Michael & Elizabeth CAVANAUGH
Fort Slocum
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Here are two interesting photos collected in the 2008 & 2009 seasons. The first was hidden in files in NARA NYC, but clearly shows the Slocum WACs. They seem to be vocalizing, and as this is June 1944, a month after the introduction of the Duckworth Chant (see elsewhere on this site), this may be the first photo of the Duckworth Chant. The second comes from Carlisle Barracks, one of 10 conserved by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), a post-Civil War group of military men. These photos of De Camp General Hospital are now the oldest photos known of Davids' Island. (In July 2009 Chris Borstel, working for USACE's subcontractor TetraTech, uncovered 4 more from the same series, but with better resolution, in NARA II.)

Slocum WAC detachment Central Park June 1944
wacforweb.jpg
1/Sgt Dot Hood, S/Sgt Woodie Woodard

Recently discovered photo of Civil War post
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Admin Bldg DeCamp Hospital 1864

   In November 2009 this website entered  its sixth year.   Though small and cramped it does provide at least minimal web presence.    In November 2009 the USACE working group will roll out a bigger, professional website along with a virtual archive (which once in place will be sponsored and maintained by New Rochelle and Westchester County).   But for now this site, piggy-backed as it is onto my personal site, will have to suffice.   It has served the Fort Slocum Alumni & Friends network well, though, in that it continues to receive search engine "hits" by those seeking to join us or to learn more about the Fort and Davids' Island.  Through the mysteries of Google, this site will turn up toward the top of page one!
 
   The first thing to say about Davids' Island is, it was ruined quite some time ago.  To see this  graphically (as it was ca. 2007 or so) go to Google Earth.  By 2008 almost all structures on the island had been swept away.
     
        For those who don't know, the Army abandoned the post more than 40 years ago, on 30 November 1965.   In the meantime the island became a real estate football;  several acquired possession (including Con Ed and Donald Trump) but no one was able to develop it. 
 
     As a result, it became something like an Eastern ghost town.
 
   Vandalism, and a series of arson fires in the late 1970's and early 1980's (notably the Great Fire of April 1982) reduced most of the buildings to shells (in the case of brick buildings) or rubble & ashes (in the case of the wooden ones).    And (see the story on the first page of this site) the remnants of all the buildings are gone as of  Fall 2008.   All that remains are 3 of the 4 mortar pits, the Rodman gun, and Battery Practice  --  that is, objects exclusively from that short phase when Slocum was a Coast Artillery post (see elsewhere on this site).
 
For those who want to see video of the post in its heyday, there are a few.    There are some segments, from 1956-1961, mostly of the Chaplain School but also the north part of the island as it existed then, available on a composite video called Army Chaplain.   It is available in VHS (and more recently, in DVD) for $29.95 + s&h from www.militaryvideo.com.  (No financial interest here, just making the information available to list members.)  Be advised however that the Slocum segments comprise perhaps only 10-12 min. of a 60 min. video.   Just last year, Televista released a DVD (20087) of a 1917 silent film, "Man Without a Country."   It was filmed by Thanhouser studios in New Rochelle, and features, toward the very end, a few minutes of footage shot at Fort Slocum.    Unfortunately it is short and there are not a lot of wide angles, but you will see the hospital (later the Chaplain School), post HQ, the O club, and the northern quarters on O Row;   as well as a shot of troops in their campaign hats, departing from the passenger dock, allegedly bound for France.  (In fact they were actual troops, but they were only taking the boat as far as Ft Hamilton nearby.)    There is also a short videoclip of the soldier show, "Swing Fever," written just before Pearl Harbor and performed early in 1942.  It can be viewed at http://www.archive.org/details/1942-02-04_Soldiers_Stage_Girlie_Show. 

DA BAND!
 
By Spring 2008 we had managed to locate 5 members of the WWII post band, the 378th Army Service Forces Band.   It was authorized 1 June 1942 from the core of a smaller band that had been on post since Jan. 1941, led by T/Sgt Abraham Small.   Sometime late in 1944 (now under the leadership of WOJG Edward Sadowski)  it was hijacked, possibly by Maj/Gen Homer Groninger of the NY Port of Embarkation, to Ft. Hamilton, and was deactivated at the end of the war.
 
     The band played frequently on post, on live radio (some of the broadcasts being recorded for playback around the world during the War), in studios in the NYC area, and recorded several V-Discs.
 
     Band members included George Hoffmann, piano and supply sgt., who now lives in Maine;  Ray Crisara, trumpet, emeritus professor of music at U TX;   Zoltan "Zip" Zantay,  trumpet clarinet & piccolo, who summers in CT & winters in FL;   Alan Grieve, trumpet, who lives in MA;   and Paul "Lightnin" Tanner, trombone, emeritus professor of music at UCLA.    Paul (who played with the Glenn Miller band before Miller's USAAF band) turned 90 last October, and George (who was an orchestra leader before & after the War) turned 90 in May.

In summer 2008 a sixth member,  Andre Speyer, French horn (he's the kid;  only 83) found our website.    In July Zip visited the island to view the demolition in progress.
 
      Together they have contributed photos, memorabilia, and oral history to our collection.   Several bandsmen were interviewed by Rob Jacoby for the USACE oral history project.    They continue to  be of tremendous value in trying to understand Fort Slocum in WWII.

Finding the band has more than doubled our WWII alumni, which also includes Gladys "Woodie" (Woodard) Borkowski, M/Sgt USAF ret'd (one of the original WAACs who came to the post in 1943 and rose to S/Sgt;  and who is featured leading the Duckworth Chant on a V-Disc);   Ken Rought, CWO ret'd, who came in 1939 and became QM 1/Sgt before transferring to Brooklyn Army Base in 1943;  Joanne (Gebhard) Geer, daughter of post chaplain Maj. Wesley Emil Gebhard;  Pat Skelly, whose father was an officer there early in the war;   and Carl "Zoomie" Wenberg, son nephew and brother of  civilian employees.     We have also been in touch with the family of Col. Bernard Lentz, CO during the entire war, and they have been helpful in contributing material particularly related to the origin and evolution of the Duckworth  Chant.   (See the feature elsewhere on this site.)

IN MEMORIAM:  Norma Rought died in Oct. 2005.  She met her husband Ken while working for Lt/Col. Walter McCord at Slocum just before WWII;  their first home was an apartment on post above McCord's quarters.  A native of New Rochelle, her parents in turn met when her father was stationed at Slocum in WWI.  Ken retired as CWO in 1969.   Since at least mid-2007, he has been at work on his Army memoirs, Brown Shoe Soldier.
     In 2007, two family members of the enlisted staff of the Chaplain School died.   Lorraine Cavanaugh, widow of Robert Cavanaugh (School Sgt/Maj 1956-60), died 07/07/07.  Don Sisk, youngest son of Edgar Sisk (School 1/Sgt through several moves, who retired at Slocum in 1958), died 06/12/07.
     On 1/10/08, after battling spine cancer for about 6 months, George Hollenweger, Jr., died.   His father George Sr. was with post engineer office 1936-58, and kept the physical plant going.   Last summer George Jr. donated his father's papers to our historical collection, a very valuable resource. 
     On 2/20/08, 1/Sgt Norman H. Reilly died in  Pelham.   Norm was born nearby in Mt. Vernon and had 2 tours of duty at Slocum, one in the early 1950's and the other from the late '50's to the early '60's, when he became 1/Sgt of the HQ & HQ Co., the Information School.   He contributed a very important collection of photos from both periods to the New Rochelle Public Library.
     I am very sorry to announce the sudden death on 11 July 2008 of Capt. Peter Huchthausen, USN Ret., at his home in Amfreville, France (near Ste-Mere Eglise, just behind Utah Beach).  Peter along with his sisters Christa & Annie lived at Ft Slocum in the mid-1950's, the children of Lt/Col Walther Huchthausen of the Chaplain School.   Just before his retirement, Peter was the US Naval Attache to Moscow, and became an expert on the Soviet nuclear navy.   He was THE most prolific writer ever to have emerged from Davids' Island (see the Slocum Features page).   There was a memorial at Amfreville on 22 July.  On behalf of the Ft Slocum Alumni & Friends I  attended.   He was buried in Dec.  at Arlington. 
     Now, almost exactly a year later, the death of Tim Kozlowski;  he died 9 July 2009, just 5 days short of his 69th birthday.  Tim was one of the earliest members of our FSA&F network, and contributed some unique photos to our collection.  He was at Slocum through July 1965;  he played baseball & basketball for the post teams, and was known as "the Fort Slocum Flash." 
    On the heels of this news comes that of the death of Donald Nealon, ae. 60, on 1 July 2009.  Don, and his siblings Barbara, Michael, Kathy, Gayle, Debbie and Dennis were the children of Lt/Col Arthur Joseph Nealon, deputy post CO.  There is a full obituary at

http://www.legacy.com/MilfordDailyNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=129255080;

a shorter one was published in the Boston Globe on 3 July.

      Zoltan "Zip" Zantay died 27 August 2009, ae. 88.  He played clarinet for the 378th ASF band at Ft Slocum during WWII.  In later life he ran a summer camp, and recently spent winters in FL & summers in CT.   In 2008 he returned to  Davids' Island (a shocking sight in its final stages of demolition), and contributed photos and an interview to our collection.  His obituary is at http://iberkshires.com/community/obituaries.php?ob_id=9059.

     M/Sgt Gladys (Woodard) "Woodie" Borkowski died after a brief illness on 23 November 2009, ae. 89.  Woodie was one of the original WAAC/WACs at Ft Slocum in 1943.  Just two weeks before she was the guest of honor at the rollout of the new USACE website in New Rochelle (see first page of this site).  Then S/Sgt Woodard, she recorded one of the 3 versions of the Duckworth Chant, aka Sound Off, on V-Disc in 1945 in Raymond Hall on post.  After the war she transferred to the new USAF, retiring as M/Sgt in 1963.

 

The basic stuff, which probably every member will want, consists of the 1952 map on this page, and the aerial photo on the home page.  (A note to avoid confusion.  Post buildings were renumbered in 1893 by QM Capt. John Wyer Summerhayes; in 1941, when the Engineers took over from the QM;  and then about 1958.  We use the 1941 numbers as reflected on this 1952 map, for example throughout this website;  currently USACE uses a modification of the 1958 numbers.)

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1952 Armed Forces Information School map

Friends & alumni, grab your definitive Slocum map here!   (Right click, save as.)  Alas the original is a bit fuzzy which makes it hard to read here and building numbers are a bit hazy if you print out the map but if you read it in Explorer etc. you can zoom in as necessary and the text will become legible.

Slocum 101:  Here's our best, most powerful map, from the Information School 1952;  it is the complete map of the permanent post and represents the island as living ex-residents will have known it.

Here's how members can help:  by now we have a complete list of building numbers standardized to the 1941 numbering system.  (These are the numbers in the 1952 map here.)  Two things remain unclear.  First, quarters numbers sometimes do and sometimes do not correspond to building numbers.  Second, the larger buildings are all identified but a few of the smaller structures  & temporary buildings are not.

Where Can I See Ft Slocum Today?

 

            Not at Davids’ Island.           

 

            There has been quite a lot of destruction over the years on Davids’ Island.  The Civil War post was thrown up in 1862-63;  by 1884 or so it was finished tumbling down.  The last pre-Army building was wiped away by 1892.  Temporary barracks from the 1880’s were demolished around 1906-08.   Artillery emplacements erected in the 1890’s were wiped away in 1930 and 1943, and the artillery itself removed by WWI.  The destruction of 2005-2008 may have been the most wide-sweeping but it was only the latest.  

 

            This last  destruction wiped away all physical traces of Ft. Slocum (save the road system and some sidewalks, bits of the seawall, the 1960’s flagpole, ¾ of the Abbot Quad mortar batteries, Battery Practice and of course thank goodness our 15” Rodman gun).  Some of the buildings were unique.  Most notable among those were the 1880’s barracks and consolidated mess hall complex (bldgs. 51, 120, 52 & 53) constructed by QM Capt. George Hamilton Cook.  (Bldg. numbers refer to the 1952 map, available above.)

 

            Some buildings however were cookie-cutter versions of standard Army designs;  and some of their clones or at least analogues  can be seen still standing today.  (And indeed, see below, there are even a few analogues to the unique Cook buildings.)  The following list is not exhaustive, but does indicate various locations in the U.S. and abroad where individual analogues can be found.  The best concentrations in the US seem to be at opposite ends of the continent, in WA & FL.

 

  • Bldgs. 5/6, duplex officers’ quarters, may have clones at Ft Totten (nearby in Queens)
  • Bldg. 22, company-grade officers quarters, has  a clone at Ft. Worden, WA (on the Olympic peninsula) (and it is possible to spend a night in former officers quarters, including the apartments in this building)
  • Bldg. 151, the hospital and later Chaplain School, has an almost identical twin at Vancouver Barracks, WA (just across the Columbia from Portland, OR)
  • Bldg. 119, the guardhouse, has a clone from the very same year, 1896, at Madison Barracks, NY (upstate, at Sacket’s Harbor on the eastern shore of Lake Erie)
  • Bldg. 52 (one of Cook’s barracks, 1887) has a close analogue (1892-93) at Ft Totten in bldgs 107 & 108;  the design may have been influenced directly by Cook
  • The same barracks pattern of our Quadrivium, bldgs. 54-47, may be seen in wood at Vancouver Barracks, WA;  and in brick, at Ft. Worden, WA
  • Clones of the Trivium barracks, bldgs. 58-60, are still in use at Ft. Lewis, WA (near Tacoma)
  • Those huge formidable 12” breech-loading mortars (see feature, elsewhere on this site) were removed from our Abbot Quad pits early in the 20th century;  and, like most other examples, were melted for scrap.  However examples exist at Ft DeSoto, FL (near Tampa) and also in the Philippines (notably Battery Way, on Corregidor).
  • Rodman guns, though usually the more common 10” models (or the 10”, retrofitted with 8” rifled sleeves) can be found in some surprising places;  though usually, like ours, on display but not as they would have been in actual battery, on carriages.   Of the 15” Rodmans, about 323 were manufactured and only about 25 survive.  Our 15” is not mounted on a carriage, but to see what one looks like in battery, there are examples at Ft. McHenry MD, Ft. Knox ME, Ft. Foote near DC,  and Ft. Barrancas FL.
  • The 5” and 6” shielded pedestal-mounted direct-fire guns were removed after WWI (and their batteries demolished entirely around 1930 to make way for bldg. 58) but you can see what they looked like in battery at Ft Casey, WA (on the Olympic Peninsula, near Ft Worden) and at Ft DeSoto, FL.
  • Parade fields at Ft Madison & Ft Worden, both lined with O Rows (though very different buildings) and both bordering the water, will bring back memories.  Governors’ Island and Ft Totten also have good O Rows, though not directly comparable to ours
  • Riding the Staten Island ferry, or even the ferry to Governors’ Island, will also bring back memories

Military Salaries:  1958 & 2010 compared

While we were on Ft Slocum, how well did we live (just in purely financial terms)?  Have Slocum brats managed to improve our lots in life?  By way of getting at an answer, recently I looked at military salaries then and now.  If you want to answer the question for yourself, you can compare your own earnings with those of your father.

In the table below, I took the maximum 1958 salaries for each rank (the Max 1958 column) then matched them with current salaries for same rank & duration of service (2010 equiv to 1958 column).  Then I tried 2 separate methods of adjusting 1958 salaries to 2010 equivalents (CPI & GDP columns, in the middle of the table).   You’ll notice that in all cases the CPI method yields higher numbers.  Finally, I took ratios of (CPI) adjusted 1958 values to the current 2010 salaries for all ranks.   (These turn out to range from .54 to .73.)

 

Comparative Salaries 1958-2010
Rank Max 1958 1958 adj to CPI 1958 adj to GDP deflator 2010 Equiv to 1958 ratio 1958 CPI to 2010
O6 11820 87684 71236 120564 0.73
O5 9300 68990 56048 98376 0.70
O4 6360 47180 38330 79092 0.59
O3 6300 46735 37968 71460 0.65
O2 4560 33827 27482 52524 0.64
O1 3768 27952 22708 41448 0.67
W4 7140 52966 43031 84504 0.63
W3 6072 45043 36594 72720 0.62
W2 5280 39168 31821 60252 0.65
W1 4680 34717 28205 55632 0.62
E9 5280 39168 31821 63012 0.62
E8 4560 33827 27482 57996 0.58
E7 4272 31690 25746 51384 0.62
E6 3480 25815 20973 41808 0.62
E5 2880 21364 17357 34872 0.61
E4 2280 16913 13741 27516 0.61
E3 1692 12551 10197 23076 0.54
E2 1296 9614 7810 19464 0.49
E1 1260 9347 7593 17364 0.54
Entry 936 6943 6541

source for adjustments:   www.measuringworth.com

1958 figures:  Islander 14 May 1958 p 3
2010 figures:  www.militaryfactory.com

 

Army families get lots of subsidies:  food at the commissary, clothing at the PX, beer at the clubs, health care at the dispensary,  and a housing allowance.   The other side of the coin, of course, is that actual take-home pay was low.   In recent decades lower-ranking enlisted personnel have so joined the ranks of the many “working poor” in American society that they have found it necessary to apply for food stamps.  “A survey conducted in 1999, showed that about 6,300 military families were on food stamps,” it was reported at   http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/moneymatters/a/foodstamps.htm.  “That was a dramatic drop from the 12,000 who received aid in 1995,”  the report continues,  “and represents less than 1 percent of the 1.4 million men and women in uniform.”   The most striking aspect is not that it is less than 1% but that it can happen at all to men and women who are asked to put their lives on the line.   During the Viet Nam war, there used to be a joke among the opposition:  What if schools were funded but the Air Force had to hold bake sales to buy bombs?  During the Iraq war, this was no longer a joke, as parents of deployed soldiers had to subsidize them through personal purchase of things like air conditioners and even body armor which the Defense Department proved unwilling to provide.  

Still, in the all-volunteer Army it appears that pay has improved over that of the Cold War.   Soldiers then took home between ½ and ¾ (which is what the .54-.73 represents) of what their counterparts do now.  For example, in 1958 a full bird colonel (O6) -- the top-ranking officer on Ft. Slocum at that time  --  made $11,820 per annum.  Adjusted by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), that would amount to $71,236 in 2010 dollars.  But in 2010, an O6 with comparable service in fact would take home $120,564.  The top-ranked NCO (E9) took home about half of that:   $5,280 in 1958.  That would be $39,168 adjusted via CPI to 2010 dollars;  but the actual 2010 take-home of an active-duty E9 with comparable service is $63,012.

            And that’s a conservative estimate; had I used the GDP figures instead, the disparity would appear greater still.

So at Ft. Slocum, we really needed the commissary + PX + beer call + dispensary +  flounder blackfish etc.!

Now, whether this percentage really translates into more disposable income at home might be questioned.  In 1958, the Class B-1 landline telephone to our quarters cost $4 a month ($1.35 for an extension phone); we might be lusting after the NBC peacock in living color, maybe;  the only computer on post was a big mainframe in the NIKE IFC.   Now we have all sorts of consumer electronics, laptops Blackberries iPods 3D HD cable etc., to gobble up spare income.  Red Goose shoes got nothing on $100 Nikes that kids demand.  And so on.

I have yet to factor in housing allowances and compare them to current housing markets.   But this is a start, and as a start, you may find it interesting and eye-opening.

 

Odds & Ends

Here's a little incentive:  if you can identify your quarters (especially by matching your quarters numbers with a building number from the map) I may be able to supply you with either or both of the QM building sheets (with a photo, though not well reproduced) and a floor plan. 

Anyway, anyone can have copies of these if you have any other favorite buildings.  (We have some from the barracks, the guard house  --  whose favorite building was THAT?  but we do have some MP members  -- Post HQ, the PX, the Information School.  We also have a good collection from Officers' Row.)  These come courtesy of our allies in CDSG.  The set is incomplete;  the Chaplain School is notably missing, but we now have the water tower plus buildings built after 1930 (what I call "the Trivium," i.e., Barrett Hall & the other 2 barracks used by the Information School, bldgs. 58-60;  and most of the NCO quarters) and for once have a pretty complete identification of the buildings on the 1952 map.   Just ask.