WW1 US ARMY 321st FIRE TRUCK & HOSE Co UNIFORM WWI

Stellar WW1 US Army 321st Fire Truck & Hose Co. uniform with Campaign Hat with Dog Tags. Uniform has an ultra rare patch identified as the 321st Fire Truck & Hose Co. Uniform is in excellent condition having US and Quartermaster collar disk to the collar with a red discharge stripe and two Gold overseas stripes. Dog Tags are named to Walter R. Fimple USA 781394. The campaign hat like the uniform is in excellent condition complete with hat cord and also bears his initials. Excellent Walter R. Fimple was an employee of the Chicago Telephone Co. did not become part of the Signal Corps Telegraph battalions. He was inducted into the US Army on 11/29/17 and was discharged on 7/21/19. We was sent overseas as a part of the QMC 321st Fire Truck & Hose Co., which was attached to the SOS Base Section #2 as a detachment. He was with the 321st from 3/11/18 to 6/1/19. The 321st served at St. Sulpice, France just east of Bordeaux, one of the major AEF ports. St. Sulpice was a major storage depot and railroad center, also home to the US 66th Camp Hospital. By war's end, Boreaux was the major port of entry for AEF supplies; fire protection was a significant need there. Built by the 18th Engineers. When mustered out of service in July of1919, Fimple was at Mitchell Field on Long Island, a member of what the base called the "Bordeaux Special Casual Co. #1525," which helps to confirm his AEF assignment. With war on the horizon in Europe and only a small standing Army, Congress enacted the draft and federalized the National Guard. With thousands of men being drafted, sixteen training camps for the National Army and a like amount for the National Guard were constructed. In addition, other facilities, depots, airfields and staging areas would be needed. Modernization of existing Army forts would also take place. With construction underway, the Quartermaster Corps soon realized the great danger from fire in the hundreds of wooden buildings and made provisions for camp fire departments. Fire stations were constructed in troop housing areas, warehouse storage areas and at the camp hospital. The stations were one story, had single or double bays with living quarters for the firefighters located to the rear of the building. The Army established two types of military fire fighting companies to provide fire protection at its installations during the war. " Fire Truck and Hose Companies" were formed at National Army and National Guard cantonments and other important facilities. The soldiers of these companies had but one duty, to man the fire stations and fire apparatus at the cantonments. "Guard and Fire Companies" were established at smaller Army installations, depots and storage areas. These units provided both fire protection and security at the facility. At most camps, a civilian fire department was formed to provide fire protection during the construction of the installation. Fire apparatus used by this department was often purchased from nearby fire departments or apparatus that had already been delivered to the camp by the QMC. Once the fire stations were built and the camp fire department organized, the civilian department was disbanded. In many cases, the civilian fire chief during construction was offered a commission in the Army to stay on and head the operation of the camp fire department. At Camp Upton, NY, a battalion chief, loaned by the City of New York, was commissioned and made Camp Fire Chief. He directed a force of forty-two soldiers, all former New York City firefighters. Organization of the camp fire department started with the appointment of a Fire Marshal by the Camp Commander. Fire Marshals held the rank of Captain or 1st Lieutenant. Officers with some background in fire fighting were often chosen to head the camp fire department. Firefighters were drafted from units within the camp and assigned to the department. As with Fire Marshals, doughboys with experience in big city fire departments were chosen to help fill the ranks. A Sergeant First Class was in charge of each fire station with a Private First Class acting as driver of the equipment. Army privates made up the force of firefighters. The Quartermaster Corps was in charge of purchasing fire apparatus used by the US Army during WWI. Equipment was produced by several manufactures. American LaFrance delivered over 200 fire engines of several types and Howe produced over 160 fire trucks built on the Ford Model T chassis. Ahrens-Fox delivered some 18 rigs for the war effort and Seagrave produced 12. White and Brockway also delivered rigs to the Army. Some fire equipment used by camp fire departments was home built. Fort Meade had on it's roster an Indian motorcycle with sidecar. During the war some camps had horse drawn fire equipment on their rosters. Many of the American LaFrance and Ford-Howe fire trucks saw service in France during the war. These rigs were manned by Doughboy firefighters which were deployed from stateside camps. The Army also used fire engines that were procured from French fire departments. As a means of reporting fires at stateside camps, telephone call boxes were mounted on telephone poles throughout the camp. These phones were tied directly to the Headquarters fire station where a watch was maintained 24 hours a day. Automatic alarms from warehouse sprinkler systems also fed into fire headquarters. Many camps also maintained an alarm system between fire stations for prompt dispatch of equipment. When the war ended, the military fire fighting companies were demobilized and the operation of the camp fire departments came under the control of the Post Engineer at each facility. Civilian firefighters took the place of the military personnel at many camps while others maintained combined crews of civilian and military. Some camps, such as Camp Meade maintained military firefighters until the start of World War II.