Today I visited the Honoring Our History touring exhibit. It’s a big bus made into a museum about World War I. I’ve been waiting for awhile to check it out. It has been in Seattle and Vancouver during the past week. In Salem, the bus was parked in the main lot at Mission Mill, now known as the Willamette Heritage Center.
When I first heard about the museum in a bus, I wasn’t sure about the idea. But it really works well. I was surprised how many people were there. I mean this is World War I! There aren’t many who even know much about it anymore.
I first walked by in the early afternoon, but there were so many people I decided to leave. I don’t like crowds, and I like crowds even less in confined, cramped spaces. After eating a sandwich and taking a shower, I returned and plunged right in.
As I looked through the items on display and read the associated commentary, I came across a few facts I wanted to jot down. I tried using a coloring pencil from my backpack, but that didn’t work too well, so I slowly made my way through the exhibit, following a crowd that was certainly taking its time, at least enough people were to create bottlenecks in certain places.
After finally exiting the bus, I made my way to the museum gift shop, where the lady behind the counter kindly loaned me a pen. I then re-entered the bus museum and started taking notes on a receipt from Safeway. It wasn’t the best method for note taking, but my usual carry-alongs weren’t with me.
Information from the panel I first wanted to note was about troop numbers and organization. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it put so succinctly. I’ve always wanted to better understand how the soldiers were grouped. So here’s a table of what I learned, starting from the smallest grouping.
| 8 men | 1 squad |
| 7 squads | 1 platoon |
| 4 platoons | 1 company |
| 4 companies | 1 battalion |
Just to be sure everyone reading understands, eight men make up a squad. Seven squads are in a platoon, and so on.
In researching my great grand uncle’s experiences, I have never gone beyond the company level. I don’t know what platoon or squad he was assigned. I have never even seen these mentioned. I hope there are records on this because I want to know the names of the men with whom he served, those who lived beside him and knew him best.
There were quite a few artifacts, including a dummy in uniform. What really surprised me was the lack of a serious pack for lugging items around. There was only a haversack on the soldier, and it was extremely small. I just don’t understand how anyone could carry much of anything in that tiny pack.
I will be typing up the rest of the notes and then writing about these later.
AJH
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 