First Lieutenant Erich Wellington’s Officer Identity Card. It is written that he was a member of Company B, 52nd Ammunition Train, which was later crossed out in blue ink pen and written 61st Art.
The essential duties of an Ammunition Train was supply Army Artillery Regiments on the front lines with ammunition. The Ammunition train consisted of 4 truck companies of 28 trucks each, and a headquarters Company. Ammunition would be hauled from a rail head and offloaded onto the trucks and transported to forward ammunition dumps near an artillery regiments firing position. The 52nd was a Coast Artillery Corps unit and was formed in February of 1918 at Fort MacArthur in California.
Fort MacArthur is located near San Pedro, in Los Angeles County, California. Once orders were issued by the War Department the 52nd Ammunition Train began to form from Coast Artillery men already in the Coast Artillery and newly enlisted men. By May of 1918 the 52nd was at war time strength and had orders to sail to France. That same month they were moved to Camp Merritt, New Jersey for final preparations before sailing to France.
Orders came and the 52nd was loaded aboard the USS Von Stuben on May 26, 1918. That day 14 officers and 374 enlisted men went aboard the Von Stuben. The Commanding officer of the 52nd was Major Norris King Davis. The other officers of the 52nd were:
1st Lt. Ellisworth Young, HA Company
1st Lt. Charles Glenn Baird, Medical Detachment
Captain George Humes Reaney, Co. A
1st Lt. Albert Brooks Cox, Co. A
2nd Lt. Alva Richards Irish, Co. A
1st Lt. Erich Wellington, Co. B
2nd Lt. Harvey Geer Wood, Co. B
Captain Carl Lee Mariott, Co. C
1st Lt. Samuel Price Connell, Co. C
2nd Lt. Milton Sylvester Blackwelr, Co. C
Captain Leonidas Whitehead Stampley, Co. D
1st Lt. John Mead Silkman, Co. D
1st Lt. Harry Innes Borden, Co. D
At 10:30 pm on May 26, the Von Stuben began loading the 58 officers and 1,555 enlisted men she would carry across on this voyage, and by 15-minutes past noon, they were all aboard. Loading of material continued the rest of the afternoon, and at 6:30 that evening the Von Stuben pulled away from the No. 5 Pier in the North River in Hoboken, NJ.
Once in France the 52nd Am Tn began its work of hauling ammunition of all types up to the front lines. Usually they worked closely with the 1st Army Artillery park, and the other two CAC Ammunition trains, which were the 51st and 53rd Ammunition Trains.
Beginning on September 21, 1918 during the Muse-Argonne Operations the 52nd Am Tn hauled ammunition in support for Corps Artillery units supporting the V Army Corps. These were the 55th, 56th, and 57th Artillery, CAC regiments that were then on the front lines. These three regiments all used the 155mm GPF guns. Also on the front at that time was the 59th Artillery using the 8-inch Howitzers, the 65th Artillery using the 9.2-inch, and the 146th Field Artillery using 155mm GPF and the 147th Field Artillery firing the 75mm guns. And the 116th Trench Mortar battery was also on the front with them.
Also during the same time, they haul ammunition for the artillery units supporting the 1st Army operations during the Muse-Argonne Operations, at the same time they hauled for the V Army Corps artillery regiments. The regiments under the 1st Army Artillery were the 52nd Artillery CAC firing big 320mm guns.
At wars end Major Otis A. Wallace was then the commanding officer of the 52nd Am Tn. Once the war had ended the 52nd made thier way back to Brest, France ready to return to the States. On January 14, 1919, they boarded the USS Orizaba, along with sick and wounded men to make the return trip back home. On January 23 they reached Hoboken, New Jersey, going to Camp Merritt. From there the 52nd Am Tn traveled back to Fort MacArthur and was demobilized there during the month of february, 1919.
Pvt. Samuel Sandlovich was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on September 15, 1893 to Gertrude and David Sandlovich. Samuel enlisted into the Army on December 15, 1917 serving in the Coast Artillery Corps. He sailed in a replacement detachment from Ft. Winfield Scott, California aboard the USS Saxon on June 28, 1918 from New York to Brest, France. Once in France he joined the 52nd Ammuntion Train and served with them during the Muse-Argonne Operations. He returned on the USS Orizaba with the 52nd on January 14, 1919, and was Honorably Discharged on February 7, 1919.
In April of 1917 when America declared war with Germany, the American Army was ill equipped in both men and material to fight a war on the European Continent. And as such the top brass at the War Department knew the ranks of the undermanned Army would soon be swelling to a million men or more. And they also knew that they would have a shortage of qualified officers to lead the vast amounts of new recruits into this new Army. The Army saw that they would have a steady supply of men who were in college at the time who could be called upon to become officer candidates and be trained rather quickly. Once such man was named Erich Wellington who in the spring of 1917 was then attending Tulane University in New Orleans, LA.
Erich Wellington was born in Houston, Texas on September 23, 1894 to Meta and John A. Wellington. Living in Houston, John Wellington worked as a sales representative for Sharp and Dohme, a drug company from Baltimore, Maryland. John’s sales territory was all of the Southwest States. John’s earnings enabled the family to employ a servant, which was common among middle class families in the South at that time. John and Meta had three sons George Louis, John’s son from a previous marriage, Erich and Winfield.
Sometime between 1900 and 1910 the Wellington family moved from Texas to New Orleans. The Wellington home was located at 1938 Octavia Street, which was a short distance south east from Tulane University. The home still stands today and is located on the south west corner of Octavia Street and Loyola Ave.
Erich Wellington would have spent his high school years in the New Orleans area. After graduating from high school, Erich applied and was accepted to Tulane University in New Orleans to study architectural engineering.
Erich graduated from Tulane early so he could attend Officers Candidate School at Ft. Logan H. Roots in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Erich Wellington was entered into the First Officers Candidate School, that was to begin on May 10, 1917. Just over a month after Erich was in school his father, John A. Wellington, passed away, leaving his mother who was in poor health to care for the family and his younger brother Winfield. So, Erich Wellington asked the Company Commander at Ft. Roots, to allow him to be discharged provided that he could be in the second OTC class, so that he could go home and take care of the urgent family needs. The Company Commander agreed to this and Erich was discharged on July 23, and went home to take care of the family.
Once the needs at home were taken care of Erich Wellington again enrolled in the OTC school, this time at Leon Springs, Texas on August 26, 1917. He graduated and was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Reserve Corps on November 27, 1917 at Ft. Winfield Scott, at the Presidio of San Francisco, California.
As America was tooling up for the big fight in France, the Coast Artillery Corps all across America, was forming new units that would go to France and become American’s spearhead that would be thrust into the fight. In February of 1918 at Fort MacArthur, California a new unit known as the 52nd Ammunition Train was forming. The essential duties of this unit would be to handle shell and powder for the American Artillery units that would also be forming at the same time. First Lt. Wellington was then detailed for duty with Company B, 52nd Ammunition Train, and he reported for duty early in February. Once the 52nd was at war time strength they were moved from the West Coast to Camp Merritt, New Jersey in preparation to sailing to France. On May 26, 1918, they were loaded aboard the auxiliary cruiser, which was a passenger liner, the USS Von Stuben then at the docks in Hoboken, NJ. 14 officers and 374 enlisted men, along with other army personnel were boarded. The Von Stuben sailed in convoy with 15 other troopships, they were the USS America, USS Mongolia, USS Mercury, SS Karoa, USS Huron, USS Tenadores, USS Siboney, USS Henry R. Mallory, SS Ulna, USS President Lincoln, SS Talthybius, SS Ajax, SS Burma, SS Arawa, and SS City of Peena. This was to be one of the largest convoys to date that the American’s had sent across in the war.
Once in France the Coast Artillery Corps began to plan out how it would conduct its self and underwent an almost daily transformation. As such 1st Lt. Wellington did not remain with the 52ndnAmmunition Train.
Back in Newport News, Virginia the 61st Artillery Regiment, CAC, was then loaded aboard the SS Wilhelminia on July 18, 1918 and arrived in France on July 30, 1918. It is a known fact the Lt. Wellington was serving with the Headquarters Company of the 61st Artillery at war’s end so it can be assumed that he joined the regiment sometime after July 30 when they arrived in France. The 61st began their training but by the time they were ready for the front lines the war was over. Both the 61st and 62nd Regiments used the 6-inch seacoast guns that were removed from Coast Artillery fixed mounts from the United States and also spares from the U. S. Navy. These guns had special mobile mounts made for them and were quite crude and this made for a gun that was very unhandy to aim and fire.
In mid-January 1919, the 61st Artillery was moved to Marseilles, France on the southern Mediterranean coast in preparation to sailing back home. There they awaited a ship that would take them home. On January 30, the entire regiment was loaded aboard the Italian passenger liner SS Dante Alighieri and steamed out to Gibraltar where the ship waited for coal. Once re-coaled they headed out westbound for America and arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, with their final destination to Camp Upton where they would be demobilized and the men discharged.
Erich Wellington was Honorably Discharged from the Army on February 28, 1919, and returned Texas to live with his mother, Meta and his youngest brother Winfield. Erich, within a short time after the war, had moved out to Southern California, in late 1919. Erich had taken a job as an Architectural Engineer in Los Angeles, CA. He also took his mother and younger brother with him. By 1923 Erich had returned back to Houston, Texas and there he met Meriel Day Sherwood, who was a local Houston girl, and they fell in love, and were married on December 29, 1923.
In 1930, Erich and Meriel with their son Frederick Sherwood, who was born on September 9, 1927, along with Erich’s mother and brother, were living in Berkeley, California on Euclid Avenue. At the time Erich was still working as an architect, and his brother Winfield was also working for an architectural firm which was likely the same firm Erich was working with. On the 1930 Federal Census form it was noted that both Erich and Winfield had served during the First World War, but family history states that Winfield was not accepted due to his flat feet.
By 1940 the Wellington family was still in the Berkeley area, now living at No. 98 Codornices Road. Erich at the time was working for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers as a structural Engineer. In the home with Meriel and Frederick was their daughter Jennifer Jane who was born in 1931. Also living with them were Meriel’s mother Marie Sherwood who was a 64-year old widow, and Meriel’s 30-year old brother Byrne who was single and worked as a clerk for an oil drum manufacturer.
In 1934 Erich served as the vice-chairman for a survey taken on behalf of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. This survey was to determine the living conditions on farms in rural California and to determine what employment was held during the winter months.
Throughout his life Erich was an avid sportsman, with a keen love for fishing and hunting. In 1935 Erich was elected as the President of the Berkeley Rod and Gun Club. And in 1936 was elected to serve as chairman of District Council No. 3 of the Associated Sportsmen of California.
Erich would work as a civil engineer for the Corps of Engineers, San Francisco office, until his retirement in 1963. Erich Wellington would pass away on July 18, 1972 in Greenbrae, California.
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First Lieutenant Erich Wellington’s Officer Identity Card. It is written that he was a member of Company B, 52nd Ammunition Train, which was later crossed out in blue ink pen and written 61st Art. |
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