Celebrating Highway History: The U.S. Army’s 1919 Cross-Country Convoy editor@aashto.org July 12, 2019 0 COMMENTS One hundred years ago this month , a U.S. Army convoy consisting of 81 vehicles, 24 officers, and 258 enlisted men set out on a 3,251-mile transcontinental journey, primarily as a way to test the ability of the military to move great distances over roads under … The U.S. Army in World War II, just 20 years later, was fully motorized with trucks, trailers, scout cars, tanks, and armored personnel carriers at a time when even the mighty German Army still relied heavily on horse transport. 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy In the summer of 1919, a young Lieutenant Colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower participated in the first Army transcontinental motor convoy. 1 talking about this. seltzered_ 3 hours ago. The convoy could also be used for recruitment purposes. At a July 13, 1919, stop of the convoy in Columbiana, Ohio, participants (from left, right photo) William Stuhler, Major Brett, Paul V. Robinson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower relax. Share in the excitement of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association historic convoy events featuring hundreds of vintage military vehicles. Trucks foundered in mud, crashed through wooden bridges, and got beaten to pieces on byways barely better than trails. The U.S. Army's success in the war is directly attributable to the exploits of a convoy that trucked across America in 1919. The first Transcontinental Motor Convoy set out from Washington on July 7, 1919, with 24 officers, 256 enlisted men and 17 observers. A cross-country tour could accomplish this, and in addition it would demonstrate the need for better roads. July 8, 1919 [This post is the first in a series of history pieces celebrating 100 years of The U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train.] The road they would follow was the recently completed Lincoln Highway. 1 To test this idea, the War Department assembled the first Army transcontinental motor convoy in 1919, with Major Dwight D. Eisenhower as one of its officers. The 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco used the incomplete Lincoln Highw This was known in 1919 as the First Trans-Continental Motor Transport Convoy. In the summer of 1919 the Army wanted in part to show off the machinery that helped win the war to the public. Helped Win WWII. In the 1950s, with memories of that trip vivid in his mind, President Eisenhower suc The trip from Washington D.C. to San Francisco was considered a major accomplishment. The "truck train" was launched to test the challenges involved in moving an army … The U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train, making its way from Maryland and into Pennsylvania, completed the first full day of its ambitious and unprecedented journey across the United States.… But the same fertile, well-water- ed topsoil that brought prosperity to the Hawkeye state caused serious problems for cars and trucks. July 22, 1919 With more than two-thirds of its transcontinental journey remaining, the U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train completed the Illinois portion of the trip. How a 1919 Army Truck Convoy Across the U.S. Quick to take advantage of good times, automobile salesmen convinced one farm- er after another of the utility of motor vehicles. I just got back from a 2000+ mile road trip. Michael Owen, author of [After Ike: On the Trail of the Century-Old Journey that Changed America], provides commentary for a 1919 U.S. Army silent film documenting a transcontinental motor convoy. Essentially a PR ploy to dramatize the need for good roads, the "First Transcontinental Motor Train" delivered. On July 7, 1919, a transcontinental motor convoy organized by the U.S. Army departed Washington, D.C. for San Francisco, California to demonstrate the motorized capability of the armed forces in the shadow of World War I. THE 1919 ARMY CONVOY IN IOWA by Peter T Harstad and Diana J. THE 1919 ARMY CONVOY IN IOWA . Quick to take advantage of good times, automobile salesmen convinced one farmer after another of the utility of motor vehicles. The first convoy in 1919 traveled from Washington, DC to San Francisco on the then still incomplete Lincoln Highway, the first road across America.It was the first motor convoy to cross North America from the east coast to the west coast. One of the long-forgotten, but historically important events of 1919 was the staging and execution of the U.S. Army's Motor Transport Corps Transcontinental Convoy (MTC-TCC), which made the cross country trip from Washington D.C. to the Presidio in San Francisco. I'm so thankful highway conditions have improved over the past 100 years. reply. Some of the convoy's journey was filmed, and we look at the section from western Nevada to San Francisco, California. The trip from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, was considered a major accomplishment In 1919, a military convoy of 81 vehicles set out to travel the Lincoln Highway--a line drawn on the map--from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. The convoy was organized by the U.S. Army to demonstrate the motorized capability of the armed forces in the shadow of World War I. But the same fertile, well-watered topsoil that brought prosperity to the Hawkeye state caused serious problems for cars and tracks. The 1919 U.S. Army Convoy In 1919, the U.S. Army Convoy of 72 vehicles and 297 men traveled across the United States to test roads and military mobility. “In 1919 the US Army decided to plan and execute a motor convoy of various military vehicles across the country on the newly formed Lincoln Highway,” the MVPA says. The convoy - consisting of 81 vehicles, including 31 heavy cargo trucks, 4 kitchen trailers, a wrecker, 4 motorcycles and 5 ambulances – made its way westward over … “In general, the route began at the Ellipse, in Washington, DC and ended at Lincoln Park, in San Francisco, CA – some 3,250 miles and 62 days later.” The Idea and Development Henry Ostermann, who we talked about in a previous writing, had been piloting convoys for the Army up and down the east coast in the winter of 1917, during World War I. The 1919 convoy by the Army's young Motor Transport Corps took 62 days, from July 7 to September 6. The convoy had arrived in DeKalb the previous afternoon, camping for the night at Annie’s Woods public park and receiving an enthusiastic welcome from the city’s residents. The convoy included 81 vehicles, 24 officers, and 258 enlisted men. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library By Kyle Mizokami. The Transcontinental Motor Convoys were two US Army convoys that crossed the United States from Washington, DC to the west coast. Parade-like scenes like this were common in every city that the Motor Transport Corps Convoy passed through. During World War I, Iowa prospered. The Transcontinental Motor Convoys were early 20th century vehicle convoys, including three US Army truck trains, that crossed the United States (one was coast-to-coast) to the west coast. The U.S. Army’s 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy makes its way through Salt Lake City, Utah, on its way from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. When the convoy arrived in San Francisco on September 6, 1919, the U.S. Army Motor Transport Corps had established a world’s record in long-distance heavy motor transport. Consisting of 81 vehicles — including 31 heavy cargo trucks, four kitchen trailers, a wrecker, four motorcycles and five ambulances – the convoy made its way westward over long stretches of roads that were often little more than dirt tracks. With this goal, they had no idea how bad some roads would be. Following the large scale mobilization of World War I, the U.S. War Department believed highways would play an important national defense role in the future. In 1919 the U.S. Army decided to send a convoy of trucks, motorcycles, tractors, and men on a transcontinental trip from Washington DC to San Francisco. In 1919, an Army convoy drove cross-country from Washington to San Francisco (washingtonpost.com) 65 points by wglb 4 hours ago | hide | past | web | favorite | 32 comments: irrational 6 minutes ago. 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