Grenade Kills Camp Cody Officer

Lieutenant Olaf Damm Is Killed in Accident

A hand grenade, accidentally thrown into a trench yesterday, exploded and killed First Lieutenant Olaf B. Damm, company G, 136th infantry. A non-commissioned officer who was standing by him while a squad was practicing bomb throwing, was taken to the hospital with a severe case of shock. He was not wounded, however.

After the explosion, a brother of the dead officer, Lieutenant George B. Damm, ran to the trench and called for his brother. The non-commissioned officer, crawling out of the dust and smoke, pointed to a huddle of cloth and torn flesh.

Lieutenant Damm and the non-com were standing in the short side of an L shaped trench, watching the effect of grenades thrown by the squad in the long side. It is supposed one of the bombers made a bad throw and the grenade veered off to the short trench. The non-commissioned officer is said to have seen it coming and to have shouted a warning as he dropped to the bottom of the trench.

The Lieutenants Damm were formerly Minnesota national guard officers and had been at Camp Cody a long time. Their parents, who had been visiting them, left for their home in Austin, Minnesota a few hours before the accident. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – August 21, 1918

Three Camp Cody Soldiers

Pay Day At Camp Cody, Deming, NM

Pay day started in Camp Cody Monday, the 134th infantry and some of the artillery units being, remembered by the paymaster, in consequence more money than usual has been in circulation amount the business men of Deming. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Wednesday, April 10, 1918

National Guard – Co 1 – Deming, New Mexico

Out in the Field at Camp Cody

Both the 135th and 136th infantry regiments spent two days in hike in the field last week. Their maneuvers involved the working of various combat problems. Spaulding ranch, Hondale and Watkin’s ranch were their camping places. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Wednesday, April 10, 1918

Showers at Camp Cody

Camp Cody Gunners On Hike

The three machine gun battalions stationed in Camp Cody, the 125th, 126th and 127th, together with the machine gun companies of the regiments stationed in the camp, took a 15 mile hike Monday, under command of Major Philpot. The day passed uneventfully, all organizations returning to camp late in the afternoon. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Wednesday, April 10, 1918

Bakery Company No 40_- Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico

 

Governors Protest at Breaking Up Camp Cody Units

Secretary of war, Baker, has asked General Peyton March, chief of staff, to comply, if possible with the request of the governors of Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota who yesterday asked that their state troops at Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico, be sent to France only as individual units so their identity might not be lost. The governors said they were informed 5000 troops were about to leave camp as replacements. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Thursday, May 30, 1918

Government Report Give Camp Cody Ribbon as Healthy Camp

Camp Cody is far from being the unhealthy place some of tits knockers would have the world believe. Government statistics tell another story. It is one of the most healthy camps in the entire country.

With the week of April 19, the war department at Washington began publishing a “casualty” list for the training camps of the country, including each of the places where troops are stationed, aside from the 32 recognized cantonments.

Camp dodge, Iowa, led the list with 31 deaths for the week. The names of the men were enumerated. Camp Cody had but two deaths in the same period. Camp Sherman had 17 deaths; Camp Travis, Texas 14; Camp Taylor, Kentucky, 13 deaths.

Camp Dodge, in other words, in one week went far toward the total reached by the highest month in the history of Camp Cody. That was December, when approximately 50 men died.

The average death rate for Camp Cody recently has been no more then three or four men a week, while the number of men in the hospital has been decreasing steadily according to reports in the office of the division surgeon, Colonel J. M. Coffin. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Friday, May 3, 1918

Good News for Deming and Camp Cody

Announcement by the chief of staff, General Peyton March, that a new division is to be created at Deming is the best news that town has had since the camp was built up to receive the division which left there at the conclusion of its training period.

Since that division’s departure, there have been may rumors about what would be abandoned; another that it would be turned into a big camp for convalescents. The version that it would become a recuperative place for convalesce may have been based on the fact that the hospital facilities at the camp have been greatly enlarged recently.

The announcement that the 97th division is to be organized at Camp Cody disposes of these two rumors and it is more likely that the new division will be found to consist of healthy young men. There will be the business of examining them, equipping them and organizing them for training. Then Deming will be as busy as when the other division was in camp.

This statement by General March is one for which Deming was been waiting for some time and it means a great deal to the town. It also is on some importance to El Paso for many El Paso firms had valuable connections in Deming.

The fact that another division is to be formed and trained at Camp Cody makes it almost certain that the camp will continue in existence as long as the war last, and if there had been any intention of abandoning the camp, that action probably would have been taken after the departure of the first division. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Monday, September 9, 1918

Major Weaver is Appointed Camp Cody Executive Officer

Major Carl C. Weaver has been appointed camp executive officer. The appointment came as a surprise to Major Weaver, who expressed his appreciation of the honor. His office adjoins division headquarters on the west. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Monday, November 11, 1918

Captain M. E. Cassidy Appointed Morale Officer at Camp Cody, Deming

Captain M. E. Cassidy, of Bisbee, Arizona, who has been assistant camp adjutant, has been appointed camp morale officer and it will be his duty to see that everything is 100 percent efficient, so far as clean and wholesome entertainments and sports and general conduct of all the troops are concerned. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Monday, November 11, 1918

Captain George Munteanu Acting Assistant Chief of Staff at Camp Cody

Captain George Munteanu, who has been acting chief of staff, has been appointed acting assistant chief of staff.

The polite young soldier who says: “I’ll see if the chief of staff is busy,” is private Howard Dell, who knows how to do things right. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Monday, November 11, 1918