rules, and trouble shooting. Blacksmithing taught them the use and care of tools, building forge
fires, bending and shaping iron, welding and forging shapes from blueprint details, both iron
and steel. In the machine shop, they learned such bench work operations as clipping, filing,
scraping, use of taps and dies, riveting and bending, laying out work, fitting and assembling,
and sharpening tools. In machine work, they learned to use drill presses, shapers, lathes, milling
machines, and grinders.
A third group, Section C, practically all from Vermont, came on October 15, and
remained until the program was disbanded. This third group was divided into 40 as draftsmen,
40 as auto mechanics, 20 as blacksmiths, 40 as machinists, 40 as carpenters, and 20 as
surveyors. Their work had been changed somewhat according to the demands of the army by
substituting classes in drafting and military surveying for classes in electrical wiring and gas
engines.
Arriving in the fall, this third contingent was severely restrained by an unusually
virulent epidemic of influenza, which caused classes to be suspended for a time. A medical
detachment of six men was summoned from Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor, N.Y., on
June 24, to examine the men. Each enlisted man was given a thorough regular physical
examination, and either was accepted or rejected from this program.
Then each was vaccinated against smallpox, and was inoculated against typhoid and
paratyphoid. The serum against pneumonia arrived too late to prevent 10 deaths (7 in Section B
and 3 in Section A) from this influenza. To the impact of the epidemic was added the general
lessening of purpose and ambition caused by the feeling of lack of need for the program once
the armistice had been signed in November.
Although these young men were at Clarkson for too short a period to produce
proficiency in any of the trades taught, the Army and the Clarkson staff believed deeply that
this time served them well as a period of ordinary apprenticeship. From that viewpoint, then,
this program was deemed a success. [The
Clarkson Bulletins
listed the men in each contingent,
and contained pictures of the group.]
Clarkson Men in Service.
The April
Clarkson Bulletin
contained individual pictures of the 72
Clarkson men in the armed forces.
