THE AMERICAN LUMBERJACK IN FRANCE
The work of the 20th Engineers in France was one of the best examples of the value of industrial training in furnishing citizen soldiers well qualified for meeting one of the critical emergencies of the great war. General Pershing had been in France but a few weeks before he was impressed with the necessity of a special organization for supplying the American army with the vast quantity of timber needed in its operations at and behind the front. The 20th Engineers was the answer to this problem. It was organized largely from men trained in the forest industries of America. These men brought to the colors not only the patriotism of the citizen but the adaptability, the physical hardiness, and the rough and ready mechanical skill of the American woodsmen. They knew the work which they were called upon to perform; and they put into it not only the woodcraft which they had acquired but a spirit of backing up the fighting doughboys which was unexcelled in the Expeditionary Force.
Lt.-Col. W. B. Greeley
In an incredibly short time, this regiment established an enormous lumber industry in France. It erected, moved, and reset sawmills at a rate which would take away the breath of the peace-time operator. When equipment was lacking, it improvised the tools needed out of any odds and ends of material available. It broke records of lumber production so fast that we could scarcely keep the count. It attained and held a reputation in the Army for being always on the job and for more than making good in the work expected of it. Its record is reflected in the recommendations made to the War Department by high Engineer officers that when such an organization can be gotten together and thrown overseas in so short a time there is no necessity for including lumber manufacture in the training of the regular Engineers.
Notwithstanding the rapid expansion of the size of the Expeditionary Force beyond all earlier estimates and the corresponding increase in its demands for timber, the Army was kept well supplied with this vital necessity of modern warfare. The 20th Engineers , including of course the old 10th Engineers and the battalions organized originally for road work, delivered the goods; and it should be a source of lasting pride and gratification to every member of this organization who had a part in its splendid achievements.
Lieut.-Col., 20th Engineers