24 MAY 13, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
How Ridgewood & Glendale soldiers got ready for ‘The Great War’
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Turn the clock back 100 years ago, and you’ll fi nd
the United States in the throes of “The Great
War,” the confl ict that would eventually be
called World War I. The U.S. entered the war in April
1917, and a number of our soldiers who went “Over
There” came from Ridgewood and Glendale.
A draft signed into law by President Woodrow
Wilson required that all American males between
21 and 31 years of age register for selective service.
On June 5, 1917, nearly 10 million Americans
registered, including approximately 41,066 from
Queens County.
Selective Service Boards were established in
communities across the United States with officials
to review draftees and determine their fitness for
conflict. Several of these boards were established
in Our Neighborhood, including Board 179 located
at 818 Cypress Ave. in Ridgewood, where 480 men
from Ridgewood and Glendale registered.
The Aug. 3, 1917, issue of the Ridgewood Times
published the names and addresses of those men
from the area who had registered — the purpose
of the listing being that if a neighbor knew someone
should have registered and didn’t, they would
be reported to the Selective Service Board for appropriate
action.
Many of the men who were drafted from Ridgewood
and other communities in New York were assigned
to the 77th Division. Activated on Aug. 25,
1917, it became known as “New York’s Own,” and
its shoulder patch included the Statue of Liberty.
In World War I, the U.S. Army employed three
types of divisions: the Regular Army, which included
a cadre of professional soldiers bolstered
by draftees; the National Guard, which includes
Courtesy of the Queens Borough Public Library, Archives, Thomas R. Bayles Photographs
troops formed into regiments during peacetime
who drilled as reservists within their respective
states; and the National Army manned by men
who were inducted into the army by their Selective
Service Boards. The 77th Division was one of
those National Army regiments.
The 77th Division would be trained at the hastily
built Camp Upton in Yaphank, Long Island. An
army of civilian laborers were hired to construct
wooden barracks to house the newly arriving
troops. The first inductees reported to Camp Upton
in September 1917, followed by larger numbers
later in the month.
As it turned out, Camp Upton was a sea of mud,
and initially there was no electricity; acetylene
torches were used by the first residents until
power was finally provided.
The 77th Division was organized into the 152nd
Field Artillery Brigade, composed of the 304th,
305th and 306th Regiments Field Artillery; the
153rd Infantry Brigade, composed of the 305th and
306th Infantry Regiments; the 154th Infantry Brigade,
composed of the 307th and 308th Infantry
regiments; the Machine Gun Battalions from the
304th, 305th and 306th regiments; and the 302nd
Regiment of engineers, field signal battalion, sanitary
train, ammunition train and supply train.
As additional inductees arrived, Camp Upton
grew to almost 26,000 officers and men. To help
the recruits, the YMCA, Red Cross, Salvation
Army and Knights of Columbus all installed units
at Camp Upton.
After the initial training period was over, the
recruits were granted weekend passes departing
the camp at noon on Saturday, but they had to be
back for reveille on Monday morning. The troops
used the Long Island Rail Road to visit their families
in New York City.
Training continued through the holidays and
into the spring of 1918. Camp Upton had a mock
trench, a British tank and machine gun nests
installed to prepare the men for the field of
combat.
Once their stateside training was completed, the
first units of the 77th Division left Camp Upton
Though Camp Upton ran relatively smoothly, it was not without tragedy. Three were killed and
several others were injured when a Long Island Rail Road train loaded with troops heading for
Manhattan crashed near Central Islip in April 1918.
Courtesy of the Queens Borough Public Library, Archives, William J. Rugen Collection
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