Army unit i.d. marching with Krags in London during WWI?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rick the Librarian

The 41st Division, National Guard from the Pacific Northwest, were broken up for replacements.

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Yes, I'm aware of that. Being broken up upon arrival wouldn't preclude them from marching in London if they arrived in England and then moved to France; as opposed to shipping directly to France. About a decade ago I made myself a handy table and that's what I used for the dates I referenced in my previous post. I didn't include "ports of debarkation and arrival" so I have no idea if they shipped to England or France. Enjoy.

http://5madfarmers.com/trap/ww1.png

This picture came up over on the U.S.Militaria forum some time back and I think the unit was IDed.

I cannot for a certainty identify the unit but I recall that the unit that "showed the colors" in the U.K. was an Engineer railroad unit.

"Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, Zone of Interior: Directory of Troops, Vol. 3, Part 3" lists 5 regiments that arrived in Europe in July 1917. What is interesting pertinent to this image is all these units were organized from National Army or Reserve Engineer regiments:
11th Engineers (standard gauge railway construction regiment) - organized from 1st Engineers, N.A.
12th Engineers (standard gauge railway operation regiment) - organized from 1st Reserve Engineers.
13th Engineers (standard gauge railway operation regiment) - organized from 3rd Reserve Engineers.
14th Engineers (standard gauge railway operation regiment) - organized from 4th Reserve Engineers.
15th Engineers (standard gauge railway construction regiment) - organized from 5th Reserve Engineers.
17th Engineers (standard gauge railway construction regiment) - organized from 7th Reserve Engineers.

Two Engineer railway regiments arrived in August 1917 and were similarly organized from reserve regiments.

The origin of these Engineer units might explain the equipment in this image.

Rock Island Arsenal commenced manufacture of new canteens in 1898 and continued to manufacture large quantities of canteens through 1918. The canteens in this image appear to be new manufactured pattern 1898, although some or all may be pattern 1902. In any case it is not likely any of the canteens in this image were Civil War canteens that were "re-covered" or "double-covered" from in 1898. The style of the printed "U.S." on the canteens in this image was the style adopted and universally applied to field equipment starting in 1898. The straps visible in this image were Canteen-haversack straps adopted in 1899 to replace the Canteen Strap pattern 1878, and Haversack Strap pattern 1878. The Canteen-haversack Strap (not sling - a term reserved for rifle slings) was also manufactured in large quantity by Rock Island Arsenal from 1899 through 1918. The Army Regulations throughout the period 1898-1918 required the corps insignia (Infantry - crossed rifles, Engineer - turreted castle and etc.) to be placed on all field equipment except canteens, as shown in this image, although the regulations were often ignored in this regard.

The nearest canteen in this image appears to have the marking "1B" stenciled on it and if so may represent a marking applied to indicate 1st Engineer Regiment, Company B, which would be consistent with either 11th Engineers (standard gauge railway construction regiment) - organized from 1st Engineers, N.A. or 12th Engineers (standard gauge railway operation regiment) - organized from 1st Reserve Engineers.

It would make sense to send in your engineers first. Hard to send fighting forces when there is no infrastructure to support, house or feed them. There may have been 'space available', given the number of casualties amongst the British and French forces, but not for the numbers that Wilson said he was sending over.

This was probably viewed as overkill by our allies...they just wanted the troops to fill the causality gaps in their armies. Pershing trashed that idea very quickly.

Look at those faces!

"Once in khaki suits
Gee, we looked swell
Full of that yankee Doodle De Dum
Half a million boots went slogging through hell
I was the kid with the drum
Say don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Say don't you remember, I'm your pal!
Buddy can you spare a dime?"

I wonder if any of them ended up in the Bonus Army?

jn

http://archive.org/stream/cu31924027.../search/london

As stated in the above work, the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 17th Engineer Regiments paraded through London on August 15, 1917. Not only were they the first U.S. troops to arrive, but a big deal was made of the claim that it was the first time since William the Conqueror that an organzied body of foreign troops had been in London. Even the king and queen participated in the festivities.

About halfway down the line a good view of a canteen clearly shows '12 something.' Maybe 'B' maybe 'H'? At any rate, an easy ID when combined with the parade details.