Memo from Edward James Early to Major Phillips January 1919
American Expeditionary Forces
Signal Corps Replacement Depot
Office of the Zone Major
A.P.O. 925
January 25, 1919
FROM: Edward J. Early, Captain Ordinance, H. R. & C Zone Major.
TO: Major Philips, Personnel, R. R. & C., Tours.
SUBJECT: R. R. & C Work in Cour Cheverny.
1. The Field Signal Battalions in this area are being concentrated in the local town, leaving the twelve towns in the zone free of troops.
2. Previous to the embarking of the men from the different towns, we held meetings with the mayors and billet owners and had all owners of billets sign short forms giving the outgoing troops clearance of all and any damage to the property, and in the majority of cases where claims were presented, we had an adjustment made between the property owners and the battalion officers, paid by battalion funds. The enclosed form from the town of Cellettes will give you a fair idea of the way the claims were sent in and how adjusted, leaving but one claim open.
3. I have a squad of men who go into each town after the troops leave, repairing all stone walls, fences, broken plaster and damage to the woodwork in the area, and, in several cases, doing repair work on the roads, etc. I found it necessary in a few cases to call in the representative of the Franco-American mission in Orleans.
4. There will be several claims which it is impossible to adjust other than by R. R. & C. funds, which will be forwarded shortly to the Claims Department.
5. The continual shifting of battalions since my arrival at this station has kept me so busy that it prevented my writing you at an earlier date. Will endeavor sometime in the coming week to get into Tours on a few special cases.
E. J. Early
EJE/FRT
Read the Early letters: LETTER 1: 1917 Jessica Early (nee Jessica Agnes O’Keefe, born Oconto Wisconsin, daughter of Dr. Patrick J. O’Keefe and Elizabeth Hoeffel) to her husband James Edward Early, World War I 1917 Oconto Wisconsin | LETTER 2: 1918 Letter from Jessica Early to her husband James Edward Early, World War I 1918 | LETTER 3: February 14, 1918 from James William Early of Green Bay, Wisconsin to his brother, Captain Edward James Early, World War I | LETTER 4:Feb. 1918. WW 1 Letter to James Edward Early, World War I from Walker, February 3, 1918 | LETTER 5: May 1918. Letter from Helen C. “Ella” Early, born October 13, 1896 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to her brother Edward James Early, World War I and her sister Margaret Mary C. Early | LETTER 6: July 1918. Letter of about July 15, 1918 Letter from Jessica Early to her husband James Edward Early, World War I in Washington, D.C. | LETTER 7: July 1918. Letter of about July 15, 1918 Washington,DC, from Jessica Early to her husband James Edward Early, World War I | LETTER 8: Aug. 1918. Letter from Jessica Early to her husband James Edward Early, World War I August 1918. Washington D.C. | LETTER 9: Jan. 1919. Memo from James Edward Early, World War I to Major Phillips January 1919 | LETTER 10: undated Letter from Jessica Early to her husband James Edward Early, World War I | LETTER 11: undated Letter from Jessica Early to her husband James Edward Early, World War I
Submitter: John Early Andrews
jandrewsfam@juno.com
Notes: Edward James Early was born in September 20, 1888 in Green bay, Wisconsin and graduated with a civil engineering degree from Marquette University around 1907. One of his sisters became a nun and the other, a missionary nurse living in China, surviving a grueling four years in a Japanese prison during the Second World War. In 1918 he was serving in France as a captain in army ordnance during the opening phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that ended the “Great War” when, while mounted on his horse, his pistol discharged sending a bullet thru his shin causing him to be returned to the states for medical treatment. Reunited with his family at war’s end and anticipating economic opportunities in the bourgeoning automobile Mecca of southeast Michigan, he moved his young family from Green bay to Detroit. There he founded the Michigan Drilling Company, an engineering firm that drilled and analyzed core soil samples to determine foundation strengths for the skyscrapers being built during the boom years of the roaring twenties. He developed a friendship with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison and did the soil testing for Ford’s River Rouge plant. His rigorous work ethic built wealth for his family and his savvy investment sense spared him the great economic losses visited on so many other families during the depression.