Henry,

Don't know your GGF name but found this  PA soldier's record who also served w/ Group B Repair 302nd MTC

Fritz, Theodore, PVT 1ST CL GROUP B REPAIR 302 MOTOR TRANSPORT CORPS,

As the PA WWI Veterans Service & Compensation Files are on Ancestry, I looked him up to see what his record said.  This seems to confirm that they were at Verneuil (Nièvre), France

- Also this is the Chaplain to Motor Repair Shops 302^nd MTC record who's record also lists same place

  https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/WWI/id/12951/rec/3

This is the ship's info on their return to the US in June 1919 [The US Army Transportation Records for WWI (Arriving & Departing) are on Ancestry & list the rosters of soldiers.  If you want to provide your GGF name I'd be happy to look him up for you

E.

Henry,

Don't know your GGF name but found this  PA soldier's record who also served w/ Group B Repair 302nd MTC

Fritz, Theodore, PVT 1ST CL GROUP B REPAIR 302 MOTOR TRANSPORT CORPS,

As the PA WWI Veterans Service & Compensation Files are on Ancestry, I looked him up to see what his record said.  This seems to confirm that they were at Verneuil (Nièvre), France

- Also this is the Chaplain to Motor Repair Shops 302^nd MTC record who's record also lists same place

  https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/WWI/id/12951/rec/3

This is the ship's info on their return to the US in June 1919 [The US Army Transportation Records for WWI (Arriving & Departing) are on Ancestry & list the rosters of soldiers.  If you want to provide your GGF name I'd be happy to look him up for you

E.

Very promising! My great-grandfather was named Frederick John Henry (ultimately Sr.). So far I already have his Arriving and Departing passenger lists coming to and from France, which is how I was able to learn the possible names of his unit.

Outbound is here:

Returning here:

My rough understanding is that the Motor Transport Corps was created sometime after Fritz arrived in France, which explains the reorganization of unit names. However it has been difficult to fill in any more personal details or anecdotes between those two appearances on the arriving and departing passenger lists.

Many thanks,

H

More details coming together in the path of Mechanical Repair Shop 302. Potentially some portion of the unit, organized as Provisional Company No. 2 was at Camp Jackson in South Carolina, as in a panoramic photo of the "Provisional Company No. 2" (unless this designation was more common):

Then this book suggests that the Mechanical Repair Shop Units 301, 302 and 303 were at Camp Meigs in Washington, D.C. as early as October 1917.

Unit 302 left New York aboard the RMS Olympic on January 11, 1918.

Henry,

I found his Statement of Service Card

https://fromthepage.com/indianaarchives/indiana-wwi-service-record-cards/in-wwi-service-record-cards--army-and-marine-hel-hen/display/296010

You may want to check out these articles [you can register on JSTOR to read 100 articles online/month for FREE here]

https://support.jstor.org/hc/en-us/articles/115004760028-How-to-Register-Get-Free-Access-to-Content#:~:text=To%20registe…

Grinding Gears: The AEF and Motor Transportation in the First World War

By Matthew G. McCoy 2004

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26061868#metadata_info_tab_contents

Maintaining the Motor Transport of A Field Army

1. M. D. Mills, Brainerd Taylor and G. R. Young (1921)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44605452#metadata_info_tab_contents

- Also check these reports on a Post War Congressional investigation made into practices at MTC  Recontruction Park in Verneuil - you can go forward or backward from this page

War Expenditures: Foreign expenditures. 4 v

  https://books.google.com/books?id=v3mLLtkn12sC&pg=PA1552&lpg=PA1552&dq=The+M.T.C.+Reconstruction+Park+in+Verneuil+france&source=bl&ots=Vrkg0rWI75&sig=ACfU3U1CgYvzfoX1waQjABfVpBbMPcTGvg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAyNPoj776AhVCFlkFHWBQA5M4ChDoAXoECAMQAw#v=onepage&q=The%20M.T.C.%20Reconstruction%20Park%20in%20Verneuil%20france&f=false

Found these pics for sale on E-bay (pricey!!) but thought you might like to see them

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293769722769

US ARMY MTC RECONSTRUCTION PARK in Verneuil, France

Photos marked: VERNEUIL - AMERICAN SHOP, Photo: P. PREMERY, Nevers.

The Motor Transport Corps (M.T.C.) was formed out of the Quartermaster Corps on 15 August 1918, by General Order No. 75. Men needed to staff this new corps were recruited from the skilled tradesmen working for automotive manufacturers in the US. The M.T.C. Reconstruction Park in Verneuil covered approximately 1,000 acres and was staffed by three units of approximately 1,150 men each (Units 301, 302, and 303). Some labor was also supplied by German prisoners who were housed inside the Park. Command of the park at Verneuil was assigned to Colonel Harry A. ("Bull") Hegeman, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his involvement in the operation.

- You may also want to write the National WWI Museum - while their Research Center is under construction, they can still help with research https://www.theworldwar.org/research/center

During this time, we are still available to assist with your research needs at research@theworldwar.org or (816)888-8142. our collections database is accessible online at collections.theworldwar.org and our directory of public military service records is accessible digitally.

Hope that helps!

E.

.

Henry

the page you sent from book on the Motor Transport Corps Recontruction Park 772 in Verneuil France (on the Nat. WWI Museum website) https://collections.theworldwar.org/argus/final/Portal/Default.aspx?component=AAAS&record=bd96d663-92bf-426a-aaa5-e98ca4…    is a great resource - you can request a pdf. copy from the museum to make it easier to print & read (see note on the link)

- as Camp Meigs was for training special units of the QM corps, it makes sense they would be there

- the record of PA soldier [Theo J. Fritz] that I sent above that was in same unit as your GGF states he was at Camp Meigs, Camp Merritt, Camp Mills & Camp Dix

- Camp Meigs:

" Established in Sept. 1917 it was a training camp for special units of the QM Corps. The camp was located on about 81 acres near Florida Avenue & 5th Street, in Northeast Washington, DC. During the war, some 25,000 personnel passed through the camp”

- Camp Merritt:

"Camp Merritt was built in 1917 as the staging area for soldiers leaving for the American Expeditionary Forces out of the Port of Hoboken. It became the main replacement depot of World War I. Soldiers spent anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks at Camp Merritt before being ferried to the transatlantic ships at the Port of Hoboken.  The Camp was built to house 2,000 officers and 40,000 men, and over a million soldiers passed through the camp between its opening in 1917 to its decommissioning in November 1919."

Camp Mills:

"Located on Long Island NY, it was initially an embarkation camp but after Nov. 1918, the mission changed to processing the thousands of troops back into the United States as a demobilization center. Many returning units passed through it and were either demobilized or sent to other camps across the United States where the men were processed out of the Army and returned to civilian life."

Camp Dix (now Ft Dix) - like Camp Mills, it was initially "a staging, & training center & later a demobilization center

These Museums may have some info

MTC Museum: https://motortransportmuseum.org/html/library.htm

Army Transportation Museum: https://transportation.army.mil/museum/wwi/index.html

Indiana Military Records: https://www.in.gov/iara/divisions/state-archives/collections/military-records/

This is a link to your GGF's Indiana NG records IN State Archives

https://www.in.gov/iara/services-for-public/search-archives-holdings/indiana-archives-digital-index-records/

- listed as Fritz J. Henry

https://researchindiana.iara.in.gov/DigitalRecords/Detail.html?WORK_FILENAME=NDX00123&WORK_RECORD_ID=23804

Good Luck!

E

Henry

Since his WWI Draft Regist. Card & newspapers list him as a student at Purdue I went looking for him in their yearbooks (on Ancestry)

1922 Purdue Yearbook (p. 89)

Henry

also found this picture of him in the 1922 Purdue Yearbook with the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity