The 136th Infantry Regiment consisted of 3 battalions composed of the following companies:
1st Battalion – Company A, B, C and D (Weapons Company)
2nd Battalion – Company E, F, G and H (Weapons Company)
3rd Battalion – Company I, K, L and M (Weapons Company)
During World War I, the 2nd Minnesota was renamed the 136th Infantry but remained in the United States. Later, the 136th Infantry was assigned to the 34th Infantry Division. After completing its training at Camp Cody, New Mexico, the 136th Infantry, as part of the 34th Infantry Division, was shipped overseas. There is suffered the frustration of having its members dispersed to other units, rather than entering the war as a unit. Thus, while many members of the 136th Infantry saw combat in World War I, it was the fate of the unit simply to provide replacements.
Early Morning Roll Call At Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico, 1917=1918
As one travels across the high desert area of southern New Mexico through the town of Deming, it’s hard to picture a bustling Army camp of 30,000 men just to the north of the freeway. But in 1917 that’s exactly what was located there.
When the United States joined the efforts of WWI, there was a great need for additional Army training posts across the country. The town of Deming was chosen as one of these camps and preparations began to bring the soldiers in. Deming had been a major cattle shipping point and there were major rail connections at this town which would be vital for bringing in men and equipment. In an area located northwest of the town proper lay 1,800 acres of desert which would become Camp Cody.
Cost did not seem an important factor in building the camp. The war was on and trained men and trained animals were needed immediately for the war effort. The camp was constructed at a cost of over $2,000,000 and was laid out with 3 main streets running east and west with several cross streets intersecting them. These cross streets can still be seen today as long mounds extending at fairly equal intervals crossing the main streets. The streets were sprayed with crude oil to keep down the dust and there was also talk of coating the parade ground the same way.
The camp opened in October 1917. A weekly camp newspaper was published by the El Paso Herald titled the Trench and Camp. This newspaper described first-hand the daily life of the recruits and the hardships they encountered.
Entertainment was at a minimum at the camp. Movies, games, and speakers were provided at the “Y.” The camp library with 15,000 volumes did a demanding business with the majority of readers wishing to read about the great battles of the Civil War. Many men hiked out to old Fort Cummings to get a feel for Army life during the Indian Wars.
It was a Federal offense to sell intoxicating liquor to soldiers in uniform and this rule was enforced in the Deming area. Camp Cody soldiers found a way around this by purchasing large amounts of lemon extract, of which alcohol was a major ingredient. The street commissioner of Deming reported that the city had to repeatedly close down “comfort stations” until his workmen could get around to cleaning out the large quantities of extract bottles which clogged the “stations.”
Compared with the momentous events of 1916, World War I proved to be an anticlimax for Fort Bliss. In the spring of 1917 the post seemed destined for even greater expansion: the government allocated $850,000 for improvements necessitated by the augmented garrison, and the Quartermaster Corps was planning a $100,000 upgrade of the water and sewer system. It also seemed certain that a divisional training center would be located at Fort Bliss) The post was eminently suited for such an undertaking, because the camps recently evacuated by the National Guard easily could accommodate a division of trainees.
The divisional training cantonment never materialized, because El Paso had incurred the wrath of Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. Baker was a man of firm convictions who believed in strict morals. He abhorred having liquor and prostitution available to the troops. He disapproved on moral grounds, and he thought that vice lowered the Army’s effectiveness.
Baker had included a provision in the Selective Service Act prohibiting the sale of alcohol to military personnel and establishing a dry zone around Army installations. The secretary also announced that only 4 those localities that actively protected soldiers from vice would be designated as training centers. He took a dim view of El Paso’s well-deserved reputation as a town where a soldier could have a good time. In fact he publicly stated that “El Paso must clean up.”‘ Faced with the prospect of losing the millions of dollars that a training center represented, El Paso city fathers launched what proved to be a half-heated campaign against vice.
Their efforts failed to satisfy Baker. The divisional training center was awarded to Deming, where the town’s small size and relative isolation would provide the troops with less temptation. El Pasoans could only observe wistfully as Camp Cody blossomed in Deming. The 23,000 troops eventually stationed at Camp Cody were supplied from the Quartermaster Depot in El Paso, but this was of little consolation. 6 The loss of the divisional training center was a blow to Fort Bliss, for it lessened the institutional growth of previous years.
Base Hospital No. 29 was organized at City and County Hospital, Denver, Colo., on April 5, 1917, and was mobilized at Camp Cody, New Mexico, during March, 1918. The unit trained at Camp Cody and at Camp Crane, Allentown, Pa., until July 5, 1918, when it left for Hoboken, N. J., arriving there on July 6, 1918, when it embarked on the Empress of Russia, and sailed the same date for Europe. The unit arrived in England on July 17, 1918, and was assigned to duty at North Eastern Fever Hospital, London, where it arrived on the night of July 19, 1918. It took over the hospital from the British on August 1, 1918. The hospital cared for 3,976 cases, of which 2,351 were surgical and 1,625 were medical.
(The statements of fact appearing herein are based on the “History, Base Hospital No. 29, A. E. F.,” by the commanding officer of that hospital. The history is on file in the Historical Division, S. G. O., Washington, D. C.)
WWI 34th Divisional Insignia Collector Card #152 c. 1920; 34th Division known as Sandstorm Division. Insignia for those troops from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Dakota which were trained at Camp Cody. These insignia had not been officially authorized by the United States Army but during the summer of 1918, the 81st Division embarking from Hoboken showed up at port with every man wearing a wildcat insignia. Within a week, divisions began creating their own insignias to follow. The Army had not much choice but to go along with it. This card is 2 1/2″ x 1 1/2″
Camp Dix, Wrightown New Jersey – September 18 – In spite of previous reports to the contrary, there were only 150 cases of influenza in the base hospital at Camp Dix today. The balance of the cases, including most of the 200 that were reported yesterday, are being treated in the regimental infirmaries. Of the cases in the base hospital thirty-five have developed pneumonia. Of five deaths from pneumonia at Camp Dix yesterday three were traceable to influenza. The organizations that have been hit hardest are those made up of hardy Westerners of the 34th Division from Camp Cody. – The New York Times – September 19, 1918
Background: On 15 July 1917, the National Guard of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota were called into Federal Service, and on 18 July 1917 they were designated as the 34th Division. Concentration began at Camp Cody, NM, on 3 August 1917. Movement overseas commenced on 20 August 1918 and was completed by 24 October 1918. When the division arrived in France it was too late to see any action in World War I as the war ended the following month. On 17 October 1918, the War Department directed that the division be skeletonized, and many units were stripped of soldiers as they arrived in France.
Nickname: “Sandstorm” Division. – The bovine skull on the insignia is a conventionalization of the Mexican water flask, and with the name, Sandstorm Division, is strongly suggestive of the State where the division was organized and trained.
Official opening of Camp Deming was on December 29,1916. The day was marked with a flag raising ceremony. The camp was renamed in honor of William “Buffalo Bill” Cody on July 20, 1917. William Cody was born February 26, 1846 and died on January 10, 1917. The 34th Infantry Division was called the “Sunshine” Division at first, but this was in conflict with the 40th Division formed at Camp Kearney, California at the same time. So Camp Cody’s 34th became known as the “Sandstorm” Division. Base quarters were built for 36,000 soldiers and the hospital had 800 beds. The camp setup was very immense. There were three main streets and eighteen cross streets. Altogether, twelve miles of street were graded and topped with a three-inch coating of gravel. Later, crude oil would be poured on the primary streets to endure heavy truck traffic. There were also 6,000-framed eight-man tents that had floors, electric lights and coal heaters. The men ate at either of the 120 mess houses. At least 10,000 loaves of bread were baked there on a daily basis. There were 1,200 shower bath houses. There were two of the most popular places around camp. Eleven massive warehouses stored food and other provisions for an army of 30,000 men. There were all sorts of amenities for the men. There were at least five YMCA buildings; a Knights of Columbus, a library and post office throughout the camp. In near by Deming, New Mexico there were about five theaters and an ice cream factory, which underwent a big expansion because the economy of Deming was increasing due to the number of people the camp, brought to Deming. With all these places, plus training, the men did indeed stay busy. When World War One ended, Camp Cody was closed and used for a tuberculosis sanitarium for ex-soldiers operated by “The Catholic Sisters of the Holy Cross”. Camp Cody was completely destroyed by fire in 1939 and the sanitarium closed at that time.
George Herbert Harries (September 19, 1860 – September 29, 1934) was a Major General in the United States Army. He served as president of a number of American industrial corporations, including the Metropolitan Railroad Corporation, Washington, the Washington Railway and Electric Company, H. M. Byllesby and Company, Louisville Gas and Electric Company, and the Fargo and Moorhead Street Railroad Company.
Biography
He was born on September 19, 1860 in South Wales. His son, Warren Harries, died in an accident in France during World War I. Harries died on September 29, 1934 in Waverly, Maryland of pneumonia. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Tuesday, October 23, 1917
Major I. V. Todd, division athletic officer of Camp Cody, one of the busiest men in Camp Cody. He has been 22 years in the U. S. Service, including the Spanish-American war, Philippines insurrection and the Boxer war, constituting nine years in foreign service. In addition to being in full charge of all athletics in the camp, he is in command of his battalion in the 127th heavy field artillery.
He is director over the following sports and others: 100 football clubs, 140 baseball clubs, 300 basketball teams, 80 volleyball teams, besides push ball, boxing, wrestling, etc. – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Wednesday, December 5, 1917
Major Todd – Busy Officer – Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico 1917
Memories of Camp Cody Weblog 