Author: Kayla Campana

African American World War I Soldiers in Orlando: Where did they live?

Posted on

Entry Composed by Tyler Campbell
Find the original post here.

 

As a part of the World War I in Florida project we have been looked at the service cards for all soldiers in the state to see what those cards can tell us about the larger social, racial, political, economic and cultural aspects of Florida in this period. The question was presented to a few of us in to group asking where the African American soldiers that served lived in Orlando. (Orlando was our pilot city so we have quite a bit of information on Orlando) This was a questions we had not thought of before and decided to dig a little deeper. On each service card it lists the soldier’s residence. In many cases, this included their street address. Placing these addresses spatially was as simple as plugging the addresses into a google sheets file and running it through google fusion tables. See below.

When the information was collected and applied to the fusion table, we found a clear concentration of their residence within the Paramore area. Some screenshots of those maps are presented below:

The exact residence of these soldiers are pinpointed in this second map that shows the clustering in specific buildings and specific sections of the Paramore community.

The results of this pilot study show the racial divide that existed in Orlando during the World War I era. The Paramore community was active in the effort to get men to enlist from their community. See our Orlando in World War I page for more information on the Orlando community as a whole. These maps provoke a larger discussion of African American involvement in World War I and the racial conflicts of this period. In the future we hope to be able to compare this to the White soldiers addresses for the city of Orlando to create a comparative study of where people were living in the city during this period.

In the end, this was just another great area of study that can come from utilizing this rich primary source material. If you have any questions about the Florida in World War I site or the database, check out our website HERE. or contact me via email HERE.

Camp Joseph E. Johnston

Posted on

Entry Composed by by Tyler Kelly
Off the banks of the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, Florida lies the Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville). The NAS Jacksonville was named in 1940, but the base has a rich history that dates back to 1908. During World War I, the base was known as camp Joseph E. Johnston as it served the United States Army as a training base for soldiers. In May of 1908 at the location of the modern day Navy base, 13,000 acres were authorized by the Florida state legislature to create a military camp. From 1909 to 1917 the Florida National Guard had a base established there. The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917. The federal government decided to create a new base in Jacksonville for the sole purpose of training officers in the United States Army. The base was named after the Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston who was one of the senior Generals for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. General Johnston actually had a past of serving in the state of Florida and in 1860 reached the rank of Quartermaster General in the U.S. Army. This is significant to the identity of camp Joseph E. Johnston because the camp specialized in training Quartermasters in the Army.

Construction began on the camp in October 1917. The first group of enlisted soldiers and officers entered the camp on November 19, 1907. The base eventually evolved into a 600 building complex which trained thousands of soldiers during World War I. The base was also home to the nation’s second largest rifle range. Once the year 1918 came around the camp was the largest of all the Army’s Quartermaster mobilization and training camps. According to a trainee by the name of Wesley Bouslog there were representatives from twenty different states in his barracks. It is further stated in Bouslog’s letters that there were people of multiple ethnic backgrounds present on base including Scottish, Irish, and Jewish. Soldiers were trained throughout the year and forced to stay on base, but on April 18, 1918 a trolley line was established so the enlisted men could go into the city of Jacksonville. The soldiers would occupy themselves by going to school which was provided by the base and taking part of the location’s YMCA center. At the close of World War I, the camp was closed on May 16, 1919.

Bibliography

Civil War Trust. “Joseph E. Johnston.” Civil War Trust. Accessed December 02, 2016. http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/joseph-johnston.html.

Library of Congress. “Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Florida, March 4th, 1918.” The Library of Congress. Accessed December 02, 2016. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007664485/.

University of North Florida. “Camp Joseph E. Johnston (Jacksonville, Fla.) Collection.” UNF – Thomas G. Carpenter Library – Camp Joseph E. Johnston. Accessed December 02, 2016. https://www.unf.edu/library/specialcollections/manuscripts/collections/Camp_Joseph_E__Johnston.aspx.

Naval Aviation in Florida

Posted on

Entry Composed by Kathryn Rinehart

Florida’s military aviation presence arguably dated to a 1910 Tampa demonstration. Military hangars were added to Florida’s landscape just before and during the Great War (1916). In Pensacola, Key West, and Miami aviation programs were initiated by the United States Navy. Free kite balloons and dirigibles among other vessels were part of the Navy’s World War I arsenal.1

Heavier-than-air aviation exploration and development occurred worldwide following the successful Wright Brothers’ 17 Dec 1903 Kitty Hawk flight. The French, British, and Italians made significant design and manufacturing advances in the ensuing decade. Contention over patent rights between the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss likely contributed to the United States lagging behind other nations in research and development. American scientists and inventors, such as Alexander Graham Bell, expressed concern regarding the United States’ second-tier status in aviation. Bell, recipient of Glenn Curtiss’ first built airplane in 1908, was an informed observer.2

No absolute consensus of aviation’s value to military operations existed in 1914, despite aviation elements existing within the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. The Navy first established a Florida aviation presence in 1914 with its Pensacola aviation school. Though the military desired service member-to-service member pilot training, contractor schools provided pilot instruction in the early years. The Curtiss Flying School in Miami, operated by Glenn Curtiss and established in early 1917, was one such school.3

The Navy had approximately 60 heavier-than-air-rated aviators before 6 Apr 1917, including those in training status. Six Marine Corps and six Coast Guard pilots earned Naval aviator designation. USCG officer-aviator Lt. Stanley V. Parker (Naval Aviator 57, CG Aviator 4) first commanded Naval Air Station Key West. NAS Key West trained 500 aviators during the Great War. Officers and enlisted men, immigrant and native-born, staffed the Marine aviation section in Pensacola. Though some enlisted became pilots, most others were aviation mechanics. All three seagoing services trained on Naval ships and with seaplanes, a distinct difference between their training and the Army’s. Fifth Naval aviator and first Marine Corps aviator Alfred A. Cunningham underwent landplane flight instruction at the Army Aviation School – San Diego in 1916. With the 6 Apr 1917 declaration of war, collaboration amongst the services increased. Training in aerial gunnery, seaplanes, and land planes ensured versatility amongst America’s few military pilots.4

Although the Army’s main pilot training existed in other states such as Texas, war’s advent saw an airfield acquisition surge, especially leased airfields. Miami’s Cutler airfield (later renamed Chapman airfield) provided aerial gunnery practice and coastal flying experience. Arcadia’s Carlstrom and Dorr airfields were the Army’s dominant Florida aviation presence during World War I. The 1918 War Department named a Ft. Myers airfield Hiestand Field in memory of aviation instructor Benjamin Hiestand, designating it an auxiliary field to Carlstrom and Dorr.5

Florida Naval pilot training expanded from Pensacola to Key West, and Miami. The First Yale Unit took advanced training at West Palm Beach, but the city did not become a general aviation facility.6

Middleburg, Florida native and Marine Corps Aviator #5, Captain Roy S. Geiger, implemented First Marine Aviation Force training at Miami in April, 1918. First utilizing the Navy’s airfield, Captain Geiger obtained the Curtiss School’s airfield via a $1 lease for the war’s duration. It became the first designated Marine Flying Field. The Marine Corps Publicity Bureau’s 1918 recruiting film Flying With the Marines, shown in theaters from New York City to Arizona and elsewhere nationally, featured Miami-filmed scenes of the First Marine Aviation Force pilots. Training included “ground school, formation flying, aerobatics and tactics, gunnery and bombing, and reconnaissance” skills, including aerial photography. From Miami, the First Marine Aviation Force departed for duty on the European front. Marine Corps pilots performed the first recorded food-drop mission under combat conditions when they supplied an isolated French regiment near Stadenburg, Belgium October 1918. Flying approximately three months, that unit earned 32 commendations, including two Medal of Honor recipients (one posthumous), four Distinguished Service Medals, and 26 Navy Crosses.7

After the war, the Army sought to permanently acquire Carlstrom, Chapman, and Dorr airfields. Miami’s desire for a post-war military aviation presence was mixed. Heavy military budget cuts caused reduced military pilot numbers and forced cancellation of Florida airfield acquisitions. Carlstrom and Dorr airfields saw renewed utilization in World War II.8

Several military pilots with World War I Florida experience later resided in the Sunshine State. Among these were Ohio-born Marine Corps aviator and Navy Cross recipient Everett R. Brewer {involved in first Marine Corps aviator action downing a German plane} (Naples). Others, such as Marine Corps pilot Byron B. Freeland, were pre-World War I residents. Brewer and Freeland trained at Miami.9

Image: Inspection of troops at Key West Naval Air Station – Key West, Florida. 1917 or 1918. Black & white photonegative, 4 x 5 in. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. , accessed 9 February 2017.

“Footnotes” for Paragraphs:

  1. Kevin M. McCarthy and William L Trotter. Aviation in Florida. 1st ed. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 2003, 40-2; “History.” Accessed September 30, 2016. http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_pensacola/about/history.html.

 

  1. “They Taught the World to Fly! Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina.” Accessed November 24, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm.; James J. Hudson. Hostile Skies: A Combat History of the American Air Service in World War I. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1996, 13; William F. Trimble. Hero of the Air. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010, 183-4; Eugene M. Emme, ed. The Impact of Air Power: National Security and World Politics. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1959. 30-3; The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “Miami Aviation School in Government Plan to Train Efficient Corps.” January 12, 1917.

 

  1. “History.” Accessed September 30, 2016. http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_pensacola/about/history.html ; William F. Trimble. Hero of the Air. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010, 125, 164.

 

  1. Reginald Wright Arthur.Contact! Careers of Naval Aviators Assigned Numbers 1 to 2,000. Washington: Naval Aviator Register, 1967, 4-5, 35-38; “History.” Accessed September 30, 2016. http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_key_west/about/history.html; com. U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007; “U.S. Marines to Have Part in Flying Game.” Evening Star. (Washington, D.C.), 29 July 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress; Robert B. Workman, Float Planes & Flying Boats: The U.S. Coast Guard and Early Naval Aviation. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012, xix-xx; “Official Declarations of War by Congress.” Accessed November 24, 2016. http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/h_multi_sections_and_teasers/WarDeclarationsbyCongress.htm.

 

  1. Frederick J Shaw, ed. Locating Air Force Base Sites: History’s Legacy. Washington D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, 2004, 12-3; Raymond G. McGuire. “Chapman Field: The Evolution of a South Dade Army Airdrome.” Tequesta 61, (January 2001): 59. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2016); Robert D. Swanson. Domestic United States Military Facilities of the First World War (1917-1919) – A Postal History. Wailuku, HI: Privately published, 2001, 59; Charles L. Morris. “Letters from Soldiers.” States-Graphic (Brownsville, TN), Sep. 6, 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89058012/1918-09-06/ed-1/seq-1/; “Location of the Cantonments: List of Different Army Cantonments, Forts, Aviation Fields, Etc. and Where They Are Located.” The Denison Review (Denison, Iowa) July 31, 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress; The Chattanooga News. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) “New Aviation Field Named for Benjamin Hiestand, Instructor.” August 8, 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038531/1918-08-08/ed-1/seq-1/>.

 

  1. Reginald Wright Arthur.Contact! Careers of Naval Aviators Assigned Numbers 1 to 2,000. Washington: Naval Aviator Register, 1967, 36, 521, 525, 530.

 

  1. Reginald Wright Arthur.Contact! Careers of Naval Aviators Assigned Numbers 1 to 2,000. Washington: Naval Aviator Register, 1967, 31; “Capt. Geiger’s USMC Orders to Miami (Courtesy of the History Division, Marine Corps University, Quantico).” City of Miami Springs (FL). Accessed August 15, 2016. http://www.miamisprings-fl.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/community/page/19821/capt._geigers_orders_to_miami.pdf; Elizabeth L. Tierney. “A Brief History of Marine Corps Aviation.” July 13, 1963. Accessed August 29, 2016. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmchist/aviation.txt, 2; Amanda S. “Wings Over Miami.” Historical Association of Southern Florida. Update 12, no. 4 (October 1985): 8. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed November 30, 2016); Ross Melnick. American Showman: Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908-1935. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012, 154-5; “Marie Osborne at Columbia Matinee.” Arizona Republican. (Phoenix, Ariz.), 21 Jul. 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress; “Marine Corps Film at Rivoli Thrills.” The Sun. (New York [N.Y.]), 24 June 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-06-24/ed-1/seq-7/>; Roxanne M. Kaufman and Laurie Schmidt. 100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation: An Illustrated History. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2011, 39, 44; Edwin North McClellan. The United States Marine Corps in the World War. 2014, 125, 129; “Stadenburg – Google Maps.” Accessed November 28, 2016. https://www.google.com/maps/@50.96258,0.7559491,7z.

 

  1. “Government buys 38 military camps.” The Aberdeen Weekly. (Aberdeen, Miss.), 06 June 1919. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress; Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “Air Station is a Detriment to Cocoanut Grove.” January 10, 1919; The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “The Naval Air Station.” January 10, 1919; The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “Metropolis is Scored by Hanan for Urging Air Station Removal.” January 17, 1919; Frederick J. Shaw, ed. Locating Air Force Base Sites: History’s Legacy. Washington D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, 2004, 14-6; Robert F. Dorr. “Dorr Field typified primary pilot training bases during WWII.” Air Force Times 67, no. 20 (December 4, 2006): 52. Supplemental Index, EBSCOhost (accessed October 23, 2016); Dorothy Stockbridge-Pratt. “Southwest Floridians supported war effort.” Sarasota Herald Tribune, 1999. General OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed November 28, 2016).

 

  1. Naples Daily News. “Obituaries – Everett R. Brewer.” January 25, 1982; Roxanne M. Kaufmann and Laurie Schmidt. 100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation: An Illustrated History. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2011, 39; Reginald Wright Arthur. Contact! Careers of Naval Aviators Assigned Numbers 1 to 2,000. Washington: Naval Aviator Register, 1967, 182, 233.

Bibliography:
Ancestry.com. U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Arthur, Reginald Wright. Contact! Careers of Naval Aviators Assigned Numbers 1 to 2,000. Washington: Naval Aviator Register, 1967.

Dorr, Robert F. “Dorr Field typified primary pilot training bases during WWII.” Air Force Times 67, no. 20 (December 4, 2006): 52. Supplemental Index, EBSCOhost (accessed October 23, 2016).

Emme, Eugene M., ed. The Impact of Air Power: National Security and World Politics. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1959.

“Capt. Geiger’s USMC Orders to Miami (Courtesy of the History Division, Marine Corps University, Quantico).” City of Miami Springs (FL). Accessed August 15, 2016. http://www.miamisprings-fl.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/community/page/19821/capt._geigers_orders_to_miami.pdf.

“Government buys 38 military camps.” The Aberdeen Weekly. (Aberdeen, Miss.), 06 June 1919. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86074011/1919-06-06/ed-1/seq-7/>

“History.” Accessed September 30, 2016. http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_key_west/about/history.html.

“History.” Accessed September 30, 2016. http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_pensacola/about/history.html.

Hudson, James J. Hostile Skies: A Combat History of the American Air Service in World War I. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1996.

Kaufmann, Roxanne M., and Laurie Schmidt. 100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation: An Illustrated History. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2011.

“Marie Osborne at Columbia Matinee.” Arizona Republican. (Phoenix, Ariz.), 21 Jul. 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

“Marine Corps Film at Rivoli Thrills.” The Sun. (New York [N.Y.]), 24 June 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-06-24/ed-1/seq-7/>

McCarthy, Kevin M. and William L Trotter. Aviation in Florida. 1st ed. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 2003.

McClellan, Edwin North. The United States Marine Corps in the World War. 2014.

McGuire, Raymond G. “Chapman Field: The Evolution of a South Dade Army Airdrome.” Tequesta 61, (January 2001): 58-85. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 24, 2016).

Melnick, Ross. American Showman: Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908-1935. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.

Morris, Charles L. “Letters from Soldiers.” States-Graphic (Brownsville, TN), Sep. 6, 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89058012/1918-09-06/ed-1/seq-1/

Naples Daily News. “Obituaries – Everett R. Brewer.” January 25, 1982.

“Official Declarations of War by Congress.” Accessed November 24, 2016. http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/h_multi_sections_and_teasers/WarDeclarationsbyCongress.htm.

Ridings, Amanda S. “Wings Over Miami.” Historical Association of Southern Florida. Update 12, no. 4 (October 1985): 6-12. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed November 30, 2016).

Shaw, Frederick J., ed. Locating Air Force Base Sites: History’s Legacy. Washington D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, 2004.

“Stadenburg – Google Maps.” Accessed November 28, 2016. https://www.google.com/maps/@50.96258,0.7559491,7z.

Stockbridge-Pratt, Dorothy. “Southwest Floridians supported war effort.” Sarasota Herald Tribune, 1999. General OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed November 28, 2016).

Swanson, Robert D. Domestic United States Military Facilities of the First World War (1917-1919) – A Postal History. Wailuku, HI: Privately published, 2001.

The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “Air Station is a Detriment to Cocoanut Grove.” January 10, 1919.

The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “The Naval Air Station.” January 10, 1919.

The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “Metropolis is Scored by Hanan for Urging Air Station Removal.” January 17, 1919.

“They Taught the World to Fly! Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina.” Accessed November 24, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm.

The Chattanooga News. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) “New Aviation Field Named for Benjamin Hiestand, Instructor.” August 8, 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038531/1918-08-08/ed-1/seq-1/>

The Denison Review (Denison, Iowa). “Location of the Cantonments: List of Different Army Cantonments, Forts, Aviation Fields, Etc., and Where They Are Located.” July 31, 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

The Weekly Miami Metropolis (Miami, FL) “Miami Aviation School in Government Plan to Train Efficient Corps.” January 12, 1917.

Tierney, Elizabeth L. “A Brief History of Marine Corps Aviation.” July 13, 1963. Accessed August 29, 2016. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmchist/aviation.txt.

Trimble, William F. Hero of the Air. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010.

“U.S. Marines to Have Part in Flying Game.” Evening Star. (Washington, D.C.), 29 July 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

Workman, Robert B. Float Planes & Flying Boats: The U.S. Coast Guard and Early Naval Aviation. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012.

Thomas Edison in the Great War

Posted on

Entry Composed by Andrew Ortiz

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was an inventor and businessman. Edison is well known for developing many devices such as the phonograph, the long-lasting light bulb, and the motion picture camera. During the Great War, Edison was interviewed by the New York Times about his thoughts on the War. He called for preparedness in case America was dragged into the war in Europe. After the interview was published, Edison was personally called upon by the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, to serve as the head of the newly created Naval Consulting Board (NCB) in 1915. This committee would be of American businessmen and inventors from all engineering branches of study, as well as educated volunteers and machinists, to help America with the upcoming war effort. The NCB would not only look over ideas submitted to the military, but it’s members conducted its own experiments and implemented ideas. It should be noted that although it was the NCB, the department of Army also requested aid for ideas and experiments.

Edison already a veteran of helping the Navy during the Spanish-American War, dropped his research and experiments to aid his country. As the chairman of the NCB and one who took pride in hands on work, Edison worked from 1917-1919 in Key West, FL, Washington D.C., West Orange, NJ, and overseas on the USS Sachem, a Naval ship used to help conduct sea experiments. During his two years serving the United States military, Edison developed and created over 49 ideas, prototypes, and devices to advance current technology such as airplanes, ships, submarines, and weapons; as well as to help aid American military personal. Here are some of the ideas and experiments that Edison worked on during his time with the NCB. After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by unrestricted submarine warfare by German U-boats, the biggest problem became that of detecting and avoiding submarines for US ships. Edison developed a device of detecting submarine by sounds from a moving vessel, it would be able to hear a torpedo from up to 5,000 yards away. With connection of detecting a torpedo, Edison developed an idea for quick turning ships using sea anchors to quickly turn the ship 90 degrees, it worked well with small ships, but large ships tended to come to a complete stop. Another idea, more strategic, was to only send out ships at night to reduce their visibility, as well as smudging sky lines or smokescreens, zig-zag maneuvers, and camouflaging ships. Other ideas including a strategy for navigating ships out of mined harbors by enemy mine layers using friendly subs to help ships navigate and avoid the moines. A steel net was developed with junction of detecting incoming torpedoes, which would be released to slow the torpedo down enough to miss the ship. An underwear searchlight was developed to help destroyers track and find U-boats, as well as an oleum cloud shell which would be fired at the U-boat to obstruct its visibility letting merchant ships escapes and destroyers to close in for a kill.

To aid destroyers, Edison devised a water-penetrating projectile that would not ricochet off the water and continue smoothly through the water to reach U-boats. When it came to our Naval submarines, Edison brought forth ideas about submarine stabilization, hydrogen detectors that would alert of explosions by enemy torpedoes, as well as a gas mask to protect sailors who were at observing posts to keep watch for U-boats but were constantly breathing in warship fumes. When it came to warships, Edison proposed ideas to extinguish coal fires safely from within the ship, as well as a telephone system for ships that could contact other ships. A direction finder for incoming enemy airplanes. Sound ranging device that would predict the direction and distance of enemy guns. For the department of the Army, Edison was asked to create an artillery shell that would burst in midair to cause more damage to enemy troops or positions. These are just some of the significant ideas and experiments that Edison worked on while he did his patriotic duty to his country as chairmen of the Naval Consulting Board.

Bibliography

Alvarado, Rudolph Valier V. The Life and Work of Thomas Edison. (New York City: Alpha Books, 2001).

“Detailed Biography – the Edison Papers.” Accessed December 3, 2016. http://edison.rutgers.edu/bio-long.htm.

Daniels, Josephus, letter to Thomas A. Edison, July 7, 1915. Rutgers: The Thomas Edison Papers, (MF01; TAEM 278:7).

Marshall, Edward. “Edison’s Plan for Preparedness: The Inventor Tells How We Could Be made Invincible in War Without Overburdening Ourselves with Taxation.” New York Times, May 30, 1915. ProQuest Historical Newspapers (97783472).

Meadowcroft, William Henry. Lists and Inventories of Thomas Alva Edison. Supplied 1919. Retrieved from Rutgers: The Thomas Edison Paper, (X128C00B; TAEM 0:0).

Miles, Paul L. The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Anne Cipriano Venzon. New York: Garland Publishing, 1999.

“President Favors Amble Defense: Whole Nation Convinced We Should Be Properly Prepared, He Tells Inventions Board.” New York Times, October 7, 1915. ProQuest Historical Newspapers (97715293).

Scott, Lloyd. Naval Consulting Board of the United States. (Washington, D.C., Washington Government Printing Office, 1920).

Image Credit: Thomas A. Edison at Key West navy base during World War I. Between 1914 and 1918. Black & white photoprint, 8 x 10 in. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/28559>, accessed 11 January 2017.