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The 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy

WWII - D-Day, The Invasion of Normandy

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Jacqueline Cochran & the Women's Air force Service Pilots (WASPs)

The 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy

In the summer of 1919, a young Lieutenant Colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower participated in the first Army transcontinental motor convoy.  The expedition consisted of eighty-one motorized Army vehicles that crossed the United States from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, a venture covering a distance of 3,251 miles in 62 days.  The expedition was manned by 24 officers and 258 enlisted men.  The convoy was to test the mobility of the military during wartime conditions.  As an observer for the War Department, Lt. Col. Eisenhower learned first-hand of the difficulties faced in travelling great distances on roads that were impassable, and that resulted in frequent breakdowns of the military vehicles.  These early experiences influenced his later decisions concerning the building of the interstate highway system during his presidential administration.

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Primary documents relevant to this topic:

Commemorative Program, A California Dinner in Honor of the Officers and Men of the First Transcontinental Convoy of Motor Transport Corps, July 7 - September 7, 1919
 Commemorative Program July 7Sept71919pg1
 Commemorative Program July 7Sept71919pg2
 Commemorative Program July 7Sept71919pg3
 Commemorative Program July 7 Sept71919pg4
 Commemorative Program July 7Sept71919pg5
 Commemorative Program July 7Sept71919pg6

Memorandum from Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Chief, Motor Transport Corps with attached report on the Trans-Continental Trip, November 3, 1919.
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319cover
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg1
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg2
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg3
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg4
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg5
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg6
 DDEToChiefMotorTransportCorp110319pg7

Report, "Principal Facts Concerning the First Transcontinental Army Motor Transport Expedition, Washington to San Francisco, July 7 to September 6, 1919.  [Includes one photograph]
  PrincipalFactsConcerningFirstTranscontinental Expeditionpg1
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg 2
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg 3
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg 4
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg 5
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg6
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg7
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg8
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg9
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg10
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg11
 Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg12
 70-520-2 (photograph)
Principal Facts Concerning First Transcontinental Expedition-----pg13

Report, from 1st Lt. E.R. Jackson, Ordnance Observer, to Col. L.B. Moody, Ordnance Department, USA, Tank, Tractor & Trailer Division, "Report on First Transcontinental Motor Convoy," October 31, 1919.
 103119pg1
 103119pg2
 103119pg3
 103119pg4
 103119pg5
 103119pg6
 103119pg7
 103119pg8
 103119pg9
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 103119pg11
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 103119pg24 
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 103119pg28 
 103119pg29 
 103119pg30 

"Daily Log of the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy, Washington, DC to San Francisco, Cal., July 7th to Sept. 6th, 1919"
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg1 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg2 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg3 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg4 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg5 
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 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg7 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg8 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg9 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg10 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg11 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg12 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg13 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg14 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg15 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg16 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg17 
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 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg19 
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 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg21 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg22 
 Dailylogjuly7sept61915pg23 

For photographs of the 1919 convoy, please see:
 70-520-1 
 70-520-4 
 70-520-3 
 70-520-5 

Secondary sources on this topic include:

"Ike and 'The Great Truck Train'--1919" by John E. Wickman, Kansas History, Volume 13, August 1990, Number 3, page 139.

"Ike's Road Trip" by Kevin L. Cook, The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Spring 2001, pp 68-74.
 

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