From Cavalry to Tanks: George S. Patton Jr.

Cavalry descending a bluff to the beach at Fort Sheridan with photographers documenting their training. Circa 1925. Fort Sheridan Collection, Bess Bower Dunn Museum 92.24.2658

The most famous cavalry officer to be stationed at Fort Sheridan was George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945). Though the cavalryman-turned-tanker had a relatively brief stay at the Fort from 1909 to 1911, he made an indelible impression on all who encountered him. 

The U.S. Army post at Fort Sheridan (est. 1887) became known as a cavalry post with the arrival of the 7th Cavalry in 1892. 

The Fort's unique terrain was a welcome challenge for cavalry training. Cavalrymen tested their own and their horses' skills by descending the bluffs to the sandy beach, and traversing acres of uneven ground. 

After graduating from West Point in June 1909, a 24-year-old George S. Patton Jr. took a commission as a 2^nd lieutenant with the 15^th Cavalry and was stationed at Fort Sheridan near Highland Park in Lake County, Illinois. 

15th Cavalry officer, George S. Patton Jr., at Fort Sheridan, circa 1910. Fort Sheridan Collection, Bess Bower Dunn Museum 92.24.1966.

Partial lists of "officers present and absent" at Fort Sheridan, September 1909. George S. Patton Jr. (#52) is noted as having returned from leave on September 12. Ancestry.com. Returns From U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916. Original data from National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 94.

On May 26, 1910, Patton married his childhood friend and sweetheart, Beatrice Banning Ayer of Boston, Massachusetts. 

Lt. George S. Patton Jr. and Beatrice Banning Ayer on their wedding day, May 26, 1910. WikiTree.com

Wedding details as published by the Boston Globe on May 27, 1910. Newspapers.com

After a month-long honeymoon, the newlyweds made their home at Fort Sheridan. The Boston Globe, May 27, 1910. Newspapers.com.

As a married officer, Patton was assigned to new quarters in Building 92 on Leonard Wood Avenue East. On March 19, 1911, the couple welcomed their first child, Beatrice Ayer Patton, who was born at Fort Sheridan. 

Building 92 on Leonard Wood Avenue East (north of Martin's Lane) where Cavalry officer, George S. Patton Jr., his wife Beatrice and baby daughter Beatrice lived on the north side of this duplex. Fort Sheridan Collection, Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 95.32.68. 

A story relayed by the Ray Family of Diamond Lake (near Mundelein) is that Patton would come for Harriet Rouse Ray's famous chicken dinners on Sundays at the Ray's Lakeside Cottage. Patton arrived on horseback and in uniform, of course.

According to biographer, Ladislas Farago, Patton and his wife were known at the Fort as the "Duke and Duchess." Patton was independently wealthy, and the couple enjoyed dressing up for dinner, driving expensive automobiles, and were both equestrians. Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1964. 

Lt. George S. Patton Jr. on the porch of his Army residence at Fort Sheridan (Building 92), circa 1910. Fort Sheridan Collection, Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 92.24.2020.

At Fort Sheridan, Patton impressed his superiors and was known as a hard-driving leader. 

In late 1911, he was transferred to Fort Myer, Virginia, where he would come to know many of the Army's senior leaders. 

Patton (right) fencing in the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm, Sweden. He finished fifth overall in the modern pentathlon.  Swedish Press photo, public domain. Wikipedia.

In 1917, Patton joined General John J. Pershing's staff for the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in World War I. While in France training American infantry troops, Patton became interested in tanks. His new military path quickly developed as he advocated for the development of a tank corps. When the 1st Tank Brigade was created, Patton was placed in charge. Along with British tankers, he and his men achieved victory at Cambrai, France, during the world's first major tank battle in Nov-Dec, 1917.

During World War II, Patton was the Army's leading strategist in tank warfare. He commanded the Western Task Force in the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, the Seventh Army during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and was given command of the Third Army in France in 1944. 

An imaginative, shrewd, and often undiplomatic military commander, Patton is remembered as one of the most brilliant and successful generals in United States history. While his military genius in tank warfare was put to the test on Europe's battlefields, Fort Sheridan will always be Patton-the-cavalryman's first Army post.

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

Fort Sheridan and the Impact of Chemical Warfare

During World War I (1914-1918), Fort Sheridan was at the forefront of mustering and training soldiers. Much of that training focused on mastering trench warfare, since the frontline in Europe was cluttered with the trenches of opposing armies.

As wounded soldiers returned from the war, the Fort shifted its priority from training soldiers to caring for them.

One of 78 hospital wards at Fort Sheridan, circa 1919. Dunn Museum 92.24.236

Many of the injuries treated at the Fort were caused by innovations new to warfare such as airplanes and poison gas. More than 30% of American casualties were from poisonous gases which ranged from disabling chemicals (tear gas and severe mustard gas) to lethal agents (phosgene and chlorine). Gases blistered exposed flesh and caused rapid or, worse, gradual asphyxiation. Those fortunate enough to survive needed somewhere to convalesce. 

The hospital at Fort Sheridan was built in 1893 and shown here circa 1930. Dunn Museum 92.24.1384

In 1918, the Post’s hospital expanded its operations and became General Hospital No. 28. Later it was dedicated as Lovell General Hospital for General Joseph Lovell (1788-1836), Surgeon General of the U.S. Army from 1818-1836.

Associated Press article which appeared in The Dispatch, Moline, Illinois on October 18, 1918.

The hospital grew into a multi-building complex, including the entire Tower complex. Temporary wooden structures were constructed on the Post’s parade grounds. This was the largest military hospital in the United States to treat wounded and convalescent soldiers.

View of Fort Sheridan looking northwest, showing the Tower and temporary

buildings for General Hospital No. 28 (later Lovell General Hospital) across the parade grounds.

Circa 1919. Dunn Museum 95.32.1

The "Trackless Train" at Fort Sheridan moved wounded between

hospital wards for treatment. Photo from the Chicago Tribune,

March 8, 1919.

Even with the Fort Sheridan hospital and other facilities throughout the country, there were more casualties than the system could handle. In addition to treating veterans of the war, Fort Sheridan's hospital accepted civilians suffering from the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918.

In 1919, the Hostess House of the Young Women's Christian Association was built at Fort Sheridan using

salvaged material. General Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the

Western Front in World War I, visited Fort Sheridan and the Hostess House in December 1919.

The facility provided a library and tea room which served homemade meals to convalescing soldiers. Dunn Museum 95.32.24.

Paul Steorp of Deerfield Township, Lake County, IL, wearing gas mask. Steorp 
served with the U.S. Army Ambulance Service. Dunn Museum 2003.0.16

The World War prompted an enormous expansion of the Army Medical Department. When the U.S. entered the war the department consisted of less than 1,000 personnel. By the time the peace treaty was signed in November 1918, it numbered over 350,000. 

In 1920, the temporary structures of Lovell General Hospital were dismantled and sold, and the parade field returned to an open state.

The memory of the horrors of WW I prompted changes in training soldiers for future conflicts, including mandatory gas mask training. 

2nd U.S. Infantry training in tear gas at Fort Sheridan,

circa 1925. Dunn Museum 92.24.1015.

Soldiers entering a gas chamber built on the Fort's Lake Michigan

shoreline. Circa 1935. Dunn Museum 92.24.1761.

Overseas during wartime, military personnel, nurses and civilians were legally required to carry gas masks at all times. Members of the Womens' Army Corps trained in the use of gas masks in simulation chambers as part of their coursework on chemical warfare and some studied gas identification in Officer Candidate School.

Women's Army Corps members emerging from gas chamber training

at Fort Sheridan, 1964. Dunn Museum 92.24.1202

To this day, researchers work to increase protection for military personnel against greater varieties of biological and chemical weapons.

The Bess Bower Dunn Museum's (formerly the Lake County Discovery Museum) Fort Sheridan Collection is digitized and hosted online at the Illinois Digital Archives. 

King Peter II Returns to Yugoslavia

King Peter II of Yugoslavia. 

The remains of the only king to be buried in the United States were repatriated from Libertyville to Serbia this January. Peter II Karadordevic (1923 – 1970) was the third and last King of Yugoslavia.

In 1934, at 11-years old, Crown Prince Peter succeeded the Yugoslav throne on the assassination of his father, King Alexander. His father had been ruler of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1921 to 1929 when he became the first king of a united Yugoslavia.

Because of his youth, Peter II's great uncle, Prince Paul became Prince Regent. A schism formed when Prince Paul supported the fascist dictators of Europe while King Peter opposed them. King Peter supported a British backed coup d’etat in March 1941, which deposed Prince Paul.

The young king’s strong opposition to Nazi Germany, led to the Germans attacking Yugoslavia for three days and nights in Operation Punishment. Following the Axis invasion, the 17-year old Peter II and  members of the government fled the country. Peter II had to decide to join the anti-monarchist and revolutionary leader Josip Broz Tito against the Nazis, or maintain his government in exile. He chose the latter.

General Montgomery, Peter II, and Sir Winston Churchill in 1941.
 

Peter II settled in England in June 1941, where he joined other governments in exile from Nazi-occupied Europe. He completed his education at Cambridge University and joined the Royal Air Force, and was recognized by the government-in-exile as the Commander-in-Chief of Yugoslav forces.

The wedding of King Peter II of Yugoslavia and Princess Alexandra of Greece in London, England  on March 20, 1944.  On far left is King George VI of England. 

On April 8, 1941 President Roosevelt sent a message to Peter II: 

The people of the United States have been profoundly shocked by the unprovoked and ruthless aggression upon the people of Yugoslavia. The Government and people of the United States are witnessing with admiration the courageous self-defense of the Yugoslav people, which constitutes one more shining example of their traditional bravery.

As I have assured Your Majesty's Government, the United States will speedily furnish all material assistance possible in accordance with its existing statutes.

I send Your Majesty my most earnest hopes for a successful resistance to this criminal assault upon the independence and integrity of your country.

In 1945, the provisional government of Yugoslavia was led by Tito, and included representatives from the royalist government-in-exile. A post-war election was held to determine whether the country would continue as a monarchy or become a republic. In November 1945, Tito's pro-republican People's Front, led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, won the elections by a landslide, the monarchists having boycotted the vote.

Tito was confirmed as the Prime Minister, and on November 29, 1945, Peter II was formally deposed.

King Peter II refused to abdicate, and went into exile in Britain and the United States. In 1948, he arrived in Chicago, and stayed at the Drake Hotel. While in the Chicago area, he visited the monastery of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Libertyville.

For the most part, Peter II lived in California, but in 1959, he visited Waukegan, where he was greeted by the mayor and treated to a dinner of Lake Michigan trout, sturgeon and smoked chubs, which he called "most exquisite." 

Well-known fisherman and Mathon's restaurant owner, Mathon Kryitsis met Peter II in 1959.
The restaurant was located near the shore of Lake Michigan on E. Clayton.
Postcard  circa 1945 (Dunn Museum 92.27.305)

He also met Mathon Kyritsis, a well-known fisherman and restauranteur who for many years forecast the weather by gauging the depth at which perch were caught. 

In 1970, Peter II died at age 47 in Denver, Colorado, after a long struggle with chronic liver disease and an unsuccessful liver transplant.

The funeral of King Peter II of Yugoslavia on November 14, 1970
at St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox Monastery Church in Libertyville, Illinois.
News-Sun Collection, Bess Bower Dunn Museum. 

It was the monarch’s wish to be buried at St. Sava’s Serbian Orthodox Monastery Church in Libertyville, in order to be close to the thousands of Serbians living in the Chicago area. King Peter II's funeral in Libertyville drew more than 10,000 people.

In 1976, the king’s son came from Yugoslavia to visit the gravesite at St. Sava’s under police guard. In 2007, Crown Prince Alexander, declared his intent to rebury his father in Serbia.

January 22, 2013, ceremony in Royal Chapel dedicated to
St. Andrew the First Called (patron saint of the Serbian Royal family),
after the remains of Yugoslavia's last king, Peter II Karadjordjevic, were flown back to Belgrade.
The coffin is draped with the national flag. Photo Royalty Magazine Volume 22 No. 11

In January 2013, the long anticipated repatriation took place with a private ceremony at St. Sava in Libertyville. On January 22nd, the return of Peter II to his homeland marked another step in the country's reconciliation with its royal past. (above) 

A State Funeral will take place for HM Peter II, his wife HM Queen Alexandra, and his mother HM Queen Maria on May 26 at St. George's Church Oplenac, in the city of Topola, where the Royal Family Mausoleum is located. 

- D. Dretske, Curator

Sources: 
Royalty Magazine, Volume 22 No. 11, www.royalty-magazine.com
"Waukegan Has Ex-King Peter as Its Guest," Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1959. 
"The Sad Life of Peter II, and the Curious Disinterring of the King of Yugoslavia from Libertyville," Chicago Magazine, January 2013. 
News-Sun Collection, Bess Bower Dunn Museum, Libertyville, IL. 
Reference Files, Bess Bower Dunn Museum. 

Gordon Keith Ray and Pearl Harbor

I would like to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with the story of one Lake County soldier and his family.

It was on the evening of December 7, 1941, while the Ray family was having dinner in their Diamond Lake home, when the music on the radio broke with the news of Pearl Harbor. Their son, Gordon Keith, was stationed at Schofield Barracks not far from Pearl Harbor.

In the spring of 1941, Gordon Keith Ray (1919 - 2006), known as Keith, had finished his senior year at the University of Illinois and received a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. When he left home that July, his father Gordon, wrote in his diary: "this seemed like the end as we returned to an empty house, but Keith never let us down."

This photo of Keith on furlough was featured in "The Ray's" newsletter, May 1944.

Dunn Museum, Ray Collection, 96.1.56

At the end of August, Keith was told that he was being assigned to a new post. He wrote to his father: "I don't know when the boat will sail; they're keeping it secret."

Gordon wrote back: "I hope you don't have to go to Hawaii, but if you do, take it on the chin, and trusting God."

As fate would have it, Keith was sent to Hawaii. The Ray family was devastated to hear the news of the attack on that December evening.

Gordon wrote in his diary: "We could only wait for news to come, but the days passed and no news came. Everyone tried to console us by saying that 'no news is good news,' but it didn't satisfy our anxiety."

On December 16, the Rays sent a cablegram to Keith, but there was no reply. Three days later, the U.S. Government broadcasted on the radio that anyone who had not heard from the War Department should be assured their boys were O.K.

Still, the family prayed for news from Keith.

It was Monday, December 22 at 8:30 a.m. when Gordon and Marie Ray received a telegram from their son saying, "Am all right, why not?"

The same day they received a letter from Keith written on December 9:

"Dear Folks, I don't know when you will get this, but I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know that I'm still kicking. We seem to be in a war and are working 24 hours a day. I'm really doing things, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anything now. When I get home, I'll have some real stories to tell of air raids, blackouts, and defense work in the field. Lots of rumors, but not much war. Don't believe everything you hear from Washington or Tokyo. They both tell a lot of lies. Love, Keith."

Victory photo collage at the Ray Brothers' resort, 1943. 

Dunn Museum, Ray Collection, 96.1.51.

The Ray Brothers resort on Diamond Lake was a popular hang-out for picnics, dancing and the community to gather. In 1943, the "V" for Victory photo collage of local men who enlisted was displayed prominently at the resort.

On May 2, 1944, Keith came home from the war. He wasted no time filling up on Ray Brothers' hamburgers, shakes and pies.

December 5, 1944, almost three years to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, G. Keith Ray married Betty Gridley at the Gridley home in Libertyville. 

Betty and Gordon Keith in early 1945. 

Dunn Museum, Ray Collection, 96.1.61

Keith received an honorable discharge in October, 1945. He went on to become a professional engineer, and received international recognition as an authority on the design and construction of concrete pavements for roads and airport runways.

You can view the Dunn Museum's Ray Collections at our online host site, Illinois Digital Archives. Click on the links: Gordon Ray Photographs and The Rays Newsletters

Going to the Chapel

When planning an exhibition, the museum's collections staff consider which archival materials and objects will best tell the story, and often choose an item based on how recently it has been displayed.

For the current exhibition on World War II, "Keep 'Em Flying: How the Homefront Helped the Frontlines," staff wanted to feature at least one wedding dress. The exhibit was a great opportunity to showcase a beautiful dress from the museum's textile collection. In the end, two wedding dresses and a woman's Red Cross uniform jacket were chosen.

The exhibition's focus is to highlight a grant project digitizing tens of thousands of World War II images from the collections. The majority of the images are postcards made by the Curt Teich Company between 1941-1945. A selection of about 200 of these postcards are featured in the exhibition, along with Civilian Defense booklets, and photographs from Fort Sheridan.

Exhibiting textiles takes special preparation, and may require mending or steaming. Shown here is collections assistant, Deanna Tyler, steaming Marcelline Czernik's wedding dress with distilled water. The process took several hours in order to proceed with the utmost care, and to make the dress as presentable as it was on the wedding day. Note that Deanna is wearing a white cotton glove on the hand touching the dress. This prevents the transfer of oil from her hand onto the fabric.

Marcelline Czernik married her high school sweetheart, Chester Vasofsky, on January 22, 1944, as seen in their wedding photo below. The bride purchased an off-the-rack dress at the Globe Department Store in downtown Waukegan. With the war raging, it was the only style available.

After steaming, Marcelline's dress and veil were placed on a museum quality mannequin. Archival tissue was used to fill out the dress's shape. The dress is shown on display in the World War II exhibition (below).












As staff was preparing one dress for exhibition, another war-time bride's story came to light as a museum exhibits intern told of her grandmother's wedding dress made from a parachute. After inquiries, it was confirmed that the dress had a unique Lake County story to tell, and the family was willing to donate it to the museum's permanent collection. The timing was perfect to be included in the exhibition. The unique nylon dress (below) needed some steaming before being dressed on a mannequin and put on display.

Carol Rosalie Kirkpatrick (left) on her wedding day at the First Baptist Church in Waukegan, on September 6, 1947. Her dress was made from a parachute that her fiance, John Smelcer, sent home while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The white nylon parachute was fashioned into a bridal gown by the bride’s mother. It was fairly common for servicemen to send pieces of parachutes to loved ones back home, but rare to send the whole thing.

Both wedding dresses are on display through January, 2009.

(Since making this post, the exhibit's closing date has been changed to May 3, 2009).

Honoring Those Who Serve

From 1943 to 1946, Lloyd Ray of Diamond Lake, produced a homespun newsletter known as The Rays (cover of the September 1943 edition shown here). The large undertaking gave the community and Ray's close-knit, extended family a venue to keep in touch when so many were so far from home. The newsletter re-printed letters from servicemen and women, and featured news of the area, including wedding announcements. Lloyd's cousin, Fern Ray Gover, created most of the illustrations that brought the newsletter to life.

One of the letters printed in The Rays, was written by Private William "Bill" Whitney: "Someone has got to fight this war, and while I get tired of Army life in the rough, I keep telling myself how important I am to the war effort. I am as important as President Roosevelt or any general. When the history of this war is written, it will be the little guys--yes, the doughboys--that will have done the real fighting. This is why I try to do a good job, regardless of how rugged it gets." Private Whitney was killed in action on June 10, 1944 in France.


In this photo from 1943, fathers are reading letters from their sons in the service. The caption reads, "The boys in service are not the only ones who like letters." From left to right: Harry Pfannenstill, Malcolm Clendening, Frank Kelroy and Will Ray.

Will provided the photo to his younger brother, Lloyd, for the "Training Camp Edition" of The Rays. To view the "Training Camp Edition" in its entirety go to Ililnois Digital Archives

The Rays newsletters are part of the Lake County Discovery Museum's permanent collections, and are available online at the Illinois Digital Archives www.idaillinois.org

Pickard China

A gravy boat produced by Pickard China of Antioch was recently donated to the museum's permanent collections.

This particular food service item was made for the United States Quarter Master Corp (U.S.Q.M.C.) for the U.S. Navy in March 1942. The gravy boat contract kept the company afloat (so to speak), and also kept a lot of locals employed during the rough economic times of World War II.

The company's history relates that: "Austin Pickard successfully bid on a Navy contract for gravy boats. These heavy chunks of institutional ware were a far cry from the delicate, sculptured procelain with which the company had become identified... it was the fuel oil allotment [from the government] that fired the kilns and kept the company alive."

The company was established in Edgerton, Wisconsin in 1893 by Wilder Austin Pickard. In 1897, the company moved to Chicago where it was decorating company, specializing in hand painted art pieces, dessert and tea sets. In 1937, production moved to Antioch. Since 1977, Pickard has manufactured the official china service for U.S. embassies around the world. The U.S. Department of State selected the company for this honor, and also to create the china for Air Force One and Camp David.

Pickard is one of the oldest continuous manufacturers in Lake County, and is still in operation in Antioch.