Warren Harding – Historical Lense

I was catching up with a friend who lives in LA a few days ago. Talked about our kids and grandchildren, our work, new books, etc. Then she told me that she’s seriously thinking of selling her part of her business to her partner and moving back to Iowa where she grew up and where most of her family still lives. Why??? She said that she’d reached her limit about two weeks ago when she saw Union Pacific trains stopped on their way to the LA rail yards. They were being plundered by coordinated groups of gangs. And not just a few cars. Ninety rail cars a day. Apparently members of the gangs use bolt cutters to open the cars, grab all the packages and take whatever they want–everything from medicine and high-end electronics to books and toys–leaving masses of garbage everywhere. The Union Pacific has begged for help from the city with no results. At this point, the Union Pacific is seriously considering moving their trains out of LA. This isn’t the first time there has been troubles on the trains, but when that happened they found a swift way to fix it. They called in the Marines!

Marines guarding the US mail in the 1920s

The “Roaring Twenties” were more than Flappers, Speak Easies and rumble seats. It was a time of Al Capone, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and bank robberies. In those days, money was moved by truck and train via the Post Office. Between April 1920 and April 1921, $6.3 million dollars were stolen from the USPS. The Post Office tried to arm members of the USPS, with minimal success. Between April and October 1921, another $300,000 were stolen, with several post office workers killed. Postmaster General William Hays asked President Warren Harding for help from the Marines. Harding approved the request and Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby immediately authorizes a contingent of Marines to guard main Post Offices, transfer stations, truck and trains.

Initially, 53 officers and 2,200 enlisted personnel were divided between the eastern and western zones in the US. Armed with standard M1911 pistols, the famous M1903 Springfield rifles, Thompson submachine guns and a few trench guns, their orders were basically to do whatever they needed to do so that the mail would get through. It took just four months for the Marines to have things in hand. (No one who had learned about the Marines on the Western Front during the Great War wanted to take on the Devil Dogs.) Marines returned to their normal duty in the spring of 1922.

Unfortunately, not everyone got the memo. 0n October 15, 1926, thugs attacked and killed a mail truck driver, wounded his helper and carried away $160,000 in broad daylight in Elizabeth, NJ. The current Postmaster General, Harry New, asked President Calvin Coolidge for help. Coolidge had Secretary of the Navy Curtis Wilbur call on the Marines to guard Post Office cars, trucks carrying registered mail and all major railroad and postal facilities until the Post Office itself could organize its own proper Postal Police force.

The Marines took up their duties on October 21. BGen. Logan Feland, USMC, commander of the Marine Barracks at Quantico, directed the Eastern Region. BGen. Smedley Butler, based in California, commanded the Western Region which reached as far East as North Dakota, Colorado and El Paso, TX. It included 40,000 miles of railroad track and twenty-eight major post offices. The Marines carried .45 automatics, 12-gauge shotguns and Thompson submachine guns, and were expected to “shot first and ask questions afterward.” That ended the problem. By the end of February 1927, the last of the Marines had returned to their bases. They had seen no action, but it had bought the Post Office some time to set up proper security.

Right now, the Union Pacific has a very small number of security to deal with the current situation. I wonder what would happen if the Marines took over the mess in Los Angeles for a few months.🤔

One of the tragedies of war is the death of so many soldiers and sailors. Even worse is the fact that there are so many who are unknown. Going back to the Peloponnesian War, there have been monuments for soldiers who remained unknown. In many wars, large numbers were buried in mass graves, often with monuments with the appropriate dates. Things changed during World War I.

At that time, most nations started requiring their men to wear ”dog tags” of some sort. (The Americans tags were made of aluminum and literally held the person’s name, rank and serial number.) The armies also set up new units which would keep track of those who had died. (Graves Registration Services in the US) At the end of the war, many of the deceased were re-interned in their own nation. However, there were so many who had died during the war, that it would have been impossible to repatriate everyone. Many families decided to allow their service member to remain with their brothers-in-arms and are buried in national cemeteries in France.

In 1920, Great Britain brought one of the Unknown Soldiers home and solemnly re-interned the soldier in Westminster Abby. Similarly, an Unknown Soldier is guarded at the base of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In early 1921, Hamilton Fish, Jr., a World War I veteran and member of Congress offered legislation ”To bring home the body of an unknown American warrior who in himself represents no section, creed or race in the late war and who typifies moreover, the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic deeds.” The legislation passed, and it was decided that the Soldier would be placed in a tomb in Arlington National Cemetery.

Work began on the tomb that spring, and in October, 1921, four bodies of unknown soldiers were exhumed from four different cemeteries in France. On the 23th they arrived at Chalon-sur-Marne. The following day, Maj. Robert Harbord, USA, with a group of French and US soldiers, placed each casket on top of a shipping case. The Major then asked Sgt. Edward F. Younger to select one of the men. Younger walked gravely around the four caskets several times, then stopped and put a spray of white roses on one. The others were returned to the cemeteries they had left, while the fourth casket was placed in its shipping case and was moved on a caisson, and later by train, to the port of La Havre. From there it boarded the USS Olympia bound for the US.

Unknown Soldier from World War I being taken from the USS Olympia at the Washington Navy Yard and transported to the US Capitol to lay in state. On November 11, 1921 the body was intered at Arlington National Cemetery (photographed by E.B. Thompson) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcplcommons/3423377913/ http://www.flickr.com/people/dcplcommons/ District of Columbia Public Library

The Olympia arrived at Washington D.C. on November 9th. From there the coffin moved to the Capital where it lay in state at the Capital Rotunda. Over 90,000 people paid their respect on the 10th. The following day, the Unknown Soldier was placed on another horse-drawn caisson and slowly wended its way through Washington, D.C., crossed the Potomac, and moved on to the Arlington National Cemetery. President Warren G. Harding presided at the state funeral at the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater which included the two minutes of silence to commemorate the end of the War (Known as Armistice day–the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.)

Soldiers from Ft. Myers began guarding the Tomb in March 1926. They only did so during the day to make sure that family members didn’t become distraught, and that others remained respectful. In 1937 soldiers began guarding the Tomb 24/7, and in 1948 the 3d US Infantry Regiment, known as the ”Old Guard” took charge of the Tomb. Since then, the US has added men from both World War II and the Korean War to the Tomb. It can be the dead of night, in blazing sun or two feet of snow, the Old Guard is on duty.

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Thursday, November 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Solder—Never Forget!

Historical Lense

Tag: Warren Harding

🚃 Send in the Marines 🚃

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 1921-2021