessary equipment will be secured as rapidly as the same become available and shipment ordered for units of the Student Army Training Corps.1

Despite the CEST guaranteeing that they would handle all of the supplies and urging patience when it came receiving equipment, they completely abandoned the SATC at William & Mary and other colleges in Virginia. On October 5, they sent a telegram to the William & Mary SATC unit stating that the Quartermaster Corps had canceled their orders for blankets and that the overcoat shipments were delayed. In the same memo the CEST authorized the purchase of replacement blankets on the open market and approved the use of civilian clothes until the appropriate supplies arrived.3 It would be several weeks before the necessary supplies arrived.

List of standard equipment to be issued to members of the SATC.2

With the lack of supplies coming from the CEST, the situation at William & Mary grew desperate. Between October 8 and November 22, Captain Van Dusen sent at least eight individual memos requesting everything from a bugle to blank requisition forms so he could receive more supplies.

DateType of Equipment Requested
October 8Rifles and bayonets4
October 15 Typewriter, bugle, pistols, pistol belts, and holsters5
October 25Stationary, blank forms6
October 31Blankets7
October 31Storm-flag, barracks bags, blank requisition forms8
November 19Blank requisition forms9
November 22Pistols, gallery rifles, wooden rifles10
November 22Gun slings, bayonets, scabbards, cartridge belts11

The fact that Captain Van Dusen requested requisition forms twice within three weeks shows the lack of care by the CEST and the War Department. This lack of care was so apparent that in five of his reports to the CEST or the Quartermaster Depot in Newport News, Van Dusen included a line which read “No supplies on hand. URGENT — RUSH.”12 Four of these reports were sent on the same day, November 20, 1918, further reinforcing the severe lack of supplies.

What supplies and equipment the William & Mary SATC did receive were often unnecessary. For example, on October 25, Van Dusen sent a memo to the District Inspecting Officer stating that they had received forty-nine mattresses, thirty-four of which were surplus and not needed.13

Memo from Lt. Van Dusen detailing the unnecessary mattresses his SATC unit received.14

After the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and the November and December drafts canceled, steady shipments of equipment finally began making their way to SATC units, though the logistical problems persisted.15 On November 16, the CEST District Inspector Major C. Towner sent a memo to Captain Van Dusen explaining that wool uniforms were available and that he needed to cancel his request for cotton uniforms and submit a new one for wool uniforms.16 Van Dusen’s unit would not receive the appropriate uniforms until eleven days later, on November 27. The equipment problem was so bad that it was mentioned in TAPS, a yearbook produced by and for members of the William & Mary SATC. Within the half page discussing the equipment, numerous problems were reported.17

Excerpt from TAPS detailing the equipment issues at William & Mary.18

The Position of Your Signature

Notes:

  1. Memo from the CEST to Commanding Officer, Students’ Army Training Corps, William & Mary College dated September 10, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  2. Memo from the CEST to Commanding Officer, Students’ Army Training Corps, William & Mary College dated September 10, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  3. Telegram from the CEST to William & Mary SATC dated October 5, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  4. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to CEST dated October 8, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  5. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to CEST dated October 15, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  6. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to CEST dated October 25, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  7. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to CEST dated October 31, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  8. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to CEST dated October 31, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 682 Folder 2. A storm flag is a flag that can be flown during rough weather. Barracks bags were used by soldiers to carry and store their personal equipment.
  9. Memo from Captain Van Dusen to Depot Quartermaster Depot dated November 19, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  10. Memo from Captain Van Dusen to Quartermaster Depot dated November 22, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 682 Folder 2. Van Dusen states in the memo that gallery rifles were necessary to complete the prescribed training. This most likely means that the gallery rifles were used for target practice. The wooden rifles were a safer option for bayonet training than real rifles with sharp bayonets.
  11. Memo from Captain Van Dusen to Depot Quartermaster Depot dated November 22, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 682 Folder 2.
  12. Requisition Report from Captain Van Dusen to Quartermaster Depot dated November 20, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681; Requisition Report from Captain Van Dusen to Quartermaster Depot dated November 20, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681; Requisition Report from Captain Van Dusen to Quartermaster Depot dated November 20, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681; Requisition Report from Captain Van Dusen to Quartermaster Depot dated November 22, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 682 Folder 2; Requisition Report from Captain Van Dusen to Quartermaster Depot dated November 20, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 682 Folder 2
  13. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to District Inspecting Officer dated October 25, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  14. Memo from Lt. Van Dusen to District Inspecting Officer dated October 25, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  15. Memo from Zone Supply Officer to all Students’ Army Training Camps in Baltimore Zone dated November 15, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681
  16. Memo from Major C. Towner to Captain Van Dusen dated November 16, 1918, National Archives RG 165 NM-84 Entry 412 Box 681.
  17. TAPS” Published in the Memory of The Students’ Army Training Corps at William and Mary College (Williamsburg, Virginia, 1918), 27.
  18. TAPS” Published in the Memory of The Students’ Army Training Corps at William and Mary College (Williamsburg, Virginia, 1918), 27.