Photo By Scott Sturkol | This logo, created Nov. 1, 2018, is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of...... read more read more
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As the clock strikes 11 a.m. Nov. 11, 2018, it marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I when an armistice was signed to end the “war to end all wars” — World War I.
When that armistice was signed, it’s anyone’s guess how the Soldiers stationed at Camp Robinson or Camp McCoy on the Sparta Maneuver Tract — the original camp names of what is now Fort McCoy — reacted to the news. Maybe there was joy and elation. Maybe there was sadness. Maybe there was both.
By the end of the war, an estimated nine million to 13 million people had perished in the conflict that began in 1914.
The United States entered the war later than other allies on April 6, 1917, after declaring war on Germany. The United States also later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on Dec. 7, 1917.
During the 19 months the U.S. was in World War I, plenty of action was taking place in Wisconsin. Soldiers processing and training to go overseas in the war with the Wisconsin National Guard mainly trained at nearby Camp Douglas, located less than 25 miles from Fort McCoy.
In the 2018 book, “Letters from the Boys, Wisconsin World War I Soldiers Write Home” by Carrie A. Meyer, it states, “The National Guard was called into service on Sunday, July 15 (1917). On that day, about 12,000 Wisconsin men reported to the armories of their local company to be sent to Camp Douglas, the state military reservation.”
Plenty of activity also happened at the Sparta Maneuver Tract, which had been in operation less than a decade when the war started.
“When the United States entered World War I, the camp was further expanded, with seven blocks of barracks, mess halls, warehouses, and stables being erected,” wrote former Fort McCoy Public Affairs Officer Linda M. Fournier in the 2008 book “Images of America, Fort McCoy.” “The buildings were simple wooden structures, unfinished and hurriedly assembled, intended for temporary use and removal following the end of the war.
“Field artillery and infantry units used the camp until 1918 when the armistice was signed,” the book states. “After World War I, the camp’s barracks and mess halls were dismantled, and the reservation began a 20-year period as a summer training site for regular U.S. Army artillery units, U.S. Army Reserve troops, and U.S. National Guard detachments from the western Great Lakes area.”
The Army of the early 20th century also was not anything like the mechanized force of today’s Army. Use of horses and mounted infantry were common, and conditions were austere, especially on the war front in France.
Pvt. Charles B. Meyers, a Norwalk, Wis., native with Battery A, 341st Field Artillery of the American Expeditionary Force in France, wrote to his mother, Nettie Meyers, continuously during the war. It’s not known whether Meyers completed any training at Fort McCoy, but letters donated to the Fort McCoy History Center by his family provide some insight about the conditions he faced.
“I have to go on guard from 9 to 10 o’clock tonight but it will be nice as the moon is shining bright – the moon is so full,” Meyers wrote in a letter dated Oct. 18, 1918, from “over there (France).” “We are busy building a mess hall and are using parts and lumber of German buildings. Would soon be too cold to eat outdoors as we have been doing.”
In the same letter, Meyers noted how they were taking care of each other.
“The last few days one of the fellows has been bringing free Red Cross cigarettes, cookies, cigars, and gum,” Meyers wrote. “They issue a little every night and everyone gets the same amount, except the officers. As I understand it, they help themselves. (But) I just heard that they did not take any more than the rest.”
And in a letter just days from the end of the war, dated Nov. 4, 1918, from “Somewhere in France,” Meyers wrote about being on the lines.
“Nothing to do except walk around and keep an eye on the horses and a nose for gas,” Meyers wrote. “Usually it is real quiet. … Have not picked up anything for souvenirs. They are rather scarce as many have already covered this ground. I could have had some but did not know of any way to send them and I have enough to carry now. If we were to move, I don’t know where we would put it all.
“Candles also are rather scarce. We get about half a candle every second night. But we are lucky as we have a lantern and a little kerosene to (provide light).”
And back in Wisconsin, local newspaper excerpts provide a look at what was going on in and around the Sparta Maneuver Tract at Camp Robinson and newly named Camp McCoy in 1918.
Camp McCoy was renamed after Capt. Bruce E. McCoy, father of Fort McCoy founder Maj. Gen. Robert Bruce McCoy. Capt. McCoy was a Civil War veteran.
In 1926, the overall training area of the Sparta Maneuver Tract, including Camp Robinson and Camp McCoy, was renamed to Camp McCoy in honor of Maj. Gen. McCoy, who also served as a district attorney, county judge, and city mayor in Sparta.
• From a June 1918 story in the Sparta Herald: “For several days the local post office force was swamped with a large quantity of incoming and outgoing Soldiers’ mail. A post office has now been established at Camp Robinson with John P. Doyle, Jr. in charge, assisted by a clerk from the local office.”
• From a March 22, 1918, news story in the Tomah Monitor-Herald: “Indications point to a big camp of Soldiers at Camp Robinson and Camp McCoy this summer. It is stated in Sparta that there will be about 35,000 men in the two camps.”
• From an Aug. 4, 1918, news story in the La Crosse Tribune: “Soldiers from Camp Robinson, Wis., enjoyed a Sunday river outing at La Crosse today, compliments of the city’s motorboat owners.”
• From an Aug. 31, 1918, news story in the La Crosse Tribune: “Two saloonkeepers from Melvina, Wis., have been arrested for providing liquor to a Camp Robinson, Wis., Soldier recently killed by a train while intoxicated.”
• From an Oct. 4, 1918, article in the Tomah Monitor-Herald: “Two broncos escaped from the 8th Field Artillery when they went into Camp Robinson in 1917, and one horse got away from the 333rd this spring. The horses have run wild on the government range ever since, until captured last Thursday by members of the 167th.”
In the 100 years since the end of World War I, Fort McCoy has continued to support service members training for operations around the world, from World War II to the war on terrorism.
And as the world remembers World War I and all who sacrificed, words from a front-lines letter by McCoy himself should remind everyone to never forget what happened.
“War is hell. You become calloused,” McCoy wrote Oct. 18, 1918, to a friend in Sparta. “The work must go on when men fall. It is (my) duty to put others in.”
| Date Taken: | 11.07.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.07.2018 15:22 |
| Story ID: | 299141 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 266 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, LOOKING BACK A CENTURY: Fort McCoy was new installation during World War I years, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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