152d Depot Brigade (United States)

152d Depot Brigade
Active1917–1919
DisbandedMay 1919
Country United States
BranchArmy
TypeDepot
RoleReceiving and training
SizeBrigade
Garrison/HQCamp Upton, New York
EngagementsWorld War I

The 152d Depot Brigade was a training and receiving formation of the United States Army during World War I. It was successively commanded by Brigadier Generals George W. Read,[1] John E. Woodward,[2] George H. Estes,[3] George D. Moore,[4] Edward Sigerfoos,[5] and William Jones Nicholson.[6]

History

Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning by Irving Berlin

Secretary of War Newton Baker authorized Major General Franklin Bell to organize the 152d Depot Brigade, an element of the 77th Division.[7] The brigade was later detached and placed directly under Camp Upton, New York, as an independent unit.[8][9][10] The depot brigade filled two purposes: one was to act as a receiving unit for men sent to camps by local draft boards;[11][12] the other was to train replacements for the American Expeditionary Forces.

Irving Berlin wrote the musical revue "Yip Yip Yaphank", including the song "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" while assigned to a unit of the 152d Depot Brigade at Camp Upton in 1918.[13]

Purpose

The role of depot brigades was to receive and organize recruits, provide them with uniforms, equipment and initial military training, and then send them to France to fight on the front lines. The depot brigades also received soldiers returning home at the end of the war and completed their out processing and discharges. Depot brigades were often organized, reorganized, and inactivated as requirements to receive and train troops rose and fell, and later ebbed and flowed during post-war demobilization.[14]

Depot brigades were organized into numbered battalions (1st Battalion, 2d Battalion, etc.), which in turn were organized into numbered companies.[15] The major U.S. depot brigades organized for World War I, which remained active until after post-war demobilization included: 151st (Camp Devens); 152d (Camp Upton); 153d (Camp Dix); 154th (Camp Meade); 155th (Camp Lee); 156th (Camp Jackson); 157th (Camp Gordon); 158th (Camp Sherman); 159th (Camp Taylor); 160th (Camp Custer); 161st (Camp Grant); 162d (Camp Pike); 163d (Camp Dodge); 164th (Camp Funston); 165th (Camp Travis); 166th (Camp Lewis); and 167th (Camp McClellan).[16]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Walter Hines Page, Arthur Wilson Page, The World's Work, Biography, George W. Read, Volume XXXVI, November 1918 to April 1919, page 90
  2. ^ C. David Gordon, Nashoba Publications Fort Devens Museum: Biographies of 74th Infantry Regiment Commanders Archived January 10, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, March 6, 2004
  3. ^ George Washington Cullum, Edward Singleton Holden, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, Volume VI-A, 1920, pages 703-704
  4. ^ Cullum, Holden, Biographical Register, page 564
  5. ^ Ohio State University Alumni Association, Ohio State University Monthly, Volumes 9-10, February 1918, page 8
  6. ^ "New Brigade Commanders". The Washington Herald. Washington, DC. January 5, 1919. p. 7.
  7. ^ Wilson, 1998, p. 60.
  8. ^ Organizations and Activities of the War Department, 1949, p. 1277.
  9. ^ Territorial Departments, Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918, and Posts, Camps, and Stations, 1949, pp. 843-45
  10. ^ Directory of Troops, 1949, p. 1277.
  11. ^ WD Cir 23, 1918, p. 7.
  12. ^ Wilson, 1998, p. 76n32.
  13. ^ Laurence Bergreen, As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, 1996, page 150
  14. ^ U.S. Army Adjutant General (1918). Training Circular No. 23, Training Regulations for Depot Brigades. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of War. p. Table of Contents – via Army University Library System.
  15. ^ Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co., Memorial to the Employees of the Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. Who Served at Home and Abroad in the Great World War, 1920, pages 42, 47. Harold A. Chalford is listed as a member of 31st Company, 8th Battalion, 152d Depot Brigade. Ernest O. Sandstrom is named as a member of 9th Company, 3d Battalion, 152d Depot Brigade
  16. ^ "List of General Officers and Their Commands". Army and Navy Register. Washington, DC. December 1, 1917. p. 674.

References

  • Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 1: Center of Military History Publication No. 23-3—Zone of the Interior: Organizations and Activities of the War Department. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army. 1988 [1st. pub. GPO: 1949].
  • Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 2: Center of Military History Publication No. 23-4—Zone of the Interior: Territorial Departments, Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918, and Posts, Camps, and Stations. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army. 1988 [1st. pub. GPO: 1949].
  • Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 3: Center of Military History Publication No. 23-5—Directory of Troops. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army. 1988 [1st. pub. GPO:1949].
  • Wilson, John B. (1998). Center of Military History Publication No. 60-14-1—Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades (Army Lineage Series ed.). Wash., DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army.
  • U.S. War Dept. War Plans Div. A.W.C. (1918). Trng. Circ. No. 23—Training Regulations for Depot Brigades (Report). U.S. War Dept. Document No. 859. Washington, DC: U.S. War Dept.

Further reading