Training exercise at Camp Crane in front of the Allentown Fairgrounds Grandstand. Offices located in the Grandstand became both the headquarters of Camp Crane and the USAAS.
Main entrance to Camp Crane, converted from the Allentown Fairgrounds main gate, located at the northwest corner of 17th and Chew Street in Allentown, PennsylvaniaA fresh arrival at Camp Crane, 1917
When the United States entered World War I, the status of American volunteers in Europe became uncertain because they now had a U.S. military obligation to fulfill. France, fearing the loss of ambulance volunteers, requested that the United States ensure the uninterrupted continuation of the vital service. U.S. leaders thus agreed to incorporate American volunteer ambulance units into the American Army and to continue their service at the front with the French.[1]
The Army organized a new ambulance corps for that purpose. War Department General Orders No. 75, which established the U.S. Army Ambulance Service (USAAS), was issued on 23 June 1917.[1] However, even before that, beginning in mid-May, rumors of the Army being interested in establishing a training camp at the Allentown, Pennsylvania Fairgrounds began to circulate. The fairgrounds was established in 1889 by the Lehigh County Agricultural Society (LCAS) as a site to hold its annual fair and operated a farmer's market inside a large grandstand, built in 1908. The property, about 50 acres in size, also had a small horse racing track, stables and several exhibition halls.[2]
The LCAS and representatives of the United States Army concluded an agreement for the Army to lease the fairgrounds, and as a result of that agreement, an announcement was made by the LCAS that the Allentown Fair would be cancelled in 1917.[3] The Army assigned the fairgrounds to the USAAS and designated the site Camp Crane. It was named for Brigadier General Charles H. Crane, surgeon general from 1882 to 1883. Its mission was to train recruits as ambulance drivers, mechanics, orderlies and the other skills they would need on the Western Front. The also became the site of the USAAS headquarters.[1]
Training
Pup tents at Camp Crane, Summer 1917Trainees marching south on 17th Street past Allentown High School, 1918United States Army Ambulance Service Marching Band practicing at Camp Crane in the interior of the horse racing track, 1918Camp Crane ambulances and drivers
Unlike other Army camps which generally were located nearby, but outsides of towns and cities. Camp Crane was located in a city, although the West End of Allentown at the time was sparsely populated.[4]
Recruits began to arrive on June 1. They were billeted in available fairgrounds buildings, including horse barns, pig pens, and horse cooling sheds. A large mess hall was established under the Fairgrounds Grandstands.[1] The fairgrounds itself, a dirt and grass field, became a large tent city, with tents being erected for the recruits to live in. At the same time Camp Crane became the home of over eighty doctors and other members of three temporary field hospitals that used Allentown as a staging area. Nurses were housed in the nearby Nurses College of Allentown Hospital. Evacuation hospital units and mobile hospital and surgical units were also to come to Allentown to prepare for wartime duty in Europe.[3]
According to the camp’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Slee, the camp was originally only intended to house approximately 2,500 men. Before the camp was brought up to full speed, however, that number had increased to 4,500 and then to 7,500. As a result of the large numbers of men occupying such a small space, housing was an acute problem.[4] Several additional buildings were constructed at the western end of the fairgrounds beginning in July 1917, and several others were built on the eastern end to relieve the overcrowding.[3]
Despite such makeshift quarters, the USAAS attracted the adventurous by offering the promise of quick and certain action in Europe. By 19 June 1917, over thirteen hundred volunteers were in training at Camp Crane; a week later, the number stood at thirty-three hundred. In all, 20,310 volunteers (2,085 officers and 18,225 enlisted) trained at Camp Crane between 1 June 1917 and 10 April 1919.[1]
In September 1917, the USAAS was joined by 150 gas mask instructors. They established a separate school for training gas mask instructors who would instruct soldiers about using the masks in France.[3]
Volunteers came from Army recruiting stations, predecessor volunteer ambulance units, and a variety of institutions and industrial organizations. Sponsors of USAAS sections included over forty universities and colleges. Harvard University, which had led in the number of volunteers for the American Field Service, set another record by providing three USAAS sections. Other sponsors included corporations, cities, and sports groups.[1]
The trainees were an exceptional group. Volunteers for the Army Ambulance Service were generally conscientious objectors, who did not want to serve in combat units. As such, many of them were undergraduate college students planning a medical career. The Ambulance Service was a way for them to satisfy their draft obligation and also for those men who wanted to support the war effort, but not to serve directly in combat. Many volunteers were medical students who wanted to do their part for the war effort. Fifteen All-American college football players among them became the nucleus of a team that played a winning season against a lineup that included Georgetown University, Penn State, and Fordham University, a few of which later played in the early National Football League teams of the 1920s. The camp band also attracted premier musical talent, also drawn from college bands and music schools around the country. John Philip Sousa was among the guest conductors. Lt. Col. Clarence P. Franklin, MC, who succeeded Colonel Persons as the camp commander, convinced Sousa to write a march for the Army Ambulance "Corps," and the famous composer copyrighted the "USAAC March" in 1919.[1] The USAAC band participated in several concerts and parades in the Allentown area, as well as bond drives to support the war effort.
Many writers also served in the USAAC. Their transition into the life of a soldier was recorded in letters, diaries, and literature. In 1917 John Dos Passos returned from service in France with Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps to find a draft notice awaiting him. Deciding to volunteer for the USAAS, he reported to Camp Crane. He later wrote of his "captivity" at "Syphilis Valley" where he said he had washed over a million windows. His novel Three Soldiers was based on his experiences there and featured characters he encountered in training at Camp Crane and later during his service in France.[1] Other notable members of the USAAC who trained at Camp Crane were Ernest Hemingway, Harry Crosby, Ray Kroc, William A. Wellman, and Frank Buckles, whom became the last American World War I veteran.
Those who had volunteered to go "over there" were frustrated when the Army did not quickly ship them to Europe and became bored with repetitive tasks, such as marching day after day.[1] An auxiliary camp was established in August 1917 at Kern's Mill, about eight miles north of Allentown, and at Belzwood, five miles west of Norristown to take the overflow from Camp Crane. To provide even more space, in November a site was set up in-between Heilerman's Crossing and Guth's Station as if they were in trenches in France. Known as Guth Station, the trainees established an underground city, digging in about eight feet deep into the fields and erecting small shacks where they installed small stoves.[3] The recruits found living in the mud and dirt trenches there to be particularly vexsome, but it was a good simulation of what they would find on the Western Front.[1]
For recreation, Camp Crane established football, tennis and track teams. The city of Allentown established a "Big Brother" program to work with young men in Allentown. Also the local YMCA provided phonographs, books and magazines. People invited recruits into their private homes for evenings away from the Camp, and local establishments held dances and other social outings.[3]
In time Camp Crane graduates did make it "over there." The first contingent (Section) arrived in France on 21 August 1917, commanded by Colonel Jones, who left Camp Crane to head up the USAAS in France from headquarters in Paris.[1] On 26 September, the commander in chief, A. E. F., requested that an additional 10 sections be sent to France as soon as possible, in addition to the 20 sections already there, plus 300 unassigned recruits.[5] Each section was composed of approximately "45 men, 20 Ford M1917 ambulances, 1 Ford touring car, 1 truck, and a kitchen trailer".[6]
Additional sections were deployed to France and also Italy from Camp Crane as they graduated. On 26 August 1918, the commanding officer at Camp Crane reported that 82 sections had been sent overseas and 8 had been disbanded, but that 31 sections were being organized and motor transport for them secured. The last contingent was sent to France on 2 November 1918. A total of 95 separate Sections were trained in Allentown and deployed to France; 22 were sent to Italy.[5]
Camp Crane also became a pre-embarkation camp in 1918, with thousands of men moving in and out rapidly, usually arriving and leaving on trains in the middle of the night with convoys of trucks rolling through the city to the fairgrounds.[3]
Closure
Impromptu Armistice Day Peace Parade passing through Center Square in Allentown, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1918Hand colored postcard of Camp Crane, 1918
With the Armistice with Germany announced on November 11, 1918, a massive parade was held, and several hundred of the recruits being trained at Camp Crane marched through the city. Afterward, training ended and the recruits began to leave for home. During the winter of 1918-1919 Army activities at Camp Crane began to wind down, and preparations began to close the camp and return it to the LCAS. Flags at Camp Crane were taken down for the last time in a ceremony held at noon on 10 April 1919 and the fairgrounds was turned back over to the Agricultural society.[7] The men of the USAAC that had gone to France and Italy had hoped to be able to be demobilized in Allentown, but by the time of their return it was closed.[3]
The Army had made significant changes to the fairgrounds. A large steam-heating plant was installed with steam pipes dug throughout the fairgrounds which equipped all the buildings for heat. A large amusement hall with bowling alleys with a large library and a cinema was built. Numerous buildings for classes and barracks were also erected.[7]
The buildings erected by the Army were mostly sold off and either moved to new locations or dismantled and used for wood to build new buildings.[3] Over $120,000 worth of iron and steel from the buildings, along with the heating, piping, and other components were taken apart and sold off. In addition, huge piles of coal were left with over 4,000 tons that needed to be taken away.[7] However, by the end of August 1919, nearly all physical evidence of Camp Crane was gone, and the 1919 Allentown Fair was held at the site.[3]
In 1927, a stone monument to the men who trained at Camp Crane was erected at the Allentown Fairgrounds. In the 1960s it was moved to Allentown's West Park, a few blocks away.[8] Another memorial can be found on the wall of the fairgrounds grandstand, near the ticket office which was placed there in 1972.[3]
Commemoration
In 2017, to honor the camp's 100th anniversary, the nearby Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum gathered artifacts and pictures, along with a replica of a Fordambulance used at the camp, for a yearlong exhibit; during the Great Allentown Fair the exhibit was moved to the fair's Agriplex building, where fairgoers were able to learn about the camp.[9]
Allentown is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, in the United States. It is the third-most-populous city in Pennsylvania with a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census and the largest city in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the nation as of 2020.
Barron Field is a former World War I military airfield, located 1.0 mile (1.6 km) West-southwest of Everman, Texas. It operated as a training field for the Air Service, United States Army between 1917 until 1921. It was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.
The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was a volunteer ambulance service, founded by individual members of the British Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in line with their Peace Testimony. The FAU operated from 1914–1919, 1939–1946 and 1946–1959 in 25 different countries around the world. It was independent of the Quakers' organisation and chiefly staffed by registered conscientious objectors.
The 213th Regional Support Group is a unit of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. The 213th RSG mission is to provide command and control of the twenty-two separate Pennsylvania Army National Guard units assigned to the headquarters for operational and administrative control. This force consist of more than 1,000 soldiers from the eastern and central parts of the state. The 213th RSG is one of the two major commands in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, the other being the 28th Infantry Division (Keystone).
The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia.
Camp Scott was a recruiting and training base in York, Pennsylvania, for newly raised regiments in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The Great Allentown Fair is an annual fair and agricultural show that is held at the Allentown Fairgrounds in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It is operated by the Lehigh County Agricultural Society. It is one of the oldest fairs in the United States, and one of the largest in the state of Pennsylvania.
Edward "Untz" Brooke Brewer (1894–1970) was an American athlete. Brewer played two seasons of professional football with the Cleveland Indians and the Akron Pros in the National Football League (NFL). He was considered one of the best high school quarterbacks in the country and played college football at Maryland State College. Brewer was also an accomplished track and field athlete.
George Washington "Tuffy" Conn was a professional American football player who played in 1920 for the Cleveland Tigers and the Akron Pros of the American Professional Football Association. Conn won the first AFPA-NFL title that season with the Pros.
The United States Army Ambulance Service (USAAS) was a unit of the United States Army established by the United States Department of War during World War I. It was established by General Order No. 75 of the War Department in May 1917 and was headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Allentown Fairgrounds is located at 302 North 17th Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It hosts the Great Allentown Fair annually in late August and early September.
James Wheeler Fuller Jr. was an American industrialist known for manufacturing railroad axles and wheels.
With the purchase of its first airplane, built and successfully flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright, in 1909 the United States Army began the training of flight personnel. This article describes the training provided in those early years, though World War I, and the immediate years after the war until the establishment of the United States Army Air Corps Flight Training Center in San Antonio, Texas during 1926.
The Strand Theater is a former cinema in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It closed in 1953. Today, part of the building is used for retail and office space.
Allentown station is a defunct train station in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was constructed by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) and Reading Railroad in 1888 and 1889. For most of the late 19th and early 20th century, it provided passenger train service between Allentown and various U.S. Coast locations.
AFS Intercultural Programs is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professionally staffed offices, volunteer board of directors and website. In 2015, 12,578 students traveled abroad on an AFS cultural exchange program, between 99 countries. The U.S.-based partner, AFS-USA, sends more than 1,100 U.S. students abroad and places international students with more than 2,300 U.S. families each year. As of 2022, more than 500,000 people have gone abroad with AFS and over 100,000 former AFS students live in the U.S.
The 1st Pennsylvania Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War that served for three months at the beginning of the war.
Horace Signor Brannon was an American physician based in Louisville, Kentucky. He served in the 92nd Division during World War I, under the 365th Ambulance Company.
Vanderbilt Brown was an American physician in Virginia. He was one of the first physicians to finish training in World War I. He was assigned to 365th Ambulance Company in the 317th Infantry of the 92nd Division. Brown died a few years after the war.
The 1917 Allentown Ambulance Corps football team, also known as the "Usaccs", represented the United States Army Ambulance Service stationed at Camp Crane in Allentown, Pennsylvania, during the 1917 college football season. Dudley Clark, formerly a football player at Oregon, was the team's coach.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
